A procurator fiscal (pl. ''procurators fiscal''), sometimes called PF or fiscal (), is a public prosecutor in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, who has the power to impose fiscal fines. They investigate all sudden and suspicious deaths in Scotland (similar to a coroner in

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

systems), conduct fatal accident inquiries (a form of inquest unique to the Scottish legal system) and handle criminal complaints against the police (administrative complaints are handled by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner). They also receive reports from specialist reporting agencies such as His Majesty's Revenue and Customs. For the majority of crimes in Scotland, the procurators fiscal present cases for the prosecution in the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

and justice of the peace courts (and formerly district courts), and the case for the defence is presented either by the accused, a solicitor, or an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

. The solicitor will work for a firm of solicitors, or in certain areas of Scotland could be a public defender working for the Public Defence Solicitors' Office. The procurator fiscal has the discretion not to prosecute and pursue alternatives free from political interference, but is always subject to the directions of the Crown Office and the Lord Advocate.

Origins

The office most likely originates in the Roman-Dutch and French manorial or seignorial administrator (, ), who, as the ''fiscal'' in the title suggests, was originally an officer of the

(the local law enforcement officer and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

) with financial (fiscal) responsibilities: the procurator fiscal collected debts, fines, and taxes. A procurator-fiscal is a procurator or court representative connected with the fisc or Treasury, and hence with the collection of fines or dues. In official records, a king's procurator-fiscal is referred to in 1457. Such an officer appears to have emerged first in the ecclesiastical courts. In the ''St Andrew's Formulare'' of 1514, there is reference to an episcopal appointment of a man as in all the bishop's causes, spiritual, civil and criminal, with wide powers; it contains a reference also to power which attaches . He was assigned the duty of seeking out and prosecuting delinquents and disobedient people. In the mid-16th century, Cardinal Beaton had two procurators-fiscal. At this stage, it appears clear that a procurator-fiscal was competent in civil, criminal and spiritual causes. These duties of looking for and then prosecuting people may be the forerunner of policing in Scotland, which was established very considerably later (in 1800). This may explain why, in Scotland, the police are under a legal obligation to comply with the directions of the procurator fiscal in matters concerning the investigation of crime, since the fiscal was himself once an investigator and so did the same job. In the course of the 18th century, the duties of a procurator fiscal to collect taxes and other dues were eclipsed by his duty as prosecutor in the sheriff court with the passage of the Criminal Procedure Act 1701. In this capacity, procurators fiscal gave concurrence in private prosecutions and prosecuted on behalf of

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. The Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1867 gave procurators fiscal full responsibility in law for prosecution of all criminal acts in Scotland. Originally the fiscal was the sheriff's official and tenure of the office was at the pleasure of the sheriff. With the decline of private prosecution the fiscal came to be regarded more and more as under the control of the Lord Advocate. In 1776 the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

started to pay procurators fiscal to take precognitions and in 1907 the right of appointing procurators fiscal was transferred to the Lord Advocate, and in 1927 procurators fiscal became full-time civil servants.

Prosecution of crimes

Procurators fiscal make preliminary investigations into criminal cases, take written statements from witnesses (known as

precognition Precognition (from the Latin 'before', and 'acquiring knowledge') is the purported psychic phenomenon of seeing, or otherwise becoming directly aware of, events in the future. There is no accepted scientific evidence that precognition is a ...

) and are responsible for the investigation and prosecution of crime. This includes the power to direct the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

in their investigation, but except for serious crimes such as murder the police normally complete their enquiries before involving the procurator fiscal. Under solemn High Court procedure, once someone has been charged with an offence and remanded in custody,

must bring the case to a preliminary hearing within 110 days. The procurator fiscal has never been obliged to prosecute and can choose the level at which to prosecute (either through solemn or summary procedure). The ccusedhas no right to choose a

jury trial A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial, in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are increasingly used ...

, nor can a victim on their own decide to press charges, as the decision on whether to try by jury or summarily belongs to the prosecutor.p. 46 There is a very exceptional mechanism however, called a ''bill for criminal letters'', where a victim of a crime can petition the High Court of Justiciary for permission ('to pass the bill') to prosecute; akin to private prosecution in other jurisdictions. The last successful bill passed was in 1982 and previous to that, in 1909. Until 1987, the PF's discretion only extended to the degree to which they should prosecute, if at all; there were no alternatives to prosecution. The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1987 gave procurators fiscal the power to offer fixed penalties instead of prosecution (a fiscal fine), at the time limited to a maximum of £25 and subsequently increased to £300. Since then these options have expanded to giving a warning, fiscal fines, compensation orders, work orders, road traffic fixed penalties or diversion from prosecution into social work, psychological counselling or psychiatric treatment.

Deaths

All suspicious, sudden and accidental deaths must be reported to the procurator fiscal, and they have a responsibility to identify if any criminal action has occurred and, where appropriate, prosecute. Where a criminal offence is suspected to have occurred the procurator fiscal will instruct the local police to investigate. Fatal accidents can be subject to a fatal accident inquiry, a form of judicial inquiry akin to an inquest but conducted without a

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...

. Fatal accident inquiries are conducted in a sheriff court. An inquiry must be held for all deaths in custody and fatal accidents, with other accidental deaths subject to inquiry at the discretion of the procurator fiscal.

Serious crimes

For the most serious crimes, the case will not be directly prosecuted by the procurator fiscal. Instead, the case will be heard at the High Court of Justiciary and the prosecution will be made in the name of the Lord Advocate by an Advocate Depute.

Areas

There are eleven procurators fiscal in Scotland, each covering a geographical area or

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

with a central office. Outside Strathclyde, these areas typically correspond with constabulary areas for the former territorial police forces in Scotland. They are (with areas in Strathclyde marked with an asterisk): * Argyll and Clyde (in Paisley)* *

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

(in Kilmarnock)* * Central (in

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

) *

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

(in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

) *

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

(in Kirkcaldy) * Glasgow and Strathkelvin (in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

)* * Grampian (in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

) * Highlands and Islands (in Inverness) * Lanarkshire (in Hamilton)* * Lothian and Borders (in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

) * Tayside (in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

)

Court of the Lord Lyon

Arms of the Procurator Fiscal to Lyon Court

A procurator fiscal is appointed to the Court of the Lord Lyon, which is a civil and criminal court dealing with Scottish heraldry and

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

in Scotland. This Court is unique to Scots culture, where heraldry plays an important role, particularly in relation to the clan system. Registration of a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

requires a fee paid to the Crown, and the coat must adhere to specific rules concerning shape, colour, and imagery. The procurator fiscal was appointed under the Lyon King of Arms Act (1867) by the Lord Lyon, but since the Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Act (2001), by the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

. If any rule concerning a coat of arms – also known as "an achievement" – is broken, the procurator fiscal, as the independent official prosecutor of the court, determines whether to initiate criminal proceedings.

Notes

References

External links

* {{CriminalJusticeScotland Scots law general titles Criminal law Coroners Region-specific legal occupations