from twenty-five to one hundred square miles, and which, if in a square
form, would be from five to ten miles square. But for certain purposes
larger districts than townships have been found necessary. These are
formed by the union of several townships, and are called _counties_.
These divisions are the same as those of England, the country from which
the colonies (now states) were chiefly settled.

§3. Counties in England were formerly districts governed by _counts_ or
earls; from which comes the name of _county_. A county was also called
_shire_; and an officer was appointed by the count or earl to perform
certain acts in the principal town in the county, which was called
_shire town_, and the officer was called _shire-reeve_, or _sheriff_,
whose powers and duties were similar to those of the sheriff of a county
in this country. The shire town is that in which the court-house and
other county buildings are situate, and where the principal officers of
the county transact their business. In a few counties there are two
towns in which the courts are held alternately. Hence each division is
called a _half-shire_.

§4. Counties and towns are bodies politic, or bodies corporate.
_Corporate_ is from the Latin, _corpus_, which means _body_. A
_corporation_, or body politic, is an association of persons authorized
by law to transact business under a common name, and as a single person.
The laws of the state give such authority to the inhabitants of counties
and towns. The people of a town or county have power, to some extent, to
manage their own internal affairs, and to make rules and regulations for
their government; and they may buy, hold, and sell property, and sue and
be sued, as an individual. Similar powers are given to rail-road,
banking, insurance, and other incorporated companies. But there is in
some respects a difference between these corporations and those which