or Bailie, in a general sense, denotes an officer appointed for the administration of justice in a certain district or bailiwick. The term is formed from the French word bailly, that is, prefectus provinciae. The chief magistrates in some towns are called bailiffs or bailies; and sometimes the persons to whom the king's castles are committed are termed bailiffs, as the bailiff of Dover Castle.

Of ordinary bailiffs there are several sorts, viz., sheriffs' bailiffs, bailiffs of liberties, &c. Sheriffs' bailiffs, or sheriffs' officers, are either bailiffs of hundreds or special bailiffs. Bailiffs of hundreds are officers appointed over those districts by the sheriffs, to collect fines, to summon juries, to attend the judges and justices at the assizes and quarter-sessions, and also to execute writs and process in the several hundreds. Bailiffs of liberties were those bailiffs appointed by every lord within his liberty, to execute process, and do such offices as the bailiffs-errant were wont to do at large in the county.