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A provost (introduced into Scots from French) is the ceremonial head of Scottish local authorities. The modern de facto political leader of a council is called the convener. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 150 languages. ... Scots is an Anglic variety spoken in Scotland, where it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic spoken by some in the Highlands and Islands (especially the Hebrides). ... The 32 council areas of Scotland form the local government areas of Scotland, all of them unitary authorities. ... De facto is a Latin expression that means in fact or in practice. It is commonly used as opposed to de jure (meaning by law) when referring to matters of law or governance or technique (such as standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without... Convener or Convenor is a Scots, and Scottish English, gender-neutral word that approximates chairman. ...

Historically the provost was the leader of a Scottish burgh council, the equivalent of a mayor in other parts of the English-speaking world. After the re-organisation of local government in Scotland in 1975, the title of Provost became much more rarely used, the only exceptions being the Lords Provost of the four major cities and the leader of Angus district council. However the post has since had a revival, and all 32 new council areas appointed Provosts after the 1996 re-organisation of Scottish local government. Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I... A sign in Linlithgow, Scotland. ... A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning larger, greater) is the modern title of the highest ranking municipal officer. ... Before 1975 local government in Scotland was organised on the county system. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... A Lord Provost is the Scottish equivalent of a Lord Mayor. ... Angus (Aonghas in Gaelic) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. ... The 32 council areas of Scotland form the local government areas of Scotland, all of them unitary authorities. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

History

As a secular title praepositus is also very old; we need only instance the praepositus sacri cubiculi of the late Roman Empire, and the praepositus palatii of the Carolingian court. The important developments of the title in France are dealt with below. From France the title found its way into Scots, where in Scotland it survives in the style (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 England, where it is applied to certain officers charged with the maintenance of military discipline. A Provost Marshal is an officer of the army originally appointed when troops are on service abroad (and now in the United Kingdom as well) for the prompt repression of all offences. He may at any time arrest and detain for trial persons subject to military law committing offences, and may also carry 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'. This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ... The Roman Empire is the name given to both the imperial domain developed by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. ... Also see: France in the Middle Ages. ... Scots is an Anglic variety spoken in Scotland, where it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic spoken by some in the Highlands and Islands (especially the Hebrides). ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I... A Royal Burgh is a type of Scottish burgh (town or city), used today for ceremonial purposes only. ... In the United Kingdom, the office of Mayor or Lord Mayor (Provost and Lord Provost in Scotland) had long been ceremonial posts, with little or no duties attached to it. ... A Lord Provost is the Scottish equivalent of a Lord Mayor. ... Edinburgh (pronounced ; Scottish Gaelic: ) is the capital of Scotland and its second-largest city. ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... This article is about the Scottish city. ... For other uses see Dundee (disambiguation) Dundee is Scotlands fourth largest city, population 154 674 (2001), situated on the North bank of the Firth of Tay. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... The Provost Marshal is the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police (often called the provost). ... In the British Army and land forces of the Commonwealth, a Provost Sergeant (PS) is the non-commissioned officer in charge of the regimental police and is the senior law enforcement officer in each regiment or battalion. ... For people named Garrison, see Garrison (disambiguation) Garrison House, built by William Damm in 1675 at Dover, New Hampshire Garrison (from the French garnison, itself from the verb garnir, to equip) is the collective term for the body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but... In the British Army, regimental police (RPs) are military police who belong to the regiment or corps which they police instead of to the Royal Military Police. ... It has been suggested that Gendarmerie be merged into this article or section. ...

The Provost in France

The word prévôt (provost) in old French law had many applications. In conformity with its etymology (praepositus) it could be applied to any person placed at the head of a branch of the public service, a position which, according to the old principles, habitually carried with it a right of jurisdiction. It is thus that there was at Paris the "provost of Paris," who was a royal judge, and the "provost of the merchants" (prévôt des marchands), the head of the Paris municipality. There were besides - to mention only the principal provosts - the "provosts of the marshals of France" (prévôts des maréchaux de France), of whom more below; the "provost of the royal palace" (prévôt de l'hôtel du roi) or "grand provost of France" (grand prévôt de France), and the "provost general" (prévôt général) or "grand provost of the mint" (grand prévôt des monnaies). Not to be confused with Entomology, the study of insects. ... In law, jurisdiction (from the Latin jus, juris meaning law and dicere meaning to speak) is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... The Marshal of France (maréchal de France) was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France. ...

Prévôts royaux

But the most important and best known provosts, who formed part of a general and comprehensive organization, were the "royal provosts" (prévôts royaux), the lower category of the royal judges. It must be borne in mind, however, that the magistrates belonging to the inferior category of royal judges (juges subalternes) had different designations in many parts of France. In Normandy and Burgundy they were called châtelains, and elsewhere--especially in the south--viguiers. These were titles which had established themselves in the great fiefs before their reunion with the Crown and had survived this. The royal provosts, on the other hand, were a creation of the Capetian monarchy. Mont Saint-Michel, one of the famous symbols of Normandy. ... Coat of arms of the 2nd duchy of Burgundy and later of the French province of Burgundy Burgundy (French: Bourgogne) is a historic region of France, inhabited in turn by Celts (Gauls), Romans (Gallo-Romans), and various Germanic peoples , most importantly the Burgundians and the Franks. ... The Crown is a term which is used to separate the government authority and property of the state in a kingdom from any personal influence and private assets held by the current Monarch. ... The direct Capetian Dynasty followed the Carolingian rulers of France from 987 to 1328. ...

The date of this creation is uncertain, but was without doubt some time in the 11th century. The provosts replaced the viscounts wherever the viscounty had not become a fief, and it is possible that in creating them the Crown was imitating the ecclesiastical organization in which the provost figured, notably in the chapters. The royal provosts had at first a double character. In the first place they fulfilled all the functions which answered locally to the royal power. They collected all the revenues of the domain and all the taxes and dues payable to the king within the limits of their jurisdiction. Doubtless, too, they had certain military functions, being charged with the duty of calling out certain contingents for the royal service; there survived until the end of the ancien régime certain military provosts prevots d'épée (provosts of the sword) who were replaced in the administration of justice by a lieutenant. Finally, the provosts administered justice, though certainly their competence in this matter was restricted. They had no jurisdiction over noblemen, or over feudal tenants (hommes de fief), who claimed the jurisdiction of the court of their over-lord, where they were judged by their peers--the other vassals of the same lord. Neither had they jurisdiction over the open country, the pies pays, where this belonged to local seigneurs; and even in the towns over which they were set their jurisdiction was often limited by that of the municipal courts established for the benefit of the burgesses. The second characteristic of the old provosts was that their office was farmed for a limited time to the highest bidder. It was simply an application of the system of farming the taxes. The provost thus received the speculative right to collect the revenues of the royal domain in the district under his jurisdiction; this was his principal concern, and his judicial functions were merely accessory. By these short appointments the Crown guaranteed itself against another danger: the possible conversion by the functionary of the function into a property. Very early, however, certain provostships were bestowed en garde, i.e. the provost had to account to the king for all he collected. The prévôtes en ferme were naturally a source of abuses and oppression, the former seeking to make the most of the concession he had bought. Naturally, too, the people complained. From Joinville we learn how under St Louis the provostship of Paris became a prévôté en garde. At the death of Louis XI the prévôtés en ferme were still numerous and provoked a remonstrance from the States-general of 1484. Their suppression was promised by Charles VIII in 1493, but they are again referred to in the grande ordonnance of 1498. They disappeared in the 16th century, by which time the provosts become regular officials, their office being purchasable. As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... A viscount is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl (in Britain) or a count (his continental equivalent). ... Ancien Régime, a French term meaning Former Regime, but rendered in English as Old Rule, Old Order, or simply Old Regime, refers primarily to the aristocratic social and political system established in France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. ... Look up vassal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Burgess was originally a freeman of a borough. ... Jean de Joinville (1224 - December 24, 1317) was one of the great chroniclers of medieval France. ... The Gateway Arch, shown here behind the Old Courthouse, is the most recognizable part of the St. ... Louis XI the Prudent (French: Louis XI le Prudent) (July 3, 1423 – August 30, 1483), also informally nicknamed luniverselle aragne (old French for universal spider), or the Spider King, was King of France (1461–1483). ... In France under the Ancien Régime, the States-General or Estates-General (French: États généraux), was a legislative assembly (see The States) of the different classes (or estates) of French subjects. ... Events January 25 - Peter Arbues, chief of the Spanish Inquisition, is assassinated when he is praying in the cathedral at Saragossa, Spain July 6 - Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of Congo River December 5 - Pope Innocent VIII gives the inquisition a mission to hunt heretics and... Charles VIII the Affable (French: Charles VIII lAffable) (June 30, 1470 – April 7, 1498) was King of France from 1483 to his death. ... 1493 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1498 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...

Other transformations had previously taken place. The creation of the royal baillis reduced the provosts to a subaltern rank. Each bailli had in his district a certain number of provosts, who became his inferiors in the official hierarchy. When appeals were instituted (and this was one of the earliest instances of their introduction) the provost, the sphere of whose competency was limited, was subject to an appeal to the bailli, though his judgment had hitherto been without appeal. Moreover, in the 14th century they had ceased to collect the revenues of the royal domain, except where the prévôté was en ferme, and royal collectors (receveurs royaux) had been appointed for this purpose. The summoning of the feudal contingents, the ban and arrière-ban, had passed into the hands of the baillis. Thus the provosts were left for their sole function as inferior judges for non-nobles, the appeals from their sentences going to the baillis, who also had jurisdiction in the first instance over actions brought against nobles and in cases reserved for the crown judges (cas royaux). This corresponded to a principle which had also applied in the chief feudal Courts in the 13th and 14th centuries, where a distinction was made between judicial acts which could be performed en prévôté, and those which had to be performed in a solemn assize (assise); this did not, however, always imply the existence of a superior and an inferior official, a provost and a bailli. Bailiff (from Late Latin bajulivus, adjectival form of bajulus) is a governor or custodian (cf. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... The Courts of Assize, or Assizes, were periodic criminal courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the Quarter Sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. ...

The provost in the exercise of his legal functions sat alone as judge, and he alone exercised the judicial authority at his tribunal; but he had to consult with certain lawyers (avocats or procureurs) chosen by himself, whom, to use the technical phrase, he "summoned to his council" (appelait à son conseil). In 1578 official counsellors (conseillers-magistrats) were created, but were suppressed by the ordonnance of Blois of 1579. The office was restored in 1609 by a simple decree of the royal council, but it was opposed by the parlements, and it seems to have been conferred in but few cases. Events January 31 - Battle of Gemblours - Spanish forces under Don John of Austria and Alexander Farnese defeat the Dutch. ... Parlements (pronounced in French) in ancien régime France — contrary to what their name would suggest to the modern reader — were not democratic or political institutions, but law courts . ...

Prévôts des maréchaux

The "provosts of the marshals of France", mentioned above, were non-legal officials (officiers de la robe courte) forming part of the body of the maréchaussée which was under the ancien régime what the gendarmerie was after the Revolution. Their original function was to judge offences committed by persons following the army, but in the course of the 14th and 15th centuries they acquired the right of judging certain crimes and misdemeanours, by whomsoever committed. They became stationary, with fixed spheres of authority, and the offences falling within their competency came to be called cas prévôtaux. These were, the worst crimes of violence, and all crimes and misdemeanours committed by old offenders (repris de justice), who were familiarly known as the gibier des prévôts des maréchaux (gaol-birds). Theirs was really a kind of military jurisdiction, from which there was no appeal; but the provost was bound to associate with himself a certain number of ordinary judges or graduates in law. The provost of the marshals did not himself judge what was a cas prévôtal; this had in each case to be decided by the nearest bailliage or presidial court. The presidial judges also dealt with cas prévôtaux in concurrence with the provosts of the marshals. Ancien Régime, a French term meaning Former Regime, but rendered in English as Old Rule, Old Order, or simply Old Regime, refers primarily to the aristocratic social and political system established in France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. ... A gendarmerie (pronounced ) is a military body charged with police duties among civilian populations. ... The French Revolution (1789–1799/1804) was a vital period in the history of French, European and Western civilization. ...

See also

• Provost (religion)
• Provost Marshal
• List of Provosts of Peterhead

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches. ... The Provost Marshal is the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police (often called the provost). ... The Provost of Peterhead was the head of the Peterhead burgh council in Scotland. ... Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...