Abailiwick (/ˈbeɪlɪwɪk/ ⓘ)[1] is usually the area ofjurisdiction of abailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised thesheriff's functions under a royal or imperialwrit.
InEnglish, the originalFrenchbailie combined with-wic, theAnglo-Saxon suffix (meaning a village) to produce a term meaning literally 'bailiff'svillage'—the original geographic scope of a bailiwick. In the 19th century, it was absorbed intoAmerican English 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 BritishCrown Dependencies of theChannel Islands, which are grouped for administrative purposes into two bailiwicks – theBailiwick of Jersey (comprising the island of Jersey and uninhabited islets such as theMinquiers andÉcréhous) and theBailiwick of Guernsey (comprising the islands ofGuernsey,Sark,Alderney,Brecqhou,Herm,Jethou andLihou). ABailiff heads each Channel Island bailiwick.
A bailiwick (German:Ballei) was also the territorial division of theTeutonic Order. Here, variousKomtur(en) formed aBallei province.
The term originated inFrance (bailie being theOld French term for a bailiff). Under theancien régime in France, thebailli was the king's representative in abailliage, charged with the application of justice and control of the administration. In southern France, the term generally used wassénéchal (cfseneschal) who held office in thesénéchaussée. The administrative network ofbaillages 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.[2] (For more on this French judicial system, seebailli,prévôt andEarly Modern France.)
AtBicester inOxfordshire, theLord of the Manor of Market End was theEarl 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.[3]
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