Custos Rotulorum

Custos Rotulorum, the chief civil officer of the county to whose custody are committed the records or rolls of the sessions. He is always a justice of the peace and quorum in the county for which he is appointed. The lord-lieutenant has the chief military command of the county, and his office is quite distinct from that of custos rotulorum, but it is a usual practice to appoint the same person to both offices, in whom are united the highest military and civil authority in the county.