bailiff, a minor court official with police authority to protect the court while in session and with power to serve and execute legal process. In earlier times it was a title of more dignity and power.
In medieval England there were bailiffs who served the lord of the manor, while others served the hundred courts and the sheriff. The bailiffs of manors were, in effect, superintendents; they collected fines and rents, served as accountants, and were, in general, in charge of the land and buildings on the estate. Bailiffs who served the hundred courts were appointed by the sheriff; they assisted judges at assizes (sessions of the royal court held twice a year in each shire), acted as process servers and executors of writs, assembled juries, and collected fines in court.
In France the bailli had much greater power; from the 13th to the 15th century they were the principal agents of the king and his growing central administration for countering feudalism. The bailli was part of this central administration, appointed by the king and required to give account to him, and stood between a prévôt and the central royal court. In the south, sénéchaux, who had originally been feudal officers of the crown, assumed the same functions as the baillis. The position of a grand bailli in a district was equal to that of the English sheriff.
Like the prévôts, the baillis represented the king in many kinds of business. As administrators, they were in charge of lesser officeholders, maintaining public order, publishing the king’s ordinances, and carrying out his orders. In military affairs the bailli called men for service, collected taxes paid in place of service, were in charge of troops assembled by the prévôts, and were responsible for the general defense of the area. As financial agents of the crown they were administrators of the royal domain, paid salaries to local officials, and gave over the funds received from various taxes, fines, and fees to the royal treasury. The baillis’ judicial responsibilities were, perhaps, the most important. They held court at local assizes made up of royal officials and prominent bourgeois (later, judicial officers and lawyers) who gave their opinion of which local customary law should be applied in the cases before the court. The baillis’ court had original jurisdiction over cases concerning the nobility, and appellate jurisdiction over cases originally heard by the prévôts and some seignorial courts. The baillis also had jurisdiction over cases that affected the king’s domain and his rights.
With the consolidation of much feudal land into the domain of the crown, it was obvious that no one man could handle so many jobs. As a result, other officers were created to ease the burden of the bailli, and eventually they stripped him of much of his power. By the early 14th century, receivers were appointed who took over the administration of finances. With the creation of a permanent army and its own officers (15th century), the bailli lost his military powers. His judicial functions disappeared gradually over a period of centuries. As early as the late 13th century, lieutenants were created to serve under the baillis; often they served in their place. Eventually, the lieutenants were required to have legal degrees, and by the 16th century they had completely superseded the baillis, who were no longer allowed to participate in judicial decisions. In the 17th century the baillis’ administrative responsibilities were completely taken over by the intendants, thus removing the last of their real powers. Even though their offices were purchasable and hereditary, and they could not be removed, they became mere figureheads.