Sherif Vs Marshall

English translation: Technically not the same, but in the context of Hollywood movies, this is a distinction without a difference.

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Sherif Vs Marshall
Selected answer:Technically not the same, but in the context of Hollywood movies, this is a distinction without a difference.
Entered by: Christopher Crockett

16:43 Nov 18, 2003
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary / Western movies
English term or phrase: Sherif Vs Marshall
Since I am watching Western motion pictures I always wanted to know what is the difference (practically and from a legal point of view) between a "Sherif" and a "Marshall" or " U.S Marshall.

Now is there also some difference between a "Marshall" and an "U.S. Marshall" ? "Now,thats' another thing" would say "The Duke" with his specific accent...
Thierry LOTTE
Local time: 23:56
Essentially the same, in the Hollywood West.
Explanation:
Originally, in Anglo-Saxon England, a "sheriff" was a "shire-reeve", a "reeve" being "An Old English official of high rank having a local jurisdiction under the king; the chief magistrate of a town or district." (OED)

I.e., this officer was "the representative of the royal authority in a shire, who presided in the shire-moot, and was responsible for the administration of the royal demesne and the execution of the law."

In present-day reality, in the U.S., things differ somewhat from state to state.

In Indiana (the Midwest), each county in the state has a sheriff, who is the main law enforcement officer opperating throughout the *whole county* (as opposed to just within the limits of a city).

Sheriffs can have a large number of deputies under them, if the population of the county warrants it --a whole "county police force".

Very small towns may have "town marshals", if they are not large enough to have a real police force.

So, chez moi, a "marshall" is a very minor sort of policeman.

But, there are, as has been mentioned, "federal marshalls", officers of the federal (U.S.) government, who can exercise quite extensive powers.

However, in the *movies*, you have a special and somewhat imaginary (or, at least not necessarily historically accurate) situation.

"Classic" Westerns take place in, well, the [far] West --an area of the country which was still in the process of being formed, politically and administratively.

In "territories" which were not yet formed into *states*, the federal government exercised supreme control, and the law enforcement aspect of this was in the hands of "marshalls".

As far as I know (and movies are really my only source of information), these marshalls exercised their power throughout the Territory, within and outside of towns.

Towns could have their own law enforcement guy, who would have been a sheriff.

But, it's all mixed up --some towns had a "town marshall", while a "town sheriff" could operate within the whole of a county.

I don't think that there is any hard and fast rule which can be used: some movie scripts call for one, some for the other, and historical accuracy is not much of a consideration.

I hope this is sufficiently confusing for you.

An accurate reflection of the confusing situation, in Hollywood movies.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr 29 mins (2003-11-18 18:13:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry about that dense first paragraph --the line breaks don\'t seem to be active unless they are doubled up.
Selected response from:

Christopher Crockett
Local time: 18:56
Grading comment
Thanks Chistopher (dont'you have some ancestor named "Davy"?) and also my best thanks to David Sirett for his very interesting link about O.K Corral. Tks to Nyamuk too.

This matter is quite complicated but now I have the feeling that I know a little bit more about it...
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +6Essentially the same, in the Hollywood West.
Christopher Crockett
4 +2Same but different jurisdiction
nyamuk
3 +1town marshal, county sheriff, (federal) US marshal
David Sirett


  

Answers


17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
sherif vs marshall
Same but different jurisdiction


Explanation:
Sherriffs and Marshals are the same in that they are the official that carries out court orders, rather than a policeman who sits around in a donut shop waiting for the law to be broken.

Of course sherriffs and martials also have policing roles but we just want to talk about the basics.

A sherriff is a marshal for the smallest geographic unit, a county, while marshals can be federal or state.

The sherrif and marshal you see in a cowboy movie are pretty much the same, but different from a US marshal.


nyamuk
United States
Local time: 16:56
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 58

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jonathan Spector: In spite of his spelling he's basically right.
2 mins
  -> -(4x[erri]) +(4x[eri]) -(1x[rti]) +(1x[rsh]) ;)

agree  Rajan Chopra
1 hr

neutral  Christopher Crockett: Mmmmm... Sheriffs certainly are policemen in Southern Indiana. And, they were in Hollywood movies, as well. And, "the smallest geographic unit" is a city. And, some of the marshals in the movies are U.S. marshals. Other than that...
1 hr
  -> Indeed smaller than a city we have wards, and neighborhoods. There are also towns incorporated and unincorporated. But for practical purpose the smallest jurisdiction for a sheriff marshal is a county below that sheriff is a catch all term.
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22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
town marshal, county sheriff, (federal) US marshal


Explanation:
in principle, but it didn't always work like that (see ref.).


    Reference: http://www.ddconsult.com/blogs/illuminati/archives/000095.ht...
David Sirett
Local time: 23:56
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 301

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  DGK T-I
3 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
sherif vs marshall
Essentially the same, in the Hollywood West.


Explanation:
Originally, in Anglo-Saxon England, a "sheriff" was a "shire-reeve", a "reeve" being "An Old English official of high rank having a local jurisdiction under the king; the chief magistrate of a town or district." (OED)

I.e., this officer was "the representative of the royal authority in a shire, who presided in the shire-moot, and was responsible for the administration of the royal demesne and the execution of the law."

In present-day reality, in the U.S., things differ somewhat from state to state.

In Indiana (the Midwest), each county in the state has a sheriff, who is the main law enforcement officer opperating throughout the *whole county* (as opposed to just within the limits of a city).

Sheriffs can have a large number of deputies under them, if the population of the county warrants it --a whole "county police force".

Very small towns may have "town marshals", if they are not large enough to have a real police force.

So, chez moi, a "marshall" is a very minor sort of policeman.

But, there are, as has been mentioned, "federal marshalls", officers of the federal (U.S.) government, who can exercise quite extensive powers.

However, in the *movies*, you have a special and somewhat imaginary (or, at least not necessarily historically accurate) situation.

"Classic" Westerns take place in, well, the [far] West --an area of the country which was still in the process of being formed, politically and administratively.

In "territories" which were not yet formed into *states*, the federal government exercised supreme control, and the law enforcement aspect of this was in the hands of "marshalls".

As far as I know (and movies are really my only source of information), these marshalls exercised their power throughout the Territory, within and outside of towns.

Towns could have their own law enforcement guy, who would have been a sheriff.

But, it's all mixed up --some towns had a "town marshall", while a "town sheriff" could operate within the whole of a county.

I don't think that there is any hard and fast rule which can be used: some movie scripts call for one, some for the other, and historical accuracy is not much of a consideration.

I hope this is sufficiently confusing for you.

An accurate reflection of the confusing situation, in Hollywood movies.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr 29 mins (2003-11-18 18:13:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry about that dense first paragraph --the line breaks don\'t seem to be active unless they are doubled up.

Christopher Crockett
Local time: 18:56
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 128
Grading comment
Thanks Chistopher (dont'you have some ancestor named "Davy"?) and also my best thanks to David Sirett for his very interesting link about O.K Corral. Tks to Nyamuk too.

This matter is quite complicated but now I have the feeling that I know a little bit more about it...

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ioanna Karamanou
2 hrs
  -> Thanks, JM.

agree  DGK T-I
2 hrs
  -> Thanks, Giuli.

agree  Nancy Arrowsmith
3 hrs
  -> Thanks, Nancy.

agree  Empty Whiskey Glass
21 hrs
  -> Thanks, Svetozar.

agree  Kardi Kho
1 day 5 hrs
  -> Thanks, Kardi.

agree  senin
2 days 21 hrs
  -> Thanks, senin.
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