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 bailiff was the Vogt. In the Holy Roman Empire a similar function was performed by the Amtmann. They are mostly known for being the officer that keeps the order in a court of law and who also administers oaths to people who participate in court proceedings.
Britain and Ireland
Historic bailiffs
Bailiff was the term used by the Normans for what the Saxons had called a reeve: the officer responsible for executing the decisions of a court. The duty of the bailiff would thus include serving summonses and orders, and executing all warrants issued out of the corresponding court. The district within which the bailiff operated was called his bailiwick, and is even to the present day. Bailiffs were outsiders and free men, that is, they were not usually from the bailiwick for which they were responsible.Throughout Norman England, the Saxon and Norman populations gradually mixed, and reeve came to be limited to shire-level courts, while bailiff was used in relation to the lower courts. Primarily then, bailiff referred to the officer executing the decisions of manorial courts, and the hundred courts. Likewise, in Scotland a bailie was the chief officer of a barony, and in the Channel Islands they were the principal civil officers. With the introduction of justices of the peace, magistrates' courts acquired their own bailiffs.
Historically, courts were not only concerned with legal matters, and often decided administrative matters for the area within their jurisdiction. A bailiff of a manor, therefore, would often oversee the manor's lands and buildings, collect its rents, manage its accounts, and run its farms.
In the 19th century, the administrative functions of courts were mostly replaced by the creation of elected local authorities. Nevertheless, the term bailiff is retained as a title by the chief officers of various towns and the keepers of royal castles, such as the High Bailiff of Westminster and the Bailiff of Dover Castle. In Scotland, bailie now refers to a municipal officer corresponding to an English alderman.
In the 20th century, the court system in England was drastically re-organised, with the assize courts taking some of the powers of the shire courts, and becoming the High Court of Justice; in turn, the remaining elements of the shire court took over the powers of the hundred courts, to form county courts. The High Court acquired the sheriffs, the county courts the bailiffs. Bailiffs were now appointed by a county court judge and were removable by the Lord Chancellor.
Delegation
A bailiff could, for practical reasons, delegate his responsibilities, in regard to some particular court instruction, to other individuals. As the population expanded, the need for the services of a bailiff mainly arose from financial disputes; consequently, these assistants came to be closely associated with debt-collection, in the public's minds. By Shakespeare's time, they had acquired the nickname bum-bailiffs, perhaps because they followed debtors very closely behind them; in France, the term pousse-cul was similarly used for their equivalent officers.To avoid confusion with their underlings, the County Courts Act 1888 renamed bailiffs as high bailiffs. This act also formally acknowledged right of the high bailiffs to appoint under-bailiffs as they wished, and establishing that the high bailiffs retain ultimate responsibility for their actions. High bailiff gradually became a purely ceremonial role, the court's clerk liaising with under-bailiffs directly.
The Law of Distress Amendment Act 1888 enacts that no person may act as an under-bailiff to levy any distress for rent unless he is authorized by a county court judge to act as an under-bailiff. The County Courts Act 1888 restricted the hours an under-bailiff could execute a possession warrant, to only be between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.. It also limited the ability to bring a legal complaint against a bailiff; six days' notice now had to be given.
Modern-day usage
Channel Islands
In the Channel Islands the bailiff is the first civil officer in each of the two bailiwicks. He is appointed by the Crown, and holds office until retirement. He presides as a judge in the Royal Court, and takes the opinions of the jurats; he also presides over the States Assembly or States of Guernsey, and represents the Crown on civic occasions. The bailiff in each island must, in order to fulfill his judicial role, be a qualified lawyer.England and Wales
In England and Wales, there are a number of offices either formally titled, or commonly referred to, as "bailiffs". Some of these bailiffs are concerned with executing the orders of the courts, generally around the collection of debts, and some exercise semi-official supervisory powers over certain activities. Those concerned with the execution of court orders are commonly referred to as bailiffs, although reforms to the law in 2014 have renamed all these positions to alternative titles.With the 19th-century renaming of bailiffs to "high bailiffs", their under-bailiffs generally came to be referred to as bailiffs themselves. The powers and responsibilities of these bailiffs depend on which type of court they take orders from. In emulation of these responsibilities, a number of roles established by 19th century statute laws have also been named "bailiffs", despite not having a connection to a court.
It has been estimated by Citizens Advice those bailiffs had added £250 million in fees to people's debts in the 18 months up to March 2023. The organisation surveyed 6,274 adults in England and Wales across a month-long period from February to March 2023 who had an interaction or interactions with bailiffs. According to Citizens Advice over 33% who had an interaction with a bailiff suffered behaviour that broke the rules of the Ministry of Justice. These behaviours included bailiffs breaking and entering into homes and bailiffs not considering illnesses or disabilitiess. Almost 60% of those who interacted with a bailiff reported harassment or intimidation, misrepresentation of powers and threats to break into homes. 72% of respondents reported that interactions with bailiffs had impacted their mental health and 49% reported long-term financial consequences.
Magistrates' bailiffs
Civilian enforcement officers are employees of His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, and can seize and sell goods to recover money owed under a fine and community penalty notice, and also execute warrants of arrest, committal, detention and control. These functions can also be carried out by employees of private companies authorised by the Ministry of Justice. In July 2013 HM Court Service announced it is to fully contract out the whole of the compliance and enforcement process to a private company; this would involve the transfer of over 500 of its employees. This decision led to official strike action by some employees on 30 July 2013.Certificated enforcement agents
Certificated enforcement agents are used by local authorities, His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service and landlords for a variety of reasons such as collection of taxes, road traffic debts and commercial rent arrears.County Court bailiffs
County Court bailiffs remain directly employed by HM Courts Service, carrying out enforcement for the County Court. The current frequency of different types of case means that they are mainly involved in recovering payment of unpaid County Court judgments; like magistrates' bailiffs, they can seize and sell goods to recover a debt. They can also effect and supervise the possession of the property and the return of goods under hire purchase agreements, and serve court documents. They also execute arrest warrants and search warrants.High Court enforcement officers
A High Court enforcement officer has similar functions to a County Court bailiff, in that they execute writs and warrants for unpaid court judgements, and evict people from land where possession has been granted. The majority of the work of High Court enforcement officers is carried out by certificated enforcement agents acting under the authority of a senior High Court enforcement officer, often a director of an enforcement firm for whom the enforcement agent works.Another officer of the High Court, the tipstaff, is an employee of HM Courts and Tribunals Service, and is concerned with enforcing certain judgments of the High Court, typically involving the enforcement of court orders relating to the custody of children in family law cases.