Shires of Scotland
Historic administrative and geographical division of Scotland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The shires of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachdan na h-Alba; Scots: Scots coonties),[lower-alpha 1] or counties of Scotland, are historic subdivisions of Scotland established in the Middle Ages and used as administrative divisions until 1975. Originally established for judicial purposes (being the territory over which a sheriff had jurisdiction), from the 17th century they started to be used for local administration purposes as well. The areas used for judicial functions (sheriffdoms) came to diverge from the shires, which ceased to be used for local government purposes after 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.[2]
Today, local government in Scotland is based upon council areas, which sometimes incorporate county names, but frequently have vastly different boundaries. Counties continue to be used for land registration,[3] and form the basis of the lieutenancy areas (although the latter are not entirely identical).[4]