rred
to as the bailiff of the franchise).

The bailiff of a sheriff is an under-officer employed by a sheriff within a
county for the purpose of executing writs, processes, distraints and
arrests. As a sheriff is liable for the acts of his officers acting under
his warrant, his bailiffs are annually bound to him in an obligation with
sureties for the faithful discharge of their office, and thence are called
_bound_ bailiffs. They are also often called _bum-bailiffs_, or, shortly,
_bums_. The origin of this word is uncertain; the _New English Dictionary_
suggests that it is in allusion to the mode of catching the offender.
Special bailiffs are officers appointed by the sheriff at the request of a
plaintiff for the purpose of executing a particular process. The
appointment of a special bailiff relieves the sheriff from all
responsibility until the party is arrested and delivered into the sheriff's
actual custody.

By the County Courts Act 1888, it is provided that there shall be one or
more high-bailiffs, appointed by the judge and removable by the
lord-chancellor; and every person discharging the duties of high-bailiff is
empowered to appoint a sufficient number of able and fit persons as
bailiffs to assist him, whom he can dismiss at his pleasure. The duty of
the high-bailiff is to serve all summonses and orders, and execute all the
warrants, precepts and writs issued out of the court. The high bailiff is
responsible for all the acts and defaults of himself, and of the bailiffs
appointed to assist him, in the same way as a sheriff of a county is
responsible for the acts and defaults of himself and his officers. By the
same act (s.49) bailiffs are answerable for any connivance, omission or
neglect to levy any such execution. No action can be brought against a
bailiff acting under order of the court without six days' notice (s.54).
Any warrant to a bailiff to give possession of a tenement justifies him in
entering upon the premises named in the warrant, and giving possession,
provided the entry be made between the hours of 9 A.M. and 4 P.M. (s. 142).
The Law of Distress Amendment Act 1888 enacts that no person may act as a
bailiff to levy any distress for rent, unless he is authorized by a
county-court judge to act as a bailiff.

In the Channel Islands the bailiff is the first civil officer in each
island. He is appointed by the crown, and generally holds office for life.
He presides at the royal court, and takes the op