County corporate

A county corporate or corporate county was a type of subnational division used for local government in England, Wales, and Ireland.

Counties corporate were created during the Middle Ages, and were effectively small self-governing county-empowered entities such as towns or cities which were deemed to be important enough to be independent from their counties. A county corporate could also be known as a county of itself, similar to an independent city or consolidated city-county in other countries.

While they were administratively distinct counties, with their own sheriffs and lord lieutenancies, most of the counties corporate remained part of the "county at large" for purposes such as the county assize courts. From the 17th century, the separate jurisdictions of the counties corporate were increasingly merged with that of the surrounding county,^{[citation needed]} so that by the late 19th century the title was mostly a ceremonial one.