A bailiwick () is usually the area of

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

of a

bailiff A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary. Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...

, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

's functions under a royal or imperial

writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

. In English, the original French combined with , the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

suffix (meaning a village) to produce a term meaning literally 'bailiff's

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

'—the original geographic scope of a bailiwick. In the 19th century, it was absorbed into

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

as a metaphor for a sphere of knowledge or activity. The term can also be used colloquially to mean 'one's area of expertise.' The term survives in administrative usage in the British

Crown Dependencies The Crown Dependencies are three dependent territory, offshore island territories in the British Islands that are self-governing possessions of the The Crown, British Crown: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, both lo ...

of the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

, which are grouped for administrative purposes into two bailiwicksthe Bailiwick of Jersey (comprising the island of Jersey and uninhabited islets such as the Minquiers and Écréhous) and the

Bailiwick of Guernsey The Bailiwick of Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Bailliage dé Guernési'') is a self-governing British Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France, comprising several of the Channel Islands. It has a total land area of ...

(comprising the islands of

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

Sark Sark (Sercquiais: or , ) is an island in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, and part of the archipelago of the Channel Islands. It is a self-governing British Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency, with its own set o ...

Alderney Alderney ( ; ; ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependencies, Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest isla ...

Brecqhou Brecqhou (or Brechou; ) is one of the Channel Islands, located off the west coast of Sark where they are now geographically detached from each other. Brecqhou is politically part of both Sark and the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It has been establishe ...

Herm Herm (Guernésiais: , ultimately from Old Norse 'arm', due to the shape of the island, or Old French 'hermit') is one of the -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, ...

, Jethou and Lihou). A

Bailiff A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary. Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...

heads each Channel Island bailiwick. A bailiwick () was also the territorial division of the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

. Here, various ''Komtur(en)'' formed a province.

Origin

The term originated in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

('' bailie'' being the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

term for a bailiff). Under the ancien régime in France, the was the king's representative in a , charged with the application of justice and control of the administration. In southern France, the term generally used was (cf seneschal) who held office in the . The administrative network of was established in the 13th century, based on the earlier medieval fiscal and tax divisions (the 'baillie') which had been used by earlier sovereign princes. (For more on this French judicial system, see '' bailli'', '' prévôt'' and

Early Modern France The Kingdom of France in the early modern period, from the French Renaissance, Renaissance () to the French Revolution, Revolution (1789–1804), was a monarchy ruled by the House of Bourbon (a Capetian dynasty, Capetian cadet branch). This corr ...

Bailiwick of Bicester Market End

At Bicester in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, the

Lord of the Manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

of Market End was the Earl of Derby who, in 1597, sold a 9,999-year lease to 31 principal tenants. This in effect gave the manorial rights to the leaseholders, ‘purchased for the benefit of those inhabitants or others who might hereafter obtain parts of the demesne’. The leaseholders elected a bailiff to receive the profits from the bailiwick, mainly from the administration of the market and distribute them to the shareholders. From the bailiff's title, the arrangement became known as the Bailiwick of Bicester Market End. By 1752 all of the original leases were in the hands of ten men, who leased the bailiwick control of the market to two local tradesmen."The market town of Bicester." A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6. Ed. Mary D Lobel. London: Victoria County History, 1959. 14-56. British History Online. Web. 23 June 2022. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol6/pp14-56.

List of Bailiwicks

* Bailiwick of Jersey * Bailiwick of Brandenburg * Bailiwick of Franconia * Bailiwick of Koblenz * Bailiwick of Bois le Duc * Bailiwick of Stade * Twescard * Bailiwick of Utrecht * Bailiwick ''An Der Etsch'' *

References

External links

* {{Authority control Types of administrative division