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Rh establish a concordat on the subject between the king and pope; its terms, however, were all in favour of the latter. At last, in 138Q, a third Statute of Provisors was enacted which provided that the statute of 1351 should be firmly holden for ever and “put in due execution from time to time in all manner of points.” The new statute was carried into effect as regards canonries and benefices; but, until the Reformation, bishops were nominally appointed by a papal bull of provision. The person appointed, however, was usually nominated by the king, and the bull was not issued without his consent.

.-Statutes of the Realm; Calendar of Papal Registers; ki Le Neve, Fasti ecclesiae anglicanae; Rolls of Parliament; F. W. aitland, Canon Law in the Church of England; W. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England; Anglia sacra.

PROVISIONAL ORDER, a method of procedure followed by several government departments in England, authorizing action on the part of local authorities under various acts of parliament. Procedure by provisional order is a substitute for the more expensive course of private bill legislation; it is usually employed for such purposes as alteration of areas, compulsory purchase of land, building of light railways, &c. A preliminary local inquiry is first held in public by an inspector of the department to whom application has been made to issue it. Upon the report of the inspector and other information the department decides whether or not to issue the order. The order when issued has no force until it is confirmed by parliament. For this purpose it is included with other orders in a confirming bill, introduced by the minister at the head of the department concerned. In both houses of parliament all provisional order bills are referred to examiners for compliance with standing orders. In the House of Lords, if a provisional order bill is opposed, it is referred to a select committee and then to a committee of the whole house; if not opposed, it goes, after second reading, to a committee of the whole house, and in both cases then proceeds as a public bill. In the House of Commons, the bill goes after second reading to the committee of selection or to the general committee on railway and canal bills; if unopposed it is treated as an unopposed private bill; if opposed it goes to a private bill committee, which hears evidence for and against.

PROVO, a city and the county-seat of Utah county, Utah, U.S.A., on the Provo river, 3 m. E. of Utah Lake, and about 45 m. S. by E. of Salt Lake City. Pop. (1890), 5159; (1900), 6185 (1176 foreign-born); (1910) 8925. Provo is served by the Rio Grande Western and the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake railways. It is situated at an altitude of about 4530 ft., in a region of fine scenery, Provo Canon, Bridal Veil Falls and Utah Lake being of especial interest. The city has a general hospital and is the seat of the state mental hospital and of Brigham Young University (a Mormon institution), founded by Brigham Young in 1875, opened as an academy in 1876, and incorporated in 1896; it, comprises a college and high commercial, music, arts and trades, agricultural and preparatory schools. Provo has various manufactures, including woollen goods, lime, pottery and bricks, and the city is a shipping point for a fertile agricultural and fruit-producing region. Within a radius of forty or fifty miles of Provo are a number of important mines. Provo was settled in 1849 and was chartered as a city in 1851.

PROVOST (through O. Fr. prevost, mod. prévôt, Lat. praepositus, set over, from praeponere, to place in front), a title attached to various ecclesiastical and secular offices. In ecclesiastical usage the word praepositus was at first applied by the Church fathers to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary. It early, however, gained a more specific sense as applied to the official next in dignity to the abbot of a monastery, or to the superior of a single cell. Thus in the rule of St Benedict the provost (praepositus) is the superior of the monastery immediately subordinate to the abbot, the dean (decanus) being associated with him. From the Benedictine rule this arrangement was taken over by Chrodegang of Metz when he introduced the monastic organization of cathedral chapters. In these the provost ship (praepositura) was normally held by the archdeacon, while the office of dean fell to the arch priest. In many cathedrals the temporal duties of the archdeacons made it impossible for them to fulfil those of the provost ship, and the' headship of the chapter thus fell to the dean. In England the title “ provost ” has thus everywhere given way to that of “ dean ”; in Germany, on the other hand, “ Probst ” is still the style of the heads of certain chapters. The title has also been preserved in certain dioceses of the German Evangelical Church as the equivalent of Superintendent, and both the Roman Catholic and Protestant chaplains general of the forces have sometimes, e.g. in Prussia, the title Feldprobst. The 'heads of Augustinian and Dominican friaries are termed “ provost or prior ” (praepositus vel prior), those of Cistercian monasteries “provost or warden ” (praepositus vel custos). Finally the name praepositus was sometimes used for the secular advocates of a monastery. 'With the ecclesiastical use of the title is connected its English application 'to the heads of certain colleges; “ provost ” is still the style of the principals of Queen's, Oriel and Worcester Colleges at Oxford, of King's College at Cambridge, of Trinity College at Dublin and of Eton College.

As a secular title praepositus is also very old; we need only instance the praepositus sacri cubiculi of the late Roman Empire, and the praepositus palatii of the Carolingian court. The important developments of the title in France are dealt with below. From France the title found its way into Scotland, where it survives in the style (provost) of the principal magistrates of the royal boroughs (“lord provost” in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Perth and Dundee), and into England, where it is applied to certain officers charged with the maintenance of military discipline. A provost-marshal is an officer of the army appointed when troops are on service abroad for the prompt repression of all offences. He may at any time arrest and detain for trial persons subject to military law committing offences, and may also carry into execution any punishments to be inflicted in pursuance of a court martial (Army Act 1881, § 74). 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.

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. It is thus that there was at Paris the “ provost of- Paris, ” who was a royal judge, and the “provost of the merchants ” (prévôt des marchands), the head 'of the Paris municipality. There were besides-to mention only the principal provosts-the “ provosts of the marshals of France ” (prévots des maréchaux de France), of whom more below; the “ provost of” the royal palace ” (prévôt de l'hôtel du roi) or “ grand provost 'of France ” (grand prévot de France), and the “ provost general " (prévét général) or “grand provost of the mint” (grand prévot des rnonnaies). But the most important and best known provosts, who formed part of a general and comprehensive organization, were the “ royal provosts ” (prévots rayaux), the lower category of the royal judges. It must be borne in mind, however, that the magistrates belonging to the inferior category of royal judges (juges subaltern es) had different designations in many parts of France. In Normandy and Burgundy they were called châtelains, and elsewhere-especially in the south-'viguiers. These were titles which had established themselves in the great fiefs before their reunion with the Crown and had survived this. The royal provosts, on the other hand, were a creation of the Capetian monarchy.

The date of this creation is uncertain, but was without doubt some time in the 11th century. The provosts replaced the viscounts wherever the viscount had not become a fief, and