The name given to the principal subdivisions of the kingdom of England and of most of the states of the American Union, denoting a distinct portion of territory organized by itself for political and judicial purposes. The etymology of the word shows it to have been the district anciently governed by a count or earl. In modern use. the word may denote either the territory marked off to form a county, or the citizens resident within such territory, taken collectively and considered as invested with political rights, or the county regarded as a municipal corporation possessing subordinate governmental powers, or an organized jural society invested with specific rights and duties. Patterson v. Temple, 27 Ark. 207; Eagle v. Beard, 33 Ark. 501; Wooster v. Plymouth, 62 N. H. 20S.