OF THE CINQUE PORTS - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

OF THE CINQUE PORTSAuthored

The Law Mind • 709 words

Definition

"Of the Cinque Ports" designates a sheriff or other officer whose jurisdiction is tied specifically to the Cinque Ports — a historic confederation of coastal towns in southeastern England (originally Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich, later expanded with associate members) that held special royal charters granting them distinct legal and administrative privileges. An officer described as being "of the Cinque Ports" held authority within that peculiar jurisdiction rather than under the ordinary county sheriff system.

The phrase appears most commonly in the context of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and the sheriffs or constables exercising authority within the confederation's territories. Because the Cinque Ports operated under their own legal franchise — with their own courts, customs, and administrative officers — a sheriff or bailiff "of the Cinque Ports" was not subordinate to the county sheriff of Kent or Sussex in the ordinary sense. The writ jurisdiction and process within the Cinque Ports ran through the confederation's own officers.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers encounter this phrase primarily when tracing the execution of writs, process service, or the return of legal process in historical English common law records. Because the Cinque Ports constituted a separate franchise jurisdiction, writs directed to the sheriff of Kent or Sussex did not automatically run within the Ports' territory. Legal process had to be directed specifically to the proper officer of the Cinque Ports, and failure to do so could affect the validity of service.

The phrase also matters when researching the office of sheriff in English legal history. Standard treatments of the sheriffalty — including Bouvier's derivation of the office from the Saxon period — describe the sheriff as the county's chief executive officer, but that framework breaks down at franchise jurisdictions like the Cinque Ports. A researcher relying on county-based sheriff records to trace writs or judgments touching property or persons within the Cinque Ports territory will encounter gaps that only make sense once the parallel jurisdictional structure is understood.

For researchers working with Year Books, plea rolls, or early modern English legal records, the distinction between an ordinary county officer and an officer "of the Cinque Ports" is a practical navigational point. Misdirected process was a recognized technical defect. Similarly, researchers working on English legal history through the nineteenth century should be aware that the privileges of the Cinque Ports were progressively curtailed by statute, meaning the practical significance of the phrase diminishes considerably in later records.

Historical Dictionary Support

Bouvier's Law Dictionary addresses the sheriff's office with its characteristic attention to English antecedents, tracing the office to Saxon origins (scyre-reve, keeper of the shire) and noting Lord Coke's view that the office predated even the Saxon period in some form. Bouvier's treatment situates the sheriff as the representative of executive and administrative state power within the county — but the entry does not fully develop the implications of franchise and liberty jurisdictions, including the Cinque Ports, which carved out territory exempt from ordinary county sheriff authority.

This is a meaningful gap in Bouvier's coverage. The historical dictionaries generally treat the sheriff as a county officer without giving adequate attention to the significant class of franchise jurisdictions — palatinates, liberties, and confederations like the Cinque Ports — where the ordinary sheriff had no writ. Researchers should not assume that Bouvier's confident general definition of sheriff maps cleanly onto these exceptional jurisdictions. For the Cinque Ports specifically, the relevant authorities lie in the charters of the confederation, the jurisdiction of the Lord Warden, and English statutes progressively reforming local government from the sixteenth century onward.

Jurisdictional Note

This term is specific to English legal history and has no direct counterpart in American law. Researchers working in American legal sources will not encounter operative use of this phrase. Its relevance to Law Mind corpus users is confined to English common law history, historical writs and process, and the constitutional structure of franchise jurisdictions in pre-modern England.

OF THE CINQUE PORTSmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

SHERIFF (Sax. scyre, shire, reve, keeper). A county officer representing the executive or administrative power of the state within his county. The office is said by Camden to have been created by Alfred when he divided England into counties; but Lord Coke is of opinion that it is of still greater antiquity, and that it it existed in the time of the Romans, being the deputy of the earl (comes), to whom the custody of the shire was originally committed, and hence known as vice- comes; Camden 136; Co. Litt. 168 a; Dalt. Sheriff 5. At the common law the office of sheriff might be granted to one in fee, and the grant was not void although the office should descend to an infant: 9 Co. 97b; and the reason for the validity of such grants was that responsible deputies might be appointed on behalf of infants; 5 B. & Ald. 81. An infant cannot be ap- pointed general deputy sheriff, but might be deputed to serve a particular writ; 1 Kan. 169. The selection of sheriffs in England was formerly by an election of the inhabitants of the respective counties, except that in some counties the office was hereditary, and in Middlesex the shrievalty was and still is vested by charter in the city of London. But now the lord chancellor, in conjunction with the judges of the courts, nominates suitable persons for the office, and the king appoints. See 22 & 23 Vict. c. 21, § 42. In this country the usual practice is for the people of the several counties to elect sheriffs. It is the sheriff's duty to preserve the peace within his bailiwick or county. Το this end he is the first man within the county, and may apprehend and commit to prison all persons who break or attempt to break the peace, or may bind them over in a recognizance to keep the peace. He is bound, ex officio, to pursue and take all traitors, murderers, felons, and rioters; has the safekeeping of the county jail, and must defend it against all rioters: and for this, as well as for any other purpose, in the execution of his duties he may com- mand the inhabitants of the county to assist him, which is called the posse comi- tatus. And this summons every person over fifteen years of age is bound to obey, under pain of fine and imprisonment; Dalt. Sheriff 355; 2d Inst. 454. In his ministerial capacity he is bound to execute, within his county, all processes that issue from the courts of justice, ex- cept where he is a party to the proceed- ing, in which case the coroner acts in his stead. On mesne process he is to execute the writ, to arrest and take bail; when the cause comes to trial he summons and returns the jury, and when it is deter- mined he carries into effect the judgment of the court. In criminal cases he also arrests and imprisons, returns the jury, has the custody of the prisoner, and exe- cutes the sentence of the court upon him, whatever it may be. It is a settled principle of the common law that every man's house is his castle; accordingly, in the service of civil process, an officer may not break open the outer door of a dwelling-house. He must await his opportunity to enter peaceably without force or violence; 5 Co. 91; 19 Vt. 151; 24 Wend. 369; but having, without force, obtained admission to the house, be may go from one room to another and forcibly open any inner doors, chests, trunks, or other places where property is kept, in order to make a levy; Cowp. 1; 2 Har- ring. 494; 5 Johns. 352; 1 Bay 358. Where a building was kept by several tenants and had an outer door through which they all passed to gain their several apartments, it was held that an officer who entered this door might enter any other; 6 Daly 449. A building occupied for business as a work-shop, any other building not being a dwelling-house, but connected there- with, may be entered by breaking through the outer door; [1895] 2 Q. B. 663. Where a building is occupied partly as a dwelling and partly for business, a common outer door through which both parties are ap- proached may be broken to make a levy in the store: 50 Mich. 209; but where a milliner carried on her business and re- sided in one room, it was held to be a tres- pass, when an officer made an entry by breaking: 84 Minn. 92. In England it was formerly held that although an officer who forced the outer door of a dwelling was a trespasser, the levy inade by him was good; 5 Co. 98; Year Book 18 Edw. IV. fol. 4, pl. 19; but it is now doubtful; 7 Ex. 72; 6 H. L. Cas. 443; and in the United States the doctrine is said to have met with no favor; Freem. Ex. 256; and it is held that such a levy is void; 12 Pick. 270; 24 Wend. 369; 4 Hill 433; 47 Ν. Η. 482. He also possesses a judicial capacity, and may hold a court and summon a jury for certain purposes; this jurisdiction, in this respect, is at common law quite ex- tensive. This branch of his powers. how- ever, is circumscribed in this country by the statutes of the several states, and is generally confined to the execution of writs of inquiry, of damages, and the like, sent to him from

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

Subscribe Encyclopedia Sign In