" In such wars a posse comitatus marches ahead of the disciplined army. "

Posse comitatus \Pos"se com`i*ta"tus\ [L. posse to be able, to
have power + LL. comitatus a county, from comes, comitis, a
count. See County, and Power.]
1. (Law) The power of the county, or the citizens who may be
summoned by the sheriff to assist the authorities in
suppressing a riot, or executing any legal precept which
is forcibly opposed. --Blackstone.

2. A collection of people; a throng; a rabble. [Colloq.]

Note: The word comitatus is often omitted, and posse alone
used. ``A whole posse of enthusiasts.'' --Carlyle.

As if the passion that rules were the sheriff of
the place, and came off with all the posse.
--Locke.

So, does the 'count' here refer to what was once owned by a count--or does the 'count' here refer to the people in a province who were counted? I would think it would have been the people under the leadership of a count. Set me straight.

To sum this up: posse comitatus would have been the power of the count [if it was the ruler] or county, yes?

does the 'count' here refer to what was once owned by a count?

Yup. Compare comitatus with the French comte. Count, meaning enumerating, comes from computare.
http://www.bartleby.com/61/36/C0693600.html

Thank you, Faldage.

Did you see on the other thread, by the way, that chad can take an 's'?

Yes, count as in earl or thane. The Latin comes, comitatis, originally meant 'companion, escort' from the roots for com 'with' and eo, ire 'go'. (Whereas a companion is somebody you break bread with.) In the '70s, there was a group of right-wing types who argued that the power to police at the county level was not in the hands of any police force but in the people's right to form a posse commitatus, i.e., the posse of the old West. They were also investigated on tax evasion and domestic terrorism.

More info http://foia.fbi.gov/posse.htm

Interesting. It would be good to know when these posses were so formed and actually referred to as a posse comitatus.

It's also interesting to read in jheem's commentary about the connection between count and companion--someone to break bread with. I would imagine there had been a divide between the earls and thanes--and those with whom they trusted enough to share the breaking of bread.

As a slight tangent, there is a moment in Poe's 'Tell-Tale Heart' in which Poe writes that men had been 'deputed' to investigate a cry heard in the night from the house in which the central persona of the tale had murdered the old man. That is the only instance I can recall in a story in which the verb 'to depute' had been chosen over the use of the noun 'deputies.' It is clear that a posse comitatus would be called out for more of a general public thread than an isolated murder as in the Poe story.

What is that group of cardinals called that names the new Pope?

(no, this isn't a riddle. I've forgotten the word and it's bothering me)

Well, if you're going to introduce another tangent, at least let us know how you got there. Ha! Edgar Allan Pope? [Just kidding.]

A conclave, isn't it?

The OED has a citation from the 13th century in Anglo-Latin. So, I'd say it predates the Wild West.

College of Cardinals

That's it, conclave. Thanks, jheem. And WW, I can no better explain my leaps than you can yours.

Edit: True, Faldage. I didn't state it very well, but "conclave" is what I was looking for.

Conclave, so called because they lock all the cardinals in a room until they've chosen a new supreme pontiff.

But why is a cardinal like a trope? Latin cardo, cardinis, 'hinge, turning point'.