There are two Sheriffs of the City of London. The sheriffs are elected annually by the Liverymen of the Livery Companies, and it is a requirement for a Lord Mayor of the City of London to previously have served as a Sheriff. Sheriffs have only nominal duties now, but previously had large judicial responsibilities. They attend the Justices at the Central Criminal Court Old Bailey since its original role as the Court for the City and Middlesex. The Sheriffs actually are resident for their year of office in the court house complex, so that one of them is always attendant on the judges. In Court No1 the principal chairs on the 'bench' are reserved for them and the Lord Mayor, the City's Sword hangs behind the 'bench'.
By a "custom of immemorial usage in the city",[1] they are elected at the Midsummer Common Hall by the Liverymen by acclamation unless a ballot is demanded from the floor which takes place within 14 days. The returning officers at the Common Hall are the Recorder of London (senior Judge of the 'Old Bailey') and the serving Sheriffs. The current (2011-12) Sheriffs are Alderman Alan Yarrow and Wendy Mead CC.
The sheriffs only cover the square mile of the City of London. There is now a High Sheriff of Greater London who covers London outside of the City, which today incorporates parts of several old counties, notably Middlesex.
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The title of sheriff, or shire reeve, evolved during the Anglo-Saxon period of English history; the reeve was the representative of the king in a city, town or shire, responsible for collecting taxes and enforcing the law.[2] By the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, the City of London had sheriffs, usually two at a time; the sheriffs were the most important city officials and collected London's annual taxes on behalf of the royal exchequer; they also had judicial duties in the City's law courts.[3] Until c.1130, the sheriffs were directly appointed by the king; however, London gained a degree of self-government by a charter granted by Henry I, including the right to choose its own sheriff, a right which was affirmed in an 1141 charter by King Stephen. By Henry's charter the sheriffs of London also gained jurisdiction over the neighbouring county of Middlesex, paying £300 per annum to the Crown for the privilege.[3][4]
In 1189,[5] an annually elected mayor was introduced as chief magistrate for the City of London (along the lines of some European cities of the time such as Rouen and Liege); this change was reaffirmed by a charter granted by King John in 1215. As such, the sheriffs were relegated to a less senior role in the running of the city, and became subordinate to the mayor.[6] However, the mayor (later Lord Mayor of the City of London) generally served as sheriff before becoming mayor, and in 1385 the Common Council of London stipulated that every future Lord Mayor should "have previously been Sheriff so that he may be tried as to his governance and bounty before he attains to the Estate of Mayoralty"; this tradition continues to this day.[5]
In 1889 the jurisdiction of the sheriffs was restricted to the City. The Local Government Act 1888 created a new office of High Sheriff of Middlesex appointed in the same manner as other English counties. At the same time, the most populous parts of Middlesex were included in the new County of London, which had its own High Sheriff.[7]