![]() ![]() With the consolidation of much feudal land into the domain of the crown, it was obvious that no one man could handle so many jobs. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The baillis also had jurisdiction over cases that affected the king’s domain and his rights. The baillis’ court had original jurisdiction over cases concerning the nobility, and appellate jurisdiction over cases originally heard by the prévôts and some seignorial courts. They held court at local assizes made up of royal officials and prominent bourgeois (later, judicial officers and lawyers) who gave their opinion of which local customary law should be applied in the cases before the court. The baillis’ judicial responsibilities were, perhaps, the most important. As financial agents of the crown they were administrators of the royal domain, paid salaries to local officials, and gave over the funds received from various taxes, fines, and fees to the royal treasury. In military affairs the bailli called men for service, collected taxes paid in place of service, were in charge of troops assembled by the prévôts, and were responsible for the general defense of the area. As administrators, they were in charge of lesser officeholders, maintaining public order, publishing the king’s ordinances, and carrying out his orders. Like the prévôts, the baillis represented the king in many kinds of business. ![]() The position of a grand bailli in a district was equal to that of the English sheriff. In the south, sénéchaux, who had originally been feudal officers of the crown, assumed the same functions as the baillis. The bailli was part of this central administration, appointed by the king and required to give account to him, and stood between a prévôt and the central royal court. In France the bailli had much greater power from the 13th to the 15th century they were the principal agents of the king and his growing central administration for countering feudalism. Bailiffs who served the hundred courts were appointed by the sheriff they assisted judges at assizes (sessions of the royal court held twice a year in each shire), acted as process servers and executors of writs, assembled juries, and collected fines in court. The bailiffs of manors were, in effect, superintendents they collected fines and rents, served as accountants, and were, in general, in charge of the land and buildings on the estate. In medieval England there were bailiffs who served the lord of the manor, while others served the hundred courts and the sheriff. In earlier times it was a title of more dignity and power.
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