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PROCTOR
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PROCTOR , an See also:English variant of the word See also:procurator (q.v.) ; strictly, a See also:person who takes See also:charge or acts for another, and so approaching very nearly in meaning to " See also:agent " (q.v.). The See also:title is used in See also:England in three See also:principal senses.
1. A practitioner in the ecclesiastical and See also:admiralty courts. A proctor in this sense is also a qualified person licensed by the See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury to undertake duties such as are performed in other courts by solicitors, but this See also:matter is now only of See also:historical See also:interest, since by the Judicature Acts 1873 and 1875 all the business formerly confined to proctors may be conducted by solicitors. The See also: A proctor in this sense represents either the See also:chapter of a See also:cathedral or the beneficed clergy of a See also:diocese. In the See also:province. of Canterbury two proctors represent the clergy of each diocese; in that of See also:York there are two for each archdeaconry. In both alike each chapter is represented by one.
3. The name of certain important university officials. At See also:Oxford the proctors (procuratores), under the statutes, supervise the transaction of university business and appoint delegates to look after any particular affairs wherever these are not other-See also:wise provided for by See also:statute. They are ex officio members of all the important delegacies, except that of the University See also:Press. They also act as the assessors of the See also:chancellor or his See also:commissary in particular matters dealt with in the university. They super-vise the voting at public meetings of the university and announce the results. They also have, according to the See also:ancient statutes, the power of See also:veto in convocation and See also:congregation: no proposal can be passed into a statute or decree if twice vetoed by them. They are ex officio members of the hebdomadal See also:council, the governing council of the university, and they are the assessors of the See also:vice-chancellor when he confers degrees. When a degree is to be granted they walk down the See also: The proctors are also responsible for the See also:good See also:order of the university, and they are charged with the See also:duty of inquiring into and See also:reporting on any breaches of its statutes, customs or privileges. They are empowered to punish undergraduates, or graduates under the degree of See also:Bachelor of See also:Civil See also:Law and See also:Master of Arts, by See also:fine or by confinement to their colleges or lodgings (familiarly known as " gating "). They have to draw up the See also:list of candidates for examination, and have to be See also:present at all See also:examinations, to see that they are properly conducted. They are responsible for the good order of the streets at See also:night, so far as members of the university are concerned. For this purpose more especially each of them is empowered, immediately on his See also:election, to nominate two masters of at least three years' See also:standing as See also:pro-proctors. The proctors and pro-proctors take it in turn to perambulate the streets nightly, accompanied by two sworn constables, familiarly known as "bulldogs." The proctors are elected by the heads, See also:fellows and See also:resident members of convocation of each See also:college in rotation. They are presented to thevice-chancellor with much ceremony, See also:part of which consists in taking over the insignia of their See also:office—a copy of the statutes and a bunch of keys—from their predecessors. At See also:Cambridge the proctors are nominated annually by the colleges in rotation and elected (a formal proceeding) by the See also:senate. They must have been three years members of the senate and have resided two years at the university. The two pro-proctors are not, as at Oxford, nominated by the proctors, but are also elected by the senate on the nomination of the colleges, each college having the right to nominate a pro-proctor the See also:year next before that in which it nominates the proctor (See also:Grace of See also:February 26, 1863).. Two additional pro-proctors are also elected by the senate each year, on the nomination of the vice-chancellor and proctors, to assist the latter in the See also:maintenance of discipline (Grace of See also:June 6, 1878). The See also:early See also:history of the office at Cambridge is obscure, but it seems that the proctors have always represented the colleges in university proceedings. At present their functions are twofold (1) as taking part in all university ceremonials, (2) as enforcing discipline in the See also:case of members of the university who are in statu pupillari (i.e. undergraduates and Bachelors of Arts and Law). (r) The proctors are not (as at Oxford) ex officio members of the council of the senate or of other boards or syndicates, except those with which their duties are specially connected. But their presence is essential at all congregations of the senate, at which the See also:senior proctor reads all the " See also:graces " (already approved by the council of the senate). If any grace is opposed by any member of the senate saying non placet the proctors take the votes of those present and announce the result. Graces are offered not only for making changes in university statutes and ordinances and for appointing examiners and the like, but also for granting degrees. When a degree is to be taken the college of the See also:candidate presents a supplicat or See also:petition for the degree, this petition is approved by the council of the senate, when they have satisfied themselves that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions, and is read at the congregation by the senior proctor: these supplicats are practically never opposed, but graces for new statutes and ordinances are frequently opposed, and on very important occasions many hundreds of non-resident members of the senate come up to See also:record their votes. (2) The proctors' See also:powers as to discipline have a very See also:long history. As far as concerns members of the university they have authority to impose certain fines for See also:minor offences, such as not wearing academical See also:dress on occasions when it is ordered, and also to order a See also:man not to be out of his college after a certain See also:hour for a certain number of days (" gating "). In the case of more serious offences the proctor generally reports the matter to the authorities of the offender's college to be dealt with by them, or as an ultimate resort brings the offender before the university court of discipline, which has power to rusticate or expel. The power of the proctors over persons who are not members of the university dated from charters granted by See also: If occasion arose the proctor could See also:arrest a suspected woman and have her taken to the See also:Spinning See also:House (for which Hobson the See also:carrier had See also:left an endowment); the next See also:day the woman was brought before the vice-chancellor, who had power to commit her to the Spinning House; as a general See also:rule the See also:sentence was not for a longer perior than three See also:weeks. For this purpose the vice-chancellor sat in See also:camera and the See also:jurisdiction had nothing to do with that of the vice-chancellor's court. In 1898 See also:attention was called to this See also:procedure by the case of a girl named See also:Daisy See also:Hopkins, who was arrested and committed to the Spinning House. Application was made on her behalf to the See also:Queen's See also:Bench See also:Division for a See also:writ of habeas corpus, and when the application came on it appeared that there had been a technical irregularity (the
See also:PROCURATION-PRODICUS OF. See also:CEOS
goods of a See also: There were nine official procurators and numerous distinguished persons bearing the honorary title.
The See also:term procurator (Fr. procureur) is used in those countries whose codes are based on the See also:Roman civil law for certain officials, having a representative character, in the courts of law. Thus under the ancien regime in See also:France the procureurs du roi were the representative of the Crown in all causes (see FRANCE : Law and Institutions); and now the procureurs generaux, and under them the procureurs substitute, procureurs de la republique and procureurs still represent the ministere public in the courts. In See also:Scotland the procurator is a law agent who practises in an inferior court. A procurator in Scotland has been, since the Law Agents Acts 1873, exactly in the same legal position as other law agents. The procurator-fiscal is a See also:local officer charged with the See also:prosecution of crimes. He is appointed by the See also:sheriff. He also performs the duties of an English See also:coroner by holding inquiries into the circumstances of suspicious deaths. A See also:common English See also:form of procurator is proctor (q.v.).
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