the representative of the king or queen in a county of England and Wales, who has mostly ceremonial duties.——朗文当代大辞典

England (and Wales). In England before the Norman Conquest, the scírgeréfa (also called scírman) was a high officer, the representative of the royal authority in a shire, who presided in the shire-moot, and was responsible for the administration of the royal demesne and the execution of the law. After the Conquest, the office of sheriff was continued, that title being retained in English documents, while in Latin and French the usual term was vice-comes, viscounte, which had been applied to similar functionaries in Normandy.——牛津当代大辞典

Scotland. In early times (from the 12th cent.) a high officer of a county with functions more or less analogous to those of the English sheriff of the same period, together with a civil and criminal jurisdiction of very wide extent. The office was commonly held by a noble, and was often hereditary; its judicial duties were performed by the sheriff-depute, who was necessarily a lawyer. The Act 20 Geo. II. c. 43 (1747) abolished heritable sheriffships, and in consequence of its provisions the office of sheriff, in the older sense, practically became extinct. The title of sheriff is now given to the sheriff-depute, who is the chief local judge in a Scottish county, and popularly to the sheriff-substitute, who usually hears cases in the first instance, subject to an appeal to the sheriff-depute. Both offices are now held for life, and the appointment rests with the crown.——牛津当代大辞典  @en