Walter Alison Phillips and Jean Paul Hippolyte Emmanuel Adhémar Esmein

“ 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 districtpunder his jurisdiction; this was his principal concern, and his judicia 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 provost ships were bestowed en garde, i.e. the provost had to account to the king for all he collected. ”

“ A provost-sergeant is an officer responsible for the maintenance of order when soldiers are in the United Kingdom. A provost sergeant may be either garrison or regimental, and he has under his superintendence the garrison or regimental police. (W. A. P.)
The Provost in France.—The word prévzit (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. ”

“ 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) . ”