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Shires of Scotland

The counties, districts and burghs as they were in 1947

The shires of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachdan na h-Alba), 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.[1]

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,[2] and form the basis of the lieutenancy areas (although the latter are not entirely identical).[3]

  1. ^ "Counties and Burghs". National Records of Scotland. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  2. ^ Land Register Counties & Operational Dates Archived 28 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ County Directory of Scotland. https://archive.org/details/countydirectoryo1875edin