Bailiwick of Guernsey over the centuries. "Warden", "Keeper" and "Captain" have previously been used. The Bailiff stands in for the Governor, or more recently the Lieutenant Governor, if the latter is absent, for a short term or for longer, for instance during the five years of the German occupation of the Channel Islands. The Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey is the Lieutenant Governor of the Bailiwick of Guernsey and, being the personal representative of the British monarch, has usually had a distinguished military service. Originally the local courts in Guernsey were ""fiefs"" with the lord of the manor presiding. Before 1066, a superior court
Bailiwick of Guernsey was introduced above the "fiefs" and below the "Eschequier" Court in Rouen and comprised the Bailiff and four Knights; the court heard appeals and tried criminal cases. Otton de Grandson, then the Governor of the Islands, delegated the civil powers to two separate bailiffs for Guernsey and Jersey before he went on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land in 1290. This can be assessed as the date of first creation of the two Bailiwicks. Situated around , Alderney, Guernsey, Herm, Sark, and some other smaller islands together have a total area of and coastlines of about . Elevation varies