perhaps in some other states, the business of a register or recorder is
done by a county clerk, who is also clerk of the several courts held in
the county, and of certain boards of county officers. In some states,
deeds, mortgages, and other written instruments, are recorded by the
town clerks of the several towns.

§8. Another county officer is a _sheriff_, whose duty it is to attend
all the courts held in the county; to execute all warrants, writs, and
other process directed to him by the courts; to apprehend persons
charged with crime; and to take charge of the jail and of the prisoners
therein. It is his duty, also, to preserve the public peace; and he may
cause all persons who break the public peace within his knowledge or
view, to give bonds, with sureties, for keeping the peace, and for
appearing at the next court to be held in the county, and to commit them
to jail if they refuse to give such bonds. A sheriff is assisted by
deputies.

§9. There are in each county one or more _coroners_, whose principal
duty is, to inquire into the cause of the death of persons who have died
by violence, or suddenly, and by means unknown. Notice of the death of a
person having so died is given to a coroner, who goes to the place of
such dead person. A jury is summoned to attend the examination;
witnesses are examined; and the jury give their opinion in writing as to
the cause and manner of the death. Such inquiry is called a _coroner's
inquest_. In one or two states, the office of coroner, it is believed,
does not exist; in which case the inquest is held by a justice of the
peace, or some other officer.

§10. An attorney, elected or appointed for that purpose, attends all
courts in which persons are tried in the county for crimes committed