rents within his bailiwick, if commanded by proceſs from the exchequer[1].
To execute theſe various offices, the ſheriff has under him many inferior officers; an under-ſheriff, bailiffs, and gaolers; who muſt neither buy, ſell, nor farm their offices, on forfeiture of 500𝑙.[2]
The under-ſheriff uſually performs all the duties of the office; a very few only excepted, where the perſonal preſence of the high-ſheriff is neceſſary. But no under-ſheriff sſhall abide in his office above one year[3]; and if he does, by ſtatute 23 Hen. VI. c. 8. he forfeits 200𝑙. a very large penalty in thoſe early days. And no under-ſheriff or ſheriff's officer ſhall practice as an attorney, during the time he continues in ſuch office[4]: for this would be a great inlet to partiality and oppreſſion. But theſe ſalutary regulations are ſhamefully evaded, by practicing in the names of other attorneys, and putting in ſham deputies by way of nominal under-ſheriffs: by reaſon of which, ſays Dalton[5], the under-ſheriffs and bailiffs do grow ſo cunning in their ſeveral places, that they are able to deceive, and it may well be feared that many of them do deceive, both the king, the high-ſheriff, and the county.
Bailiffs, or ſheriff's officers, are either bailiffs of hundreds, or ſpecial bailiffs. Bailiffs of hundreds are officers appointed over thoſe reſpective diſtricts by the ſheriffs, to collect fines therein; to ſummon juries; to attend the judges and juſtices at the aſſiſes, and quarter ſeſſions; and alſo to execute writs and proceſs in the ſeveral hundreds. But, as theſe are generally plain men, and not thoroughly ſkilful in this latter part of their office, that of ſerving writs, and making arreſts and executions, it is now uſual to join ſpecial bailiffs with them; who are generally
