Proctor
Proctor is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another.
The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts:
- In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawyers, and the King's Proctor is a senior government lawyer.
- In religion, a proctor represents the clergy in Church of England dioceses.
- In education, proctor is the name of university officials in certain universities.
Law
England
A proctor was a legal practitioner in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts in England. These courts were distinguished from the common law courts and courts of equity because they applied "civil law" derived from Roman law, instead of English common law and equity. Historically, proctors were licensed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to undertake the duties that were performed in common law courts by attorneys and in the courts of equity by solicitors. Proctors were attached to the Doctors' Commons, which performed a similar function for civil law or "civilian" advocates to that of the Inns of Court for barristers. Reforms in the mid-19th century removed the monopoly of the civilian doctors and proctors in the family and admiralty courts, leaving only the ecclesiastical Court of Arches. Later, the Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875, which created the Supreme Court of Judicature, combined the three roles into the common profession of "solicitor of the Supreme Court".King/Queen's Proctor
The King/Queen's Proctor is the historical name for an official who acted for the Crown in certain courts in England. The modern name of the office is HM Procurator General, and this office has for many years been combined with that of the Treasury Solicitor, whose formal title is His/Her Majesty's Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor.In the admiralty courts, the King/Queen's Proctor historically acted in all causes concerning the King or Queen. A proctor or procurator was an officer who, in conjunction with the King/Queen's Proctor, acted as the attorney or solicitor in all causes concerning the Lord High Admiral's affairs in the High Court of Admiralty and other courts.
In probate and divorce courts, this official acted as the proctor or solicitor representing the Crown. In petitions of divorce, or for declaration of nullity of marriage, the King/Queen's Proctor may, under direction of the Attorney General, intervene in the suit for the purpose of arguing any question that the court deems expedient to have argued. The powers are set out in section 8 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, and include the power to show cause against a decree nisi being made absolute, usually on receipt of information indicating that the court has been misled into granting a decree.
Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, the two groups of legal practitioners, advocates and Proctors existed since 1833 until the Justice Law No. 44 of 1973, created a single group of practitioners, known as attorneys-at-law. There were two types of proctors; proctors of the Supreme Court and proctors of a district court. The former could practice in any court, while the latter was allowed to practice in the lower courts in a specific district. The Attorney General was authorised a proctor from each district to serve as the Crown Proctor to instruct or brief crown counsel on civil and criminal cases in district courts, courts of requests and police courts on behalf of the Crown.Australia
Proctor is a term that survives in Western Australia and in South Australia. Until it was amended in 1992 and later superseded by the Legal Profession Act in 2008, the Legal Practitioners Act 1893 provided for legal practitioners in Western Australia to be admitted and entitled to practice as "practitioners". That term was then defined as "a person admitted and entitled to practice as a barrister, solicitor, attorney, and proctor of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, or in any one or more of these capacities". Whilst it was theoretically possible to apply for admission in any of these capacities, as there was no separate qualification for such separate admissions, the standard practice was for all persons to be admitted as barristers, solicitors, and proctors of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Many survive today. South Australian legislation still provides as of December 2019 that a person admitted as a Solicitor to the Supreme Court of South Australia is also both a Proctor and an Attorney of that court.United States
The American colonies continued the British use of the term proctor in admiralty for attorneys who were admitted to specialized admiralty and patent bars. With the unification of the federal Admiralty Rules with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1966, attorneys practicing admiralty law before the federal courts ceased to be formally called proctors, though the term remains in unofficial use.Ecclesiastical
In the context of the Church of England, a proctor represents clergy in convocation. The Lower Houses of the Convocations of Canterbury and York include specially elected proctors and directly elected proctors.Education
High university official
In some universities, a proctor is a high official.University of Cambridge
The early history of the office at Cambridge is obscure, but it seems that the Proctors have always represented the colleges in University proceedings. In the past the Proctors administered the university's finances, acted as examiners for all candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, prosecuted anyone suspected of unfair trading, and had a multitude of other tasks. At present their functions are twofold: taking part in all university ceremonials, and enforcing discipline in the case of members of the university who are in statu pupillari.Election
At the University of Cambridge, the Proctors are nominated every May by colleges identified in a predetermined cycle. They then serve for one year from 1 October, assisted by their Deputy Proctors and two Pro-Proctors. They must have been a member of the Senate for three years, and must have resided two years at the university. The two Pro-Proctors are not, as at Oxford, nominated by the Proctors, but are also elected by the Regent House on the nomination of the colleges, each college having the right to nominate a Pro-Proctor for the year next before that in which it nominates the Proctor. Two additional Pro-Proctors are also elected by the Senate each year, on the nomination of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors, to assist the latter in the maintenance of discipline.The Proctors for 2025–2026 are Dr Martin Parker Dixon of Sidney Sussex College and Dr Benjamin Spagnolo of Trinity College.
The Deputies to the Proctors are Professor Markus Gehring of Hughes Hall and Dr Fraz Mir of King's College.
The Pro-Proctors are Professor Martin Dixon of Queens' College and Dr Daniel Trocme-Latter of Homerton College.
The Pro-Proctor for Ceremonial is Mr Timothy Milner of Darwin College.
The Additional Pro-Proctors are Dr Mark Purcell of Pembroke College and Dr Seb Falk of Girton College.
The first hundred years of Proctorial records are mostly lost, but the Proctors' Office web site has a more or less complete list of the Proctors since 1314.
Ceremonial functions
The Proctors are ex officio members of the Board of Scrutiny, the Board of Examinations, and various other bodies. Their presence is essential at all Congregations of the Regent House, at which the Senior Proctor reads all the Graces and the Junior Proctor takes the vote of the Regent House. If any Grace is opposed by any member of the Senate saying non-placet, the Proctors take the votes of those present and announce the result. Graces are offered not only for making changes in University Statutes and Ordinances and for appointing examiners and the like, but also for granting degrees. When a degree is to be taken, the college of the candidate presents a supplicat or petition for the degree; this petition is approved by the Regent House, if and when they have satisfied themselves that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions, and is read at the Congregation by the Senior Proctor: these supplicats are practically never opposed, but Graces for new Statutes and Ordinances are frequently opposed, and on very important occasions such as the election of a new Chancellor many hundreds of non-resident members of the Senate come up to record their votes.Disciplinary functions
The proctors' powers as to discipline have a very long history. As far as concerns members of the university they have authority to impose certain fines for minor offences, such as not wearing academic dress on occasions when it is ordered, and also to order a student not to be out of their college after a certain hour for a certain number of days. For more serious offences, the proctor generally reports the matter to the authorities of the offender's college to be dealt with by them, or as a last resort brings the offender before the university court of discipline, which has power to rusticate or send down.The power of the proctors over persons who are not members of the university dates from charters granted by Elizabeth I and James I, which empowered the university authorities to search for undesirable characters, men and women, rogues, vagabonds, and other personas de male suspectas, and punish them by imprisonment or banishment. In recent times this power was often exercised with respect to prostitutes. The proctors promenaded the streets attended by their servants who are always sworn in as special constables. These constables, colloquially known as "Bulldogs", are now members of Cambridge University Constabulary: they retain full police powers of arrest within 5 miles of Great St Mary's Church, deemed to be the centre of the university.
If occasion arose, the proctors and their constables could arrest a suspected woman and have her taken to the Spinning House. The next day, the woman would be brought before the vice-chancellor, who had power to commit her to the Spinning House; as a general rule the sentence was for no longer than three weeks. For this purpose the Vice-Chancellor sat in camera and the jurisdiction had nothing to do with that of the vice-chancellor's court. In 1898, attention was called to this procedure by the case of a girl named Daisy Hopkins, who was arrested and committed to the Spinning House. Application was made on her behalf to the Queen's Bench Division for a writ of habeas corpus, and when the application came on it appeared that there had been a technical irregularity ; so the writ was granted and the prisoner released. She afterwards brought an action against the proctor, which failed. It was then decided to abolish the practice of hearing these cases in camera. The whole practice was, however, objected to by the authorities of the town, and after a conference an agreement was reached: the proctorial jurisdiction over persons not members of the university was abolished.
Today, the Junior Proctor retains special responsibility for university societies and for resolving disputes arising from the Cambridge Students' Union. The Special Pro-Proctor for Motor Vehicles is responsible for licensing the keeping and using of motor vehicles within of Great St Mary's Church by University students who have not yet reached MA status and are in residence in term or in the Long Vacation period of residence. The Motor Proctor also has the power to impose a fine of up to £175 on students breaching the regulations on the keeping and using of motor vehicles.