The present administration and administrative divisions of Hertfordshire, like those of other English counties, have been gradually evolved and developed from those of our Saxon forefathers; each alteration in the form of local government and of local administrative boundaries being based on the previously existing system. By the Saxons each county was divided into a number of main divisions known as hundreds, or wapentakes, each governed by a hundreder, or centenary (the equivalent of the Old German Zentgrafen), and each having a name of its own. Hertfordshire is now divided into eight hundreds, the names of which, commencing on the western side of the county, are as follows: Dacorum (including Tring), Cassio (with the important towns of St Albans, Watford, and Rickmansworth), Hertford, Braughing, Broadwater (occupying nearly the centre), Hitchin and Pirton (on the north-west corner), Odsey (in the extreme north), and Edwinstree (on the north-east). Originally they were more numerous, Cassio, for instance, being much smaller than at present, while the Hitchin division was reckoned only as a half-hundred. The origin of the names of most of the hundreds are self-apparent; but that of Cassio (originally Kayso) appears to be unknown, while that of Dacorum has some connection with the Danes, perhaps referring to a Danish settlement.

One of the most remarkable facts connected with the hundreds of Hertfordshire is that three of them do not lie within what farmers call a ring-fence. Dacorum, for instance, has two outlying areas in the south-eastern corner of Cassio, and a third wedged in between Cassio on the west, Broadwater on the north, and an outlying portion of Cassio on the east. Broadwater, again, has a small outlier on the Middlesex border of the south-eastern “peninsula” of Cassio; while Cassio itself, inclusive of the one already mentioned, has no less than eight of these curious outliers, one situated in the extreme north in the hundred of Odsey.

Each hundred originally had its own court, or “hundred-mote,” which met monthly; and it was divided, as at present, into townships, or parishes. The parish, in turn, had its own council, or gemot, where every freeman had a right to appear. This assembly or council made its own local by-laws, to enforce which it had a reeve, a bailiff, and a tithingman, with the powers of a constable. The reeve was chairman of the township gemot, and could summon that assembly at pleasure.

Passing on to more modern times, we find Hertfordshire occupying a peculiar position in regard to local government and administration in that it possessed a kind of imperium in imperio in the shape of what was known as the Liberty of St Alban; in other words, a large area on the western side of the county originally under the jurisdiction of the abbots of St Albans, who had the power of inflicting the death-penalty. Originally there was a separate Commission of the Peace for the Liberty, so that a Justice for the County had no jurisdiction in the former unless he had been specially inducted. This arrangement was found, however, to be inconvenient, and the Liberty, as such, was abolished, although it was taken as a basis for the splitting of the county into a western and an eastern division for judicial purposes.

The chief officers of the county are the Lord Lieutenant and the High Sheriff; the former (who in Hertfordshire is always a nobleman) being the direct local representative of the sovereign, and having the appointment of magistrates and the officers of the territorial forces, while the latter (who is a commoner) is the head of the executive department in the administration of justice. The Lord Lieutenant holds office for life, or during the sovereign’s pleasure, but the Sheriff is appointed annually by the Crown. Deputy Lieutenants are supposed to act, in case of need, for the Lord Lieutenant.

Formerly the greater part of the business of the county was conducted by the Justices of the Peace, or Magistrates, at Quarter Sessions, but most of this is now transferred to the County Council, which, as previously stated, often meets in London. This County Council, which was first established in 1888, is composed of Aldermen and Councillors; the latter of whom are elected, while the former are what is called “co-opted,” that is to say, selected by the Council itself, either from its own body, or from the general public. The duties of the County Council include the maintenance of high roads and bridges; the appointment and control, in conjunction with the magistrates, of the police; the management of reformatories and lunatic asylums; and, in a word, the general carrying out of the laws enacted by Parliament.

According to a scheme elaborated in an Act of Parliament passed in 1894, the more important minor local bodies are denominated District Councils, and those whose function is less Parish Councils; the former having control of the more populous towns and villages, other than cities and boroughs, and the latter those with fewer inhabitants. For this purpose many parishes are divided into a more populous Urban and a less populous Rural District. Certain towns in the county rank, however, as cities, or boroughs, and have larger powers and different forms of government; being ruled by a Mayor and Corporation, and having magistrates and a police force distinct from those of the county. Among these privileged towns, St Albans ranks as a city, while Hertford and Hemel Hempstead are boroughs. Hemel Hempstead is a very ancient borough, and has, in addition to its Mayor, an official known as the High Bailiff.

The county is likewise divided into a number of Poor Law Unions, each with a Board of Guardians, whose duty it is to manage the workhouses, and appoint officers to carry out the work of relieving the poor and those incapacitated by age or other cause from earning their own living.

As regards the administration of justice, Assizes are held by His Majesty’s Judges three or four times a year at the Shire Hall, Hertford, for the whole county; the Grand Jury on such occasions being composed entirely, or mainly, of magistrates. Quarter Sessions, on the other hand, are held four times a year at Hertford for the eastern, and at the Court House, St Albans, for the western division of the county; these courts being constituted by the magistrates for the county and the mayors of the boroughs and city. Petty Sessions are held weekly, fortnightly, or monthly at a number of the towns and larger villages. In most cases the county magistrates in the immediate neighbourhood preside at these sessions; but the city of St Albans and the two boroughs have magistrates of their own, who also hold petty sessions for trying cases which occur within the area of their jurisdiction.

St Albans is the centre of an episcopal diocese, which includes most of that portion of London situated within the county of Essex. Arrangements are, however, now in progress for relieving the Bishop of St Albans of the care of that part of the diocese commonly known as “London Over the Border.”

The diocese, so far as Hertfordshire is concerned, is divided into archdeaconries, rural deaneries, and parishes. The latter are very numerous, although somewhat less so than the civil parishes, for the purposes of which, as already mentioned, the ecclesiastical parishes are frequently split into an urban and a rural section. There are 170 ecclesiastical parishes situated wholly or partly within the old county, of which 164 are included in the diocese of St Albans; while three belong to Ely, two to Oxford, and part of one (Northwood) to London.

The larger towns, the city, and the two boroughs have Education Committees of their own; but for the rest of the county a Committee of this nature is appointed by the County Council.

Hertfordshire has four parliamentary divisions, namely, Hertford, Hitchin, St Albans, and Watford, each of which returns one member to the House of Commons. The county is thus represented only by four members, as against fifteen for Kent.