Origins
The origin of the office is uncertain but, as the title suggests, the procurator fiscal originally was an officer of the sheriff (the local law enforcement officer and judge) with financial (fiscal) responsibilities; the procurator fiscal collected fines. However, such responsibilities had been eclipsed in the course of the eighteenth century by their duty as prosecutor in the sheriff court with the passage of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1701. In this capacity they gave concurrence in private prosecutions and prosecuted on behalf of the Crown. 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 started to pay procurators fiscal to take precognitions and in 1907 the right of appointing procurators fiscal was transferred to the Lord Advocate.
Read more about this topic: Procurator Fiscal
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