Baillif
The baillif was in the Ancien Mode French the representative of authority of the king or the prince, charged to make apply justice and to control the administration on its behalf.
It in the beginning was carried by royal police chiefs who returned justice, perceived the taxes and received, in the name of the crown, the complaints of the people against the lords. Their jurisdiction, regularized with the Capétiens was initially very wide; but the abuse which they made of their power obliged the kings to reduce it, and towards XVIe century, they were nothing any more but law officers.
Nevertheless, their office was noble and of sword; Charles IX, in 1560, declared them officers of Short dress.
The jurisdiction in load of a baillif is called a Bailliage .
In Swiss, under the Old Mode, the baillif was the Gouverneur of a Prévôté ( Landvogt ).
The function of baillif always exists, in particular in the Channel Islands.
One called also baillifs, baillifs seigneuriaux, of simple law officers seigneuriale, known as of evening gown or small baillifs, to distinguish them from the royal baillifs.
Certain guards of castles being used as prison carried this title.
In the Order of Malta, one gives the name of baillifs to dignitaries higher than the commanders and lower than the large priors.
Source
| Random links: | Allenwiller | Lista de primeros ministros de Bélgica | Saulxerotte | Inequalities of richness | Hangar Y | Louis Billouart de Kerlerec |