County seat
A county seat is an administrative center for a county. In the U.S., New England states (excluding Connecticut and Rhode Island, since they don't have any county governments), and in Canada, the Maritime Provinces, use the term "shire town", although only Vermont uses it officially. In England, Wales and Ireland, the term county town is used. This term is still used colloquially in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but today neither are divided into counties – instead being divided, respectively, into regions and districts. Counties are called "parishes" in Louisiana, and Alaska is divided into "boroughs" (here, meaning a very large district or region of the state). Their seats of county government are called "parish seat" and "borough seat," respectively. The Canadian province of Ontario, in addition to counties, also has territorial districts, regional muncipalities, and at least one metropolitan municipality, which are effectively different types of counties in that they perform county government functions.
In the United States, as in England and Canada, a county is an administrative division of a state which has no sovereign jurisdiction of its own, so it would not be correct to say that a county seat is equivalent to a capital city since it's just an administrative centre. (See also the article, Counties of the United States.) Counties administer state or provincial law at the local level as part of the decentralisation of state/provincial authority. In many U.S. states, state government is further decentralised by dividing counties into townships, to provide local government services to residents of the county who do not live in incorporated cities or towns.
A county seat is often, but not always, an incorporated municipality. The exceptions include, inter alia, the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia, and Baltimore County, Maryland. The county courthouse and county administration are usually located in the county seat, but some functions may also be conducted in other parts of the county, especially if it is geographically large.
Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Mississippi have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of the county. An example is Harrison County, Mississippi, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats. The practice of multiple county towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement since a county seat is a source of pride (and jobs) for the towns involved.
In Virginia, there are (since 2001) 39 independent cities, which are legally distinct from the counties that surround them. An independent city interacts with the commonwealth (state) government directly whereas villages and other local government authorities do so through the county government apparatus. However, many of Virginia's independent cities act as the county seat for their neighbouring counties. For example, the City of Fairfax is separate from Fairfax County, but is still the county's seat.
Lists of US county seats by state
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