A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of authority, experience, activity, study, or interest. A bailiwick was also the territorial division of the Teutonic Order. Here, various “Komtur(en)” formed a Ballei province.