Bailiff (Part 1)

Question: A client has asked — what is a bailiff? What is his job?

Solution: Bailiff — what is a bailiff? A bailiff is a court advisor, a bailiff is a court representative, a bailiff is one who attaches [property], a bailiff is one who arrests, a bailiff is [an extension of] the court itself. When a court appoints a bailiff, keep in mind that when you go to that court, you address that court, and after addressing that court you say, please go to the site and do this, resolve this difficulty of mine — the court appoints its own representative; that representative can be any person the court wants to appoint — he can be a court-designated bailiff, he can be the court's stenographer, he can be the court's reader, he can be anyone the court wants.

Now, what is a court bailiff, and when is one issued? Habeas corpus — sir, A has kept B in unlawful custody, A has kept B in improper custody, I have this relationship with the person kept in custody, please have him released from custody. The court appoints a representative — this is my representative, he will go on my behalf, and he will bring that person, and that representative has all the powers that a court has. In a habeas corpus petition, when the court appoints a bailiff to recover the person the petitioner is naming from the police station and produce them in court, the court also fixes his fee, but that fee is conditional — conditional in the sense that if what the petitioner said is true, and it turns out to be true, then the bailiff's fee is refunded — refunded to the petitioner.

Now the petitioner gets a bailiff appointed; the bailiff goes to the police station; upon entering the police station, the first thing the bailiff does is take custody of the daily register (roznamcha) — takes custody of the register and writes in his own hand that I am present here at this time. First he asks the clerk (moharrar), who is the custodian of that register, where such-and-such person is in your custody — he denies it, admits it, whatever he does — the one who went says, tell me where he is — he then goes into the back rooms, wherever he indicates, that person is recovered — he will write at that very time that this person has been recovered; if court hours are still available, he will take him and the police right then and produce them before the court and say, sir, we have brought this person — but if court hours have ended, then he will bind that policeman to produce him before the court the next morning during court hours. A bailiff is a fairly powerful figure.

Now, similarly, in civil matters — some judgment and decree comes about that requires the court's involvement to have that matter, that decree, given effect on the spot — then the court appoints a bailiff: possession of some place has to be handed over — the bailiff will go and hand over possession; a place has to be vacated — the bailiff will go and get it vacated.

Now what powers does the bailiff have? He goes, and meets resistance — the bailiff can have an FIR registered against them, [saying] I came as the court's representative, I came as the court's advisor, and I was mistreated — contempt proceedings will be initiated. And if the bailiff feels that he shouldn't go alone, that circumstances are such, he goes back to the court and says, sir, circumstances are volatile, I need police force — the court says, go, take police force, come back after executing my order — the bailiff will go to the police station, take police, go to the site, and get it executed. If there's a lock on that property, the bailiff also has the power to break it — when the court instructs him that yes, if it's locked, break it — you have the authority — the bailiff will break that lock too and hand over possession.

Then a third aspect of the bailiff comes up — in tenancy matters, where the tenant is sitting and not vacating, a decree has been passed, litigation went on and he's still not vacating — the bailiff doesn't go alone, doesn't vacate — the bailiff will go with police, they will lift his belongings and throw them outside, and the bailiff will hand over possession.

A fourth aspect of the bailiff — a guardianship petition is filed; the child is in the mother's or father's custody; the mother or father comes for interim visitation — the court, if the minor is with the mother, will hand the child to the bailiff, [saying] go, arrange a meeting with the father; if the child has to be taken from the mother and given to the father for a day or two, the court will appoint the bailiff to take the child from the mother and hand him to the father, and the father will be instructed to return the child to the bailiff after that period, and the bailiff will take the child and return him to the mother. The basic purpose of a bailiff is that he assists, helps, with the physical execution of court-ordered work.

A bailiff is a court representative, a court aide; the bailiff's fee is fixed — in some places the fee is refunded, in some places once it's executed it's not refunded, in some places there's no fee at all — for example, arranging a visitation, there's no fee for the bailiff in that — it's his duty, he is a court bailiff, a court representative, a court-designated bailiff.

Now I hope I've given you enough knowledge about bailiffs that you understand what a bailiff is. I don't want to go into the other side — what all gets done under the guise of a bailiff — that would become a long story, but as far as bailiffs go, I've told you what a court bailiff is. One more thing — besides court bailiffs, there are also bailiffs belonging to various other institutions — various institutions also keep bailiffs who have quasi-judicial scope — not the same jurisdiction as a court, not the same judicial power as a court, but some institutions are like that too.

Gradually, God willing, God willing, I will bring you enough awareness of the law that you will go to your lawyer with your head held high, and instead of listening to your lawyer, you will tell him what to do — because, since we don't have a law licence, [you can say] we know everything, you need to do this, and we will pay you your fee. You should just focus on this — that the lawyer reads the legal points correctly, doesn't get the legal points wrong — I know the procedure, this is how it's going to happen.