Bailiff

Bailiff (Scotch bailie, Fr. bailli, Ital. balio; all from late Lat. bajulivus, an adj. from ba Julius, 'a carrier,' then 'a manager'), an officer with public authority in a certain district. In England it was applied formerly to the king's officers generally, and it is still the formal title of the chief-magistrate of certain towns, as the 'Bailiff of Dover Castle.' The name ba Julos was given at the Greek imperial court in Constantinople to the chief tutor of the imperial children, afterwards to the Venetian superintendent of the foreign merchants there, and in the form Balio to the Venetian ambassadors themselves. The title Ballivus was introduced by the Knights of St John into the south and west of Europe, as the eight members of their chapter were called Ballivi conventuales. In England the name was introduced after the conquest, and applied loosely to several officials; thus the sheriff was spoken of as the 'king's bailiff,' his shrievalty as his 'bailiwick.' Later, the word became applied to elective functionaries, but gradually to definite offices, as the presiding magistrate of a town—the English reeve, but unlike that officer, nominated by the over-lord instead of the citizens—as the bailiff of Beverley, by the Archbishop of York. By the end of the 13th century, the mayor had supplanted the bailiff almost everywhere.