Here's a function which will check jQuery whether a particular element has a namespaced (which is always a good idea) event handler attached to it. It returns true if one exists, false otherwise. Example: checkForHandler("body", "click.foo"); // checks the body element for a click.foo handler

checkforhandler.js

// function: checkForHandler(elem, event)
//  - Checks whether the elem has a handler for the namespaced event
// returns: bool - true if the event handler exists, false otherwise
// params: elem - element to query (either dom element or jquery object)
//         event - string with the type of element with namespace (click.foo)
var checkForHandler = function(elem, event) {
  if ((typeof elem === "undefined") || (typeof event === "undefined")) {
    // really?? Y U No Pass Arguments?
    return false;
  }

  // ensure we have a DOM element, not a jQuery obj.
  var theElem = $(elem).get(0);
  var eventType = event.split('.')[0];
  var namespace = event.split('.')[1];

  if($.hasData(theElem)){
    var jQEvents = $._data(theElem, "events")[eventType];
    if (!jQEvents) { // There are no events of type eventType
      return false;
    } else {
      if (namespace) {
        for (var i = 0; i < jQEvents.length; i++) {
          if (jQEvents[i].namespace === namespace) {
            return true;
          }
        }

        // couldn't find it, return false
        return false;
      }
    }
  } else {
    // there's nothing attached to this element
    return false;
  }
};