In a message dated 19/05/00 4:12:04 PM Central Daylight Time, mark@highland-family-heritage.co.uk writes: Mark you are most correct and accurate in your description of the Sheriff in Scotland. What I was trying to do was show the difference between the Sheriff in the US which is more of a police force, and that they were the same in areas such as foreclosure of property etc. Sorry if my thoughts were a bit disjointed and thanks for the corrections and picking up the slack. DaveM << Hi folks, not sue which Sheriff my old friend Dave McLean is referring to as collecting taxes etc, it certainly isn't the Scottish variety. Scotland is divided into Sheriffdoms (at present there are 6) which at the time of the outbreak of WWII was more based on County lines. Each Sheriffdom is divided into Sheriff Court Districts. In the Highlands on the mainland there is Wick, Dornoch, Tain, Dingwall, Inverness, Fort William, Oban and Elgin. There is also Kirkwall and Lerwick in the Northern Isles, Stornoway, Portree and Lochmaddy in the Western Isles and Skye. Prior to 1973 Nairnshire was attached to Morayshire (Elginshire) and after 1973 to Inverness-shire. Nairn itself doesn't have a Sheriff Court, only a District Court. >>