PROCTOR, the English form of the Latin procurator, denotes a person who acts for another, and so approaches very nearly in meaning to AGENT (q.v.). The word is used in three senses. (1) A particular kind of university official. (2) A representative of the clergy in convocation. A proctor represents either the chapter of a cathedral or the beneficed clergy of a diocese. In the province of Canter-bury two proctors represent the clergy of each diocese ; in that of York there are two for each archdeaconry-. In both alike each chapter is represented by one. (:3) A practi-tioner in the ecclesiastical and admiralty- courts. A proctor is a qualified person licensed by the archbishop of Canter-bury to undertake duties such as are performed in other courts by solicitors. The word in this sense is now only of historical interest. The effect of recent legislation is that all the business formerly confined to proctors may now be conducted by- solicitors. The instrument by- which a procurator or proctor is appointed is called a proxy, a term also applied to the representative himself. Proxies are still in use in bankruptcy and in some of the Vice-Admiralty Courts. Formerly peers could give their vote in parliament by proxy, but this right was discontinued by the standing order of March 31,1868. A shareholder in a joint-stock company may vote by proxy. A proxy inust, by the Starnp Act, 1870, bear a penny stamp.

There are no proctors in the United States. III Scotland the original term procurator is used to denote a law agent who practises in an inferior court. A procurator has been, since the Law Agents Act, 1873, exactly in the same legal position as other latv agents. The procurator-fiscal is a local officer charged with the prosecution of crimes. He is appointed by the sheriff. He also performs the duties of an English coroner by holding inquiries into the circum-stances of suspicious details.