County Judge

The term county judge is applied as a descriptor, and sometimes as a title, for a person who presides over a county court. In most cases, such as in Northern Ireland and the Victorian County Courts, a county judge is a judicial officer with civil and / or criminal jurisdiction. In the United States, however, there are some County Courts which exercise primarily administrative functions, in which case the County Judge may exercise largely or solely executive authority and be equivalent to the county executive in other local government areas.

County court systems are common in the United States, often led by a County Judge, but with jurisdiction varying between the states, and in many cases carry a mix of administrative law functions and executive responsibilities for governing the county. In Missouri, for example, the county court deals largely with property registration and deeds as well as leading the county – in the 1922, Harry S. Truman was elected as one of two County Judges for Jackson County, Missouri, becoming the county presiding judge in 1926, his two elected positions prior to entering the Senate. In states like New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, the county courts conduct trials on misdemeanor, and even some felony, criminal matters. The blurring of municipal and judicial functions have developed on a state-by-state basis in response to local needs and so there is little uniformity between states, and even within states at times (differing interactions of rural and urban / municipal jurisdictions with each other and with the state government, for example). Tennessee and Oregon both have county courts which are executive agencies, and which thus carry responsibility for funding local courts, jails, and Sheriffs departments, maintaining county roads, managing local property developments, and levying county-wide property taxes. In other areas, this body is a County Commission rather than being named a Court.

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