High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! This is a list of High Sheriffs of Norfolk. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. He was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county and presided at the Assizes and other important county meetings . Most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct, so that its functions are now largely ceremonial. There was a single High Sheriff serving the two counties of Norfolk and Suffolk until 1576.