Does the geographical location of bailiffs’ offices induce differentiated professional practices ? In other words, do country and town bailiffs exert the same profession ? Starting from an analysis based on a survey carried out within the framework of his Ph. D. thesis using several empirical methods of investigation the author describes the bailiffs to debtors relations. He stresses the determining importance of bailiffs’ work context both for their daily practice and symbolically. He shows the modes of differentiation of bailiffs’ competence – practical knowledge – and of their social and professional identity. The differentiation between town and country bailiffs is based on their different conditions of practice and different representations of themselves and their profession.