Huissier

The French word huissier ("doorman", from huis, an archaic term for a door) designates ceremonial offices in France and Switzerland.

In French government ministries and Parliament, a huissier is an employee who provides general service to the minister or assembly (transmitting messages, handling ballot boxes, etc.).

Traditionally, they wear a chain around the neck, because their original function was to lock and unlock doors.

Before the Revolution, the title could be a court office in the household of royalty, as a type of valet de chambre.

In Switzerland, huissier is the French equivalent of German Weibel (also Amtsweibel), the term for a ceremonial office in Swiss cantonal and federal governments, parliaments, and courts of law.