Beyond the considerable authority and power associated with the office of the sheriff, the financial rewards for the position were also high. The multiplicity of the duties allowed for sheriffs to have the ability to swindle and extort their subjects. This became a usual and over abused situation. It became so common that it was interpreted as the sheriff's right to cheat the peasantry. A common form of extortion was known as the sheriff's "ale tax". The brewing of ale was a monopoly of medieval sheriffs. A sheriff would set aside the best barley, that he confiscated from the peasant farmers, then he would force the serfs to buy his ale at inflated prices. The sheriff would forbid anyone other than himself from brewing ale to insure his monopoly. Gradually, this became a compulsory taxation that benefitted no one else other than the sheriff himself.¹⁹

The "Sheriff's Tooth", the "Sheriff's Welcome", and the "Sheriff's Paltry" were all euphemisms that served to identify the schemes of the sheriff to swindle the population and line his own pockets. To further complicate the situation, sheriffs were allowed to keep any sum they collected which was over the expected amount required by the king. This inspired sheriffs to gouge peasant taxpayers in a practice developed under Norman kings, known as "farming" the shire. This unseemly practice allowed for sheriffs to have a free hand to "fleece their flock", so to speak, through the over charging of taxes. By farming the shire, the sheriff could produce more income off the backs of the peasants than he could ever produce off the land.²⁰

20. Round, J.H., Victoria County History, (Constable, 1920), p. 209.