Bailiwick

[L. Lat. balliva, baliva, bailivia, balia, balivatus; L. Fr. baillie. Derived by some from Fr. bailli, a bailiff; and Lat. vicus, a village.] The district or jurisdiction of a bailiff or sheriff: a county, of which the sheriff is, or formerly was, the bailiff. The word is still retained in civil process in this sense. According to Blackstone it was introduced into the English law by the princes of the Norman line.

1 Bl. Com. 344.

The word sheriffwick is sometimes used in the old books.

Doct. & Stud. Dial. 2, ch. 42, p. 232.

In old English law

A liberty, or exclusive jurisdiction, which was exempted from the sheriff of the county, and over which the lord of the liberty appointed a bailiff with such powers within his precinct as an under-sheriff exercised under the sheriff of the county.

Whishaw.