The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-12-21 00:00:00

To ros EDITOR

.

' or Tart STATESMAN.
—ll.--

Sia,—l admit the claim of your Correspondent,'
in your Paper of the 6th November, to be informed
es to the nature of the office of Procurator Fiscal,
and of the duties attache) to that office. Ido so
the more readily, because in discussing the motion to
be made by Sir Joint NLIFPOST, in regard to the
power of the Judges of the Court of Session to
make Acts of Sederunt, and in regard to the power
of the Keeper of his Majesty's Signet, dislocated
for the worst of purposes from the Office of Secre-
tary of State, to sell -the offices of Sheriff's Clerk,
or the patronage of the Crown, a short account of
the duties of that office will contribute to throw
some light on these subjects.

in a Parliament called at Edinborgb, in 1372,
King ROBERT, the first of the STUART family,
passed this enactment— •

" Act, emit uled Promise made by the King, and
the Oaths given by the three Estates of Parliament.
1. " For fulfilling and observing of the laws, da
King, so far as concerns him, has, in his Parliament,
obliged himself upon the honour of a Prince.
2 " And the Earl of CARRICK, COnSliltaled ba
the King, for falfilling of the promises so far as
touches him, gave and mode his oath, the Holy
Evangelist being toncbert by him.
3. " And all and suntlry the Prelates, and Pro-
curators of Prelates, and others of the Clergy ; and
all the Est.ls, Barons, Knights, and Burgesses, being
present, did solemnly swear and give their oaths to
keep, obey, and fulfil the lasts after their power, and
so far as was in them to maintain, fortify, and assort,
the Earl of CARRICK, made and constituted Lieu-
tenant, under the King, fur ruling the realm, ob-
serving the laws, and administering of jusfice*."
" The sobmission," says 111 elegant writer, 46 of
a free People to the Etecutice Authority of Govern-
ment is no more then a complirtnce with the laws
which they thentsekey have enacted; and when jos-
lice is impartially administered, the obedience of the
subject to those laws will be voluntary, cheerful,
and I may almost say unlimited. A generous nation
is grateful for the preservation of its rights, and
most willingly emends the respect due to a good
Prince into art affection for his person. Loyalty in
the heart end understanding of an Englishman, is
nothing but a rational attachment to the guardian
of their laws; and those laws which protect us in
our civil rights grow oat of the Constitution, and do
either flourish or fall with ht."

The Lord Advocate for Scotland is the King's
Lord Lieutenant, constituted to put the Statutes of
Parliament into effect ; and as his title, as well as
his power, are derived direct from the head of the
Executive Government, he has no right to prosecute
in the King's name, but upon that Act of Parliament
by which the nation vests, defines, and limits that
power irr his author. The King has in him no power
but what the nation transfers in trust to him, and the
Lord Advoeste, as his Lord Lieutenant Wider him,
cannot exercise a power which the King has not in
himself tb delegate, vshietkilsar Nation did not trans-
ler to hiss. Vie- power aid authority of the Lord
Advocate to pot the Statutes of Parliament in force,
and to prevent them from going into abeyance, gives,
when exercised, to the People, either that protection
from the &sting laws which Parliament intended by
them ; or it gives judgment and ability to that Pen.
pie to seek a repeal of them, by a Representation
freely chosen for these purpose:. Where the People
feel an oppression, they soon find an independent
Representation, if the Lord Advocate does his daft.
The Statutory Law of Scotland was satisfactory
to the People at the date of the above Statute. The
whole Nation in a free Parliament assented to this,
and promised to assist the Earl of CARRICK, then
Lord Advocate, to enforce it. The Earl of CAenick,
as Lord Lieutenant, gave his solemn oath to enforce
the Statutes of Parliament. But the Earl of
CAttRICK would never have done this unless the Sta-
tutes had been so enacted os to set limits to Ilia au-
thority. Ile would hot have done so if the Ft:limes
had been in one-half rescinded by the Scottish Judges,
or if they, with impunity, acted " by the power of
their right reason" independently of them. tie
would' in the memorable words of that eminent and
!distinguished. Lawyer:l:, who undauntedly com-
plained in his own name, and in the name of his
Prince, to the whole united Representation of these
realms, " That as Lord Advocate for Scotland, he
j knew not where his powers began or where they
ended." A declaration highly honourable to himself
and to his Prince—highly independent of Ministerial
I influence, and which ought alone to perpetuate his
! memory to the remotest ages as illostrative.of the
beauty of that Constitution which we so much ad-
-1 mire.

Now the Procurator Fiscal is an officer in some
respects dependant upon that of the Lord Advocate.
lle prosecutes iu his own name, for what be calls the
public interest. la the inferior Courts he indicts for
capital offences, in the same way as the Lord Advo-
cate does in the Criminal Court ; and though his ju-
risdiction esteuds solely to criminal matters, there is
hardly a civil case where his name is not foisted in for
what is called the public interest. Ilia title to pursue
is recognized by no statute. He derives, of course,
no legal authority from his Prince, nor does his com-
mission or appointment (low from him, and it is a
fair question, whether his interference as a public
Officer has not been of late so abused as to be more
felt as an oppression than of any benefit.
Since the suppression by the British Legis-
lature of blood-money, he has brought the cor.
raciness of the Statutes of England as well
as of Scotland against the compounding of fe.
bony, or as in Scotland of Theft-boot, to be on.
questionable; and be has of late began to connect
his professional duties with the Police of London in
a way highly questionable. Upon the most vague
and unsothenticited information from individuals—
without affidavit or signed information—he presents
his complaints for the public interest against people
in England, and if by assistauce of the English Police
they do not *Mort money from the individual, they
after detaining him for months in England, he dregs

• Regimas Matistatem. Juniut.
t lewd Praideot Hope.

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