the title of a class of magistrates of the second rank in the burghs of Scotland, corresponding generally, though not in all respects, with the aldermen of England. In the royal burghs they seem to have been originally the stewards or executive officers of the crown; in the inferior burghs, of the barons or feudal superiors. At common law the magistrates of royal and parliamentary burghs are held to possess the same powers within their territory as the sheriff in his county; but the powers of bailies of baronies are now so limited as to be scarcely worth exercising, and have fallen generally into disuse.