Whenever I am tasked with delivering training to clients about the role of the High Court Enforcement Officer, my opening line is to ask them to picture the Sheriff of Nottingham from the legend of Robin Hood.
Some come up with a mental image of Alan Rickman in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, but many picture the villainous wolf that portrays the role in Disney’s 1973 animated movie. The wolf – voiced by the fantastic Pat Buttram – can often be found with his henchmen, the vultures Trigger and Nutsy. We’ll come back to them later…
Whether we think of Alan Rickman, a cartoon wolf, or one of the many other portrayals over the years, the sheriff is always depicted as a particular kind of character – a portrayal which, I think it is fair to say, is often the same as bailiffs. Today, as both a business and an industry, we are working hard to move away and distance ourselves from this perception.
Keep in mind your own image of the sheriff, and let’s take a look at the history of the shrieval office – the office of the sheriff – and its transformation into the office of the High Court Enforcement Officer.
The Role of the High Sheriff
The office of the High Sheriff dates back over one thousand years to the reign of Alfred the Great. The name ‘sheriff’ stems from ‘shire reeve’, the title given to a royal official responsible for enforcing the king’s orders, collecting taxes, and keeping the peace throughout a ‘shire’ or county.
Whilst the signing of the Magna Carta clearly defined the authority and importance of the role, the following few centuries saw the powers of the sheriff gradually reduced with Lord-Lieutenants taking the role of royal representatives for each county.
The role of the Lord-Lieutenant continues today along with that of the High Sheriff (not to be confused with modern day High Court Enforcement Officers). Lord-Lieutenants sport a rather splendid navy blue military-style uniform, whilst the ceremonial office of the High Sheriff still enjoys full Court Dress, essentially unchanged since the mid-eighteenth century – think lacy shirts, breeches, and, for ladies, big hats!
So, What Powers Are Left?
Over the years, the role of the sheriff was restricted even further as their powers were distributed to local constabularies, Prison Commissioners, and Crown Commissioners.
One can only begin to imagine the real power of the Sheriff in the 13th and 14th Centuries, as the sole individual responsible for almost every aspect of day-to-day life in their shire, or county.
It is, however, slightly easier to imagine the Alan Rickmans or cartoon wolves of the day and how a person with so much authority in their local area might be considered as a wolf-like character!
In the 19th and 20th Centuries, the role of the sheriff was an essential enforcement arm of the law and the main port of call for all aspects of civilian enforcement. Each sheriff held the total monopoly in their shire for enforcement, a notion which is quite difficult to grasp in a modern context and something which – even with years of experience – I struggle to grasp.
Up until the turn of the last century, the powers of the sheriff had not been significantly amended since the Sheriffs Act of 1887 – and much of that remains in power even in 2024. Part of these curtailments were to limit the High Sheriff’s term of office to just one year at a time, and with that came the creation of the role of the Under-Sheriff – a semi-permanent role usually occupied by a solicitor.
At Wilson & Roe we are fortunate to still have the last non-ceremonial Under-Sheriff of Lancashire, Andrew Wilson, who founded our company in 2000.
The sheriff and his officers (coming back to Trigger and Nutsy) were responsible for the enforcement of all Writs in the area and that was how the system worked up until the late 1990s to early 2000s. This included Writs of Fieri Facias (modern day Writs of Control), as well as Writs of Possession, Sequestration, and Ecclesiastical Writs, which are a great rarity indeed,
Tony Blair’s Labour Government, with much advice and input from the sheriffs, concluded that the system needed to change. As the D:Ream song popularised by the Labour Party in 1997 goes, ‘things [could] only get better!’
The passing of the Courts Act in 2003 led to the mediaeval system coming to an end in 2004, and the High Sheriff and Under-Sheriff became ceremonial roles, making way for the modern High Court Enforcement Officer (HCEO). The HCEO became a national entity, no longer responsible for their shire, and created space for the development of private business, competition, and client/corporate services which were largely an alien concept to the enforcement industry.
This was all a movement in the right direction, with the HCEO being personally responsible for the Writs enforced in their name and therefore responsible for their own enforcement agents, our very own Triggers and Nutsys. Not to mention the healthy competition between companies on quality of product and service alone.
But wouldn’t it be fun to be a 14th Century Sheriff…?
If you have any other type of Judgment or are unsure how to move forward with your application, please contact us and we will be happy to help.
You can speak to us by
telephone on 0161 925 1800,
by email at wr@wilsonandroe.com
or fill in our contact form here
