for three years, and are required to give bond in the sum of $1500. By virtue of their appointment, they are empowered to administer oaths, and to take and certify depositions, acknowledgments of deeds, mortgages, and other legal writings in the county or counties for which they are appointed.

CHAPTER VI

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS OF THE STATE

37. REFERENCES

Bryce, American Commonwealth, I., ch. 48, "Local Government," ch. 49, "Rural Local Government," ch. 50, "Government of Cities, ch. 51, “Working of City Governments;" Howard, Local Constitutional History of the United States, I., chs. 4 and 10, deal with the township and county in the West; Wilgus, "Evolution of Township Government in Ohio," in Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1894; Bemis, "Local Government in Michigan and the Northwest" (Johns Hopkins University Studies, vol. V.); Wilson, The State, secs. 1209-1259, "Local Government;" Fiske, Civil Government in the United States, ch. 2, "The Township," ch. 3, "The County," ch. 5, "The City;" Woolsey, Political Science, Part III. ch. 10, "Institutions, Local and Self-Government;" Peck, Township Officers' Guide; Wilcox, "Municipal Government in Michigan and Ohio" (Columbia University Studies, vol. V., number 3); Fairlie, "The Municipal Crisis in Ohio," Michigan Law Review, Feb., 1903; Wilcox, The Study of City Government; Goodnow, Municipal Problems and Municipal Home Rule; Conkling, City Government in the United States; Zueblin, American Municipal Progress.

Constitution of Ohio (1851), Art. X., "County and Township Organizations," Art. XIII., "Corporations;" Bates, Annotated Statutes of Ohio, I. 457-633, "Counties," 682-713a, "Townships," 3192-3195, “Before Justices of the Peace;" Swan's Treatise on the Law relating to the Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace and Constables in the State of Ohio (13th edit.); Ellis, New Annotated Ohio Municipal Code.

38. THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT

groups

We have seen in Chapter III that the State has its The two central government and its system of local governments. of local These local governments may be divided for conven- governments. ience into two general groups, rural and urban. The former comprises counties and townships; the latter, cities and villages. Both groups are of English origin, having been brought over by our forefathers in the seventeenth century, but naturally they have undergone considerable change since. The county became the chief means for local administration in the South where the population was sparse and scattered, while in New England the fact that most of the people lived in villages favored the employment of the smaller area-the township. The local institutions of Ohio were largely derived from Pennsylvania, where a "mixed organization of county and township" prevailed, and where the township occupied a subordinate place. The mingling in Ohio of settlers from New England, Pennsylvania, and the South naturally led to the development of a form of local government which was a true compound of the various systems with which the settlers had been familiar at home. Our urban agencies of government have been made necessary of course by the massing of population in limited areas, but both the organization and classification of these agencies have been influenced by English experience and prejudice.

While the origin of our local governments is thus Local governeasily accounted for, it should be remembered that their creation and operation are regulated by State laws. In divisions of

a political, as well as a territorial sense, they are divisions of the State. It has already been pointed out that

ments as administrative

the State

Self-government in the local areas.

Creation of

nties.

each county is a "representative district" for the election of members of the house of representatives, and that groups of counties constitute "senatorial districts" for the election of State senators. The counties are also grouped into judicial circuits and districts in order to facilitate the administration of justice throughout the Commonwealth. The officers of the counties are the State's agents for the assessment and collection of taxes and the apportionment of the school fund within their respective areas. And the officers of both the counties and the other local divisions see to the enforcement of the State laws in their several districts. Thus we see that the various local divisions are useful as administrative districts of the State and that their officers serve as the guardians of State interests in all the different communities of the State.

But we must not overlook the fact-more important than all else that these territorial divisions serve as areas of local self-government. In this way, the control of the ordinary and immediate concerns of a locality are kept in the hands of the locality itself. The local officers, although they act as administrative agents for the State, are mainly occupied with such matters as police protection, the survey of lands and the recording of deeds, the care of the public health, the prevention of nuisances, the building of roads and bridges, the care of the poor, the maintenance of schools, the assessment and collection of taxes, and the administration of justice in the lower grades.1 Briefly stated, they are specially concerned with promoting the welfare of their separate localities.

All things considered, the county is the most impor1 Wilson, The State, 524.

tant local division of the State, and we shall therefore begin our study of the local governments with the county. The first nine counties in Ohio were established by Governor St. Clair in the Territorial days. The other seventy-nine have been created by action of the legislature. Under the existing constitution the legislature still has the power to erect new counties and provide for their organization. It may do this either of its own motion, or on petition signed by the electors interested in the matter. In the latter case, notice of intention to present a petition must be published in the newspapers of the district concerned at least thirty days before the ensuing session of the legislature; and in every case, laws creating new counties or changing county lines must receive the approval of the electors. of the counties concerned before they can go into effect. Besides these general provisions applying to new counties, there are two others deserving mention. The legislature has the power to divide a county that has reached a population of one hundred thousand, provided that the population of neither division is less than twenty thousand. Finally, every new county must contain at least four hundred square miles.1

county com

Both the county and the township have but slight The legislative power. In the case of the county, this power missioners. is vested in the board of county commissioners. But the board also has administrative duties. It may therefore be regarded as both a legislative and an executive body. Thus we see that the principle of the division of the government into three separate branches does not hold fully for the county. The commissioners are elected

'Bates, Statutes, §§ 811-815; Constitution of Ohio (1851), Art. II. § 30.