781 



PROCESS. 



PROCTOR. 



783 



theorem ; but " to draw a circle through three given points " presents 

 an object to be effected, and is a problem. But it must be remembered 

 that this difference lies more in the nature of the result than in the 

 method ; for the solution of this problem, so called, is an intuitive 

 corollary from the theorem that if three points be joined, and perpen- 

 diculars be drawn bisecting two of the joining lines, the intersection of 

 these perpendiculars is equidistant from the three points. It is also to 

 be noted that this distinction of theorem and problem appears, neither 

 in the Qreek of Euclid, Apollonius, nor Archimedes, the general term 

 employed by all three, and in all cases, being Trpdrcuris, which is trans- 

 lated by proposition. The distinction then is of a later date, and is 

 the work of annotators ; it appears in Pappus, according to the Latin 

 of Commandine. It does not appear in the translation of Euclid by 

 Athelard (which goes by the name of Campanus) ; and the first 

 edition of the Elements in which we find it is the subsequent edition 

 of. Zambertus. If we leave the modern followers of the old geometers, 

 we find the word problem used in its simple etymological sense of 

 B< .1 nothing proposed ; but for the most part employed when the some- 

 thing proposed contains, or has contained, a remarkable difficulty. 

 Thus to this day we talk of the problem of three bodies, as being 

 one of the methods which are hoped to be found capable of decided 

 improvement. In algebra the word is variously used, though, accord- 

 ing to the ancient distinction, the solution of any equation of condition 

 should be called a problem, and the establishment of any identity 

 a theorem. 



PROCESS. This term, in its original sense, comprehends the whole 

 of the proceedings which take place, and are recorded by the 

 court, in the course of a suit, criminal or civil, previous to final judg- 

 ment. In this sense the word (proceaut, prod*) is used in the French 

 and Scotch laws. In its more ordinary and limited signification, 

 the term ia applied to the writ* which issue out of any court for 

 the purpose of compelling the parties to a suit, and other persons 

 whose co-operation i required, to do some act connected with the 

 progress of the suit. In this sense, also, process is either civil or 

 criminal 



Civil process was formerly, and until lately, practically divided into 

 original, mesne (intermediate), and final process. 



Original process, more commonly known as original writs, issued out 

 of the common-law side or department of the Court of Chancery. 

 Since the substitution for it of tcrit* of tummont, the latter are some- 

 times, though erroneously, called original process. 



Mesne process is that which issues between the first writ and final 

 judgment, including writs issued for the purpose of compelling the 

 attendance of jurors and of witnesses, and for other collateral pur- 

 poses. To avoid the expense and delay of an original writ, it was 

 usual to commence actions by mesne process, founded upon a supposed 

 original writ which never had in fact issued ; and, by degrees, all pro- 

 cess before final judgment, except the original writ, acquired the name 

 of meune process, even in cases where it formed the legal as well as 

 the actual commencement of the suit, as in scire facial, audild 

 rjuereld, &c. 



Final process ia the term applied to express writs of execution. 

 [EXECUTION.] 



Mesne and final process ore sometimes called judicial process, 

 because they issue under the authority of the court in which the 



of mmmmt, in a form prescribed by statute, which is addressed to the 

 defendant, and requires him to cause an appearance to be entered 

 within eight days from the service of the writ. If the writ be served 

 on the defendant, or so served that it must have come to his know- 

 ledge, and he does not enter an appearance, the plaintiff may sign 

 judgment by default. 



Arrest upon mane process (as it is called in the statute) was taken 

 away by 1 ft 2 Viet. c. 110, except in cases where an arrest is ordered 

 by the court or a judge ; in which cage a capita may issue at the same 

 time as the writ of summons. 



(See 3 ft 4 Will. I V. c. 27, . 36 ; 2 ft 3 Viet. c. 27, s. 3 ; the Common 

 Law. Procedure Acts of 1852, 1854, and I860 ; the Bills of Exchange 

 Act, 1855 ; and the Bankrupt Law Consolidation Act.) 



>inal Procttt. Where an indictment [INDICTMENT] for treason 

 or felony is found by a grand jury, process of capias issues to the 

 sheriff, commanding him to arrest the indictee. But where an indict- 

 ment found, or an information filed, charges the party with a misde- 

 meanor only, the process is at common law a venire facial, being a 

 command to the sheriff to cause the indictee, &c., to come into court, 

 which, under this process, must be done by summoning him. If the 

 indictee, &c., do not obey the summons, and it appears by the return 

 that the indictee, &c., has lands in the county, a writ of dittrinyat 

 issues, commanding the sheriff to compel the indictee to appear, by 

 distraining him by the issues (the produce) of those lands, to appear. 

 If the return to the venire facial shows that the indictee has no lands, 

 process of capias issues. 



Before any indictment is found, a party charged upon oath with 

 treason or felony may be brought before a magiatrato by virtue of a 

 warrant issued for his apprehension by the same or some other magis- 

 trate of tho district, and may by another warrant be committed to 



prison for trial, if upon the examination there appear to be grounds to 

 suspect that the party is guilty. (11 & 12 Viet. c. 42.) 



A bench warrant, as it is termed, may also be issued by the justices 

 of assize when an indictment ia found 



PROCESS- VERBAL (Prock-verbal) is a term derived from French 

 jurisprudence, in which it signifies a memorandum or instrument 

 drawn up and attested by officers of justice, containing a statement of 

 the circumstances which have taken place upon the execution of a 

 commission, upon an arrest, upon a precognition or preliminary exami- 

 nation of a party accused, or in the course of other legal investigations, 

 and set forth in the order in which they have occurred. The term is 

 now frequently applied to a contemporaneous detailed minute or note 

 of any formal proceeding, though not occurring in the course of any 

 legal inquiry : ex. gra., a note of the discussions which are taking 

 place during the negotiation of a treaty, &c. 



PROCLAMATION. By the constitution of England, the crown 

 possesses the exclusive prerogative of issuing proclamations ; for 

 although this authority is exercised by the lord mayor in the city of 

 London, and by the heads of some other corporations in other cities, 

 for certain limited purposes, it is always founded upon custom or 

 charter, and consequently only exists in such cases by delegation from 

 the crown. 



The nature and objects of royal proclamations are various. In some 

 instances they are merely an authoritative promulgation of matters of 

 state, or of acta of the executive government which it is necessary that 

 all persons should know, and upon notice of which, as presumed to be 

 conveyed by a public proclamation, certain duties and obligations 

 attach to subjects. Proclamations of the accession of a new king or a 

 demise of the crown, and proclamations for reprisals upon a declaration 

 of war with a foreign state, and for rendering coin current within the 

 realm, are examples of this kind. Another class of proclamations con- 

 sists of those which declare the intention of the crown to exercise 

 some prerogative or enforce the execution of some law which may 

 have been for a time dormant or suspended, but which a change of 

 circumstances renders it necessary to call into operation. Thus the 

 crown might, by a proclamation in time of war, lay an embargo upon 

 shipping, and order the ports to be shut, by virtue of its ancient and 

 undoubted prerogative of prohibiting any of its subjects from leaving 

 the realm. Another, and by far the most usual, class of proclamations 

 issued by the crown consists of formal declarations of existing laws and 

 penalties, and of the intentions of government to enforce them, 

 designed, as some of the early books term it, quoad terrarem populi, and 

 merely as admonitory notices for the prevention of offences. A familiar 

 instance of this kind of declaration is the proclamation against vice and 

 immorality, appointed to be read at the opening of all courts of quarter- 

 MtdflML 



At present the royal prerogative does not authorise tho creation o 

 an offence by proclamation which is not a crime by the law of the land. 

 In early periods of our history after the Norman conquest, the power 

 of the crown in this respect appears to have been much moro extensive, 

 and instances of proclamations may be found in Kymer's ' Fccdera," and 

 elsewhere, evincing an assumption of almost despotic authority by the 

 crown. In the reign of Henry VIII. the king was enabled, with the 

 advice of his council, to set forth proclamations under such penalties 

 and pains as to him might seem necessary ; but this was by Act of 

 Parliament, and the statute was repealed about five years afterwards. 

 A strenuous attempt was made in the reign of James I. to strengthen 

 the crown by increasing the prerogative of making proclamations, 

 which, though encouraged and promoted by the Lord Chancellor 

 Ellesmere and Bacon, were resisted by Coke, and occasioned great 

 alarm and dissatisfaction among the people. The encroachments 

 which had been made and attempted in this respect are enumerated 

 and complained of in the ' Petition of Grievances ' by the Commons, in 

 1610 (Howell's ' State Trials,' vol. ii.) ; and in the same year it was 

 expressly resolved by the judges (of whom Sir Edward Coke was one) 

 that the king could not by his proclamation create an offence which 

 was not an offence before ; " for if so, he might alter tho law of the 

 land by his proclamation." (Coke's ' Reports, 1 part 12.) 



PROCONSUL. [CONSUL; PUOVINCIA.] 



PROCTOR, derived from the civil law term "procurator" one 

 that seeth after another man's affairs. It is the designation of those 

 who in the Ecclesiastical and Admiralty courts (where the forms of 

 the civil law prevail), conduct the business of their clients as attorneys 

 and solicitors do in the courts of law and equity, but in order to enable 

 them to act in the Ecclesiastical court, they must be formally autho- 

 rised by a " proxy" from their clients to do so (129 n. Canon). Proc- 

 tors also act as notaries public, in attesting acts and conducting 

 proceedings in their own courts, but they do not possess the authority 

 of notaries generally. In order to practise in the Ecclesiastical courts, 

 they must be admitted by the archbishops of the respective provinces, 

 by application to their vicar-general or official principal. In the 

 Admiralty court they are admitted by the judge of the court. 



The recent Acts of Parliament, however, the 20 & 21 Viet. c. 77 

 (the Act to amend the law relating to Probates and Letters of Ad- 

 ministration), and the 20 ft 21 Viet. c. 85 (the Act to amend the law 

 relating to Divorce and Matrimonial Causes), have transferred to the 

 temporal courts the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical courts over wills, 

 intestacies, and divorce, and in so doing, the practice ia no longer con- 



