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PROCURATOR (Lat. procurare, to take c...

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 423 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PROCURATOR (See also:Lat. procurare, to take care of) , generally one who acts for another. With the See also:Romans it was applied to a See also:person who maintained or defended an See also:action on behalf of another, thus performing the functions of a See also:modern See also:attorney. See also:Roman families of importance employed an See also:official corresponding to the modern steward and frequently called the procurator. Later the name was applied especially to certain imperial officials in the provinces of the Roman See also:Empire. With the See also:establishment of the imperial See also:power under See also:Augustus, the See also:emperor took under his See also:direct See also:government those of which the See also:condition or situation rendered a large military force necessary. Here certain officials, known as the procuratores Caesaris, took the See also:place occupied by the See also:quaestor in the senatorial provinces. They were either See also:equites or freedmen of the See also:Caesar and their See also:office was concerned with the interests of the fiscus (the public See also:property of the Caesar). They looked after the taxes and paid the troops. There were also officials bearing this See also:title of procuratores Caesaris in the senatorial provinces. They collected certain dues of the fiscus which were See also:independent of those paid to the See also:aerarium (the property of the See also:senate). This organization lasted with some modifications until the 3rd See also:century. The procurator was an important official in the reorganized empire of See also:Diocletian.

The title remained all through the See also:

middle ages to describe very various officials. Thus it was sometimes applied to a See also:regent acting for a See also:king during his minority or See also:absence; sometimes it appears as an alternative title to See also:seneschal or dapifer. It preserved its legal significance in the title of procurator animarum, who acted as See also:solicitor or See also:proxy in the ecclesiastical courts, and was so called because these courts dealt with matters affecting the spiritual interests of the persons concerned. The economical significance remained in such titles as procurator anniversariorum, the exactor of dues for the celebration of anniversaries; this office was assigned to laymen. The procurator draperii was entrusted with the See also:administration of matters pertaining to the See also:art of See also:cloth-making. The procurator duplarum was the See also:collector of fines in certain churches from absent canons, &c.

End of Article: PROCURATOR (Lat. procurare, to take care of)

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PRODICUS OF CEOS (b. c. 465 or 450 B.C.)

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