Provost (civil) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about a civil

position. For other uses, see Provost (disambiguat ion). Look up provost or prvt in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A provost (introduced into Scots from French) is the ceremonial head of many Sco ttish local authorities, and under the name prvt (French pronunciation: ?[p?evo]) was a governmental position of varying importance in Ancien Regime France. Contents 1 History 2 Scotland 3 France 3.1 Royal provosts 3.2 Provost Marshals 4 In fiction 5 See also 6 References History As a secular title, praepositus is also very old, dating to the praepositus sacr i cubiculi of the late Roman Empire, and the praepositus palatii of the Caroling ian court. The title developed in France from where it found its way into Scots, where in Scotland it became the style (as provost) of the principal magistrates of the Royal Burghs (roughly speaking, the equivalent of "mayor" in the rest of the UK) ("Lord Provost" in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee), and into E ngland, where it is applied to certain officers charged with the maintenance of military discipline. A Provost Marshal is an officer of the army originally appo inted when troops are on service abroad (and now in the United Kingdom as well) for the prompt repression of all offenses. He may at any time arrest and detain for trial persons subject to military law committing offences, and may also carr y into execution any punishments to be inflicted in pursuance of a court martial (Army Act 1881, 74). A provost sergeant is in charge of the garrison police or regimental police. The 'Provost' also refers to the military police in general. The army pronunciation is 'Prov-oh'. Scotland Historically the provost was the chief magistrate or convener of a Scottish burg h council, the equivalent of a mayor in other parts of the English-speaking worl d. Previous to the enactment of the Town Councils (Scotland) Act 1900 various ti tles were used in different burghs, but the legislation standardised the name of the governing body as the provost, magistrates, and councillors of the burgh. Aft er the re-organisation of local government in Scotland in 1975, the title of Lor d Provost was reserved to Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, while other d istrict councils could choose the title to be used by the convener: in 1994 twen ty-two councils had provosts.[1] Similar provisions were included in the Local G overnment etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 whch established unitary council areas in 199 6. The area councils are allowed to adopt the title of provost (or any other) fo r the convener of the council, as are the area committees of the council. Some c ommunity councils which include former burghs also use the style for their chair men. France The word prvt (provost) applied to a number of different persons in pre-Revolution ary France. Following its historical meaning (from Latin praepositus), the term referred to a seignorial officer in charge of managing burgh affairs and rural e states and, on a local level, customarily administered justice. Therefore, at Pa

ris, for example, there existed the Lord Provost of Paris who presided a lower r oyal court and the Provost of Merchants (prvt des marchands), or Dean of Guild, he aded the burgh council and the burgh's merchant company. In addition, there were Provost Marshals (prvts des marchaux de France), the Provost of the Royal Palace ( prvt de l'htel du roi), otherwise known as the Lord High Provost of France (grand p rvt de France), and the Provost General (prvt gnral) or High Provost of the Mint (gran d prvt des monnaies). Royal provosts The most important and best known provosts, as part of the Kingdom's general org anization administered the scattered parts of the royal domain, were the royal p rovosts (prvts royaux), who were the lowest royal judicial officers of the land.[c larification needed] The title varied widely from province to province: castella ns (chtelains) in Normandy and Burgundy and vicars (viguiers) in the South. These titles were retained from earlier times when formerly independent provinces wer e conquered and subsumed under the French Crown. Royal provosts were created by the Capetian monarchy around the 11th century. Provosts replaced viscounts where ver a viscounty had not been made a fief, and it is likely that the provost posi tion imitated and was styled after the corresponding ecclesiastical provost of c athedral chapters. Royal provostships were double faceted. First, provosts were entrusted with and carried out local royal power, including the collection of the Crown's domainal revenues and all taxes and duties owed the King within a provostship's jurisdict ion. They were also responsible for military defense such as raising local conti ngents for royal armies. Until the end of the Old Regime, a number of military p rovost (prevots d'pe) positions survived until being replaced by a lord lieutenant in administering justice. Finally, the provosts administered justice though wit h limited jurisdiction. For instance, they had no jurisdiction over noblemen or feudal tenants (hommes de fief) who instead fell under the jurisdiction of their lord's court and were tried before a jury of their peers, that is, the lord's o ther vassals. Provosts had no jurisdiction over purely rural areas, the pies pay s, which instead fell to local lordships. Provost jurisdiction was restricted to towns but was often usurped by Burgh courts chaired by burgesses. However, in the 11th century, the provosts tended increasingly to make their pos itions hereditary and thus became more difficult to control. One of the King's g reat officers, the Great Seneschal, became their supervisor. In the 12th century , the office of provost was put up for bidding, and thereafter provosts were far mers of revenues. The provost thus received the speculative right to collect the King's seignorial revenues within his provostship. This remained his primary ro le. Short-term appointments also helped stem the heritability of offices. Very e arly, however, certain provostships were bestowed en garde, i.e., on condition t he provost regularly render accounts to the King for his collections. Farmed pro vostships (prvtes en ferme) were naturally a source of abuse and oppression. Natur ally, too, the people were discontent. Joinville told of how under St Louis the provostship of Paris became an accountable provostship (prvt en garde). With the de ath of Louis XI, farmed provostships were still numerous and spurred a remonstra nce from the States General in 1484. Charles VIII promised to abolish the office in 1493, but the office is mentioned in the Ordinance of 1498. They disappeared in the 16th century, by which time the provosts had become regular officials, t heir office, however, being purchasable. Further oversight and weakening of provostships occurred when, to monitor their performance and curtail abuses, the Crown established itinerant justices known a s bailies (bailli) to hear complaints against them. With the office of Great Sen eschal vacant after 1191, the bailies became stationary and established themselv es as powerful officials superior to provosts. A bailie's district is called a b ailliary (baillage) and included about half a dozen provostships. When appeals w ere instituted by the Crown, appeal of provost judgments, formerly impossible, n

ow lay with the bailie. Moreover, in the 14th century, provosts no longer were i n charge of collecting domainal revenues, except in farmed provostships, having instead yielded this responsibility to royal receivers (receveurs royaux). Raisi ng local army contingents (ban and arrire-ban) also passed to bailies. Provosts t herefore retained the sole function of inferior judges over vassals with origina l jurisdiction concurrent with bailies over claims against nobles and actions re served for royal courts (cas royaux). This followed a precedent established in t he chief feudal courts in the 13th and 14th centuries in which summary provostsh ip suits were distinguished from solemn bailliary sessions (assise). The provost as judge sat a single bench with sole judicial authority over his Co urt. He was, however, required to seek the advice of legally-qualified experts ( cousellors or attorneys) of his choosing, and, in so doing, was said to "summon his council" (appelait son conseil). In 1578, official magistrates (conseillersmagistrats) were created, but were suppressed by the 1579 Ordinance of Blois. Th e office was restored in 1609 by simple decree of the King's Council, but it was opposed by the Parlement courts and seems to have been conferred in but few ins tances. Provost Marshals French Provost Marshals were non-judicial officers (officiers de la robe courte) attached to the Marshalry (marchausse) under the Old Regime, equivalent to the ge ndarmerie after the Revolution. Originally, they were assigned to judge crimes c ommitted by people in the army, but over the course of the 14th and 15th centuri es, they gained the right to judge certain types of misdemeanors and felonies co mmitted by the military and civilians alike. They became fixed with set areas of authority, and the offences falling within their jurisdiction came to be called provost crimes (cas prvtaux). Provost crimes included high violent crimes and cri mes committed by repeat offenders (repris de justice), who were familiarly known as the gibier des prvts des marchaux, or Provost Marshal jailbirds. They had milit ary jurisdiction, and their rulings were not appealable; however, the provost wa s required to keep a certain number of ordinary judges or masters. The Provost M arshal did not personally sit provost crime cases. Instead, this usually fell to the nearest bailliwick or presidial court. Presidial judges had concurrent juri sdiction with Provost Marshals, and the two vied openly to be vested.