Orkney forms one Sheriffdom with Caithness and Shetland, and has a resident Sheriff-Substitute at Kirkwall. There is one Lord-Lieutenant for Orkney and Shetland, but his deputies and the Commission of the Peace are appointed separately for each group. In all other matters of county administration Orkney forms a separate unit, and for the purposes of the Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1889 the county is divided into four districts, one comprising the Mainland, one the North Isles, one the civil parish of South Ronaldshay and Burray, and the fourth the two parishes of Walls and Flotta and Hoy and Graemsay. A feature of county administration perhaps peculiar to Orkney is that each island forms a unit of assessment for the construction and maintenance of its own roads. The control of piers and harbours in Orkney is of a somewhat diversified order. The Orkney Piers and Harbours Commissioners, a body acting under special statutes, control the piers and harbours at Kirkwall, Scapa, Holm in the Mainland, and at Stronsay, Sanday, and Westray in the North Isles. Stromness and St Margaret’s Hope possess their own Harbour or Pier Commissioners, and the piers at Longhope, Burray, Egilsay, and North Ronaldshay are managed by the County Council.

Of 21 civil parishes in Orkney, Walls and Flotta, Hoy and Graemsay, and South Ronaldshay and Burray are in the South Isles; Stromness, Sandwick, Harray and Birsay, Evie and Rendal, Firth, Stenness, Orphir, Kirkwall and St Ola, Holm, and St Andrews and Deerness are in the Mainland; and Shapinsay, Stronsay, Eday, Rousay, Westray, Papa Westray, Lady, and Cross and Burness are in the North Isles.

Ecclesiastically Orkney forms a Synod of the Church of Scotland, comprising the three Presbyteries of Kirkwall, Cairston (the old name of Stromness), and North Isles. There are 27 ecclesiastical parishes. St Magnus Cathedral is a collegiate church, with ministers of first and second charge.

The standard of education in the Islands is quite up to the average of Scotland. There are higher grade schools at Kirkwall and Stromness, and the ordinary sources of educational revenue are supplemented in various parts of the county by endowments of considerable value.

Orkney joins with Shetland in returning a representative to Parliament.