Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/813

Rh P R P R 780 PROBATE. See WILL. PROBUS, MARCUS AURELIUS, Roman emperor from 276 to 282 A.D., was a native of Sirmium on the Save, and son of a military officer of moderate fortune. He early entered the army, where he recommended himself to the emperor Valerian, and against all rule became tribune while still a mere lad. In these times there were abundant oppor tunities for a capable officer, and Probus served with great distinction in all parts of the empire. Under Aurelian he operated against the Palmyrene realm in Egypt and had a large part in the restoration of Roman authority in the East. On Aurelian s death he was quite the most pro minent military officer of Rome, and had a great hold on the troops by his constant care for their comfort, his judicious discipline, and his unselfishness. Tacitus is said to have hesitated to assume the purple which Probus was better fitted to wear, and it is certain that he felt the support of Probus indispensable, and raised him to the rank of commander of the whole East. In a few months the purple actually fell to him, for on the news of Tacitus s death his soldiers at once made him emperor, Florianus, who had claimed to succeed his brother, was put to death by his own troops, and the senate were eager to ratify the choice of the army. The reign of Probus was mainly spent in successful wars by which he re-established the security of all the frontiers ; the fiercest and most bloody of these operations was directed to clearing Gaul of the Germans. Probus had also to put down three usurpers, Saturninus, Proculus, and Bonosus. One of his principles was never to allow the soldiers to be idle, and to employ them in time of peace on useful works, such as the plant ing of vineyards in Gaul, Pannonia, and other districts where a selfish policy had previously forbidden this form of husbandry. This increase of duties was naturally unpopular with the troops, and while the emperor was urging on the draining of the marshes of his native place he was attacked and slain by a sudden mutiny. Scarcely any emperor has left behind him so good a reputation ; his death was mourned alike by senate and people, and even the soldiers presently repented and raised a monument in honour of Probus imperator vere probus.&quot; According to the Chroti. Alex. Probus was fifty years old at the time of his death ; he left a family, but they withdrew into private life in northern Italy, and the empire fell to Carus. PROCESS, in law, denotes in the widest sense of the word any means by which a court of justice gives effect to its authority. In the old practice of the English coin- in m law courts process was either original or judicial. Original process was a means of compelling a defendant to compliance with an original writ (see WRIT). Judicial process was any compulsory proceeding rendered necessary after the appearance of the defendant. Process was also divided in civil matters into original, mesne, and final. Original process in this sense was any means taken to compel the appearance of the defendant. A writ of sum mons is now the universal means in the High Court of J ustice. Mesne process was either any proceeding against the defendant taken between the beginning and the end of the action, such as to compel him to give bail, or was directed to persons not parties to the action, such as jurors or witnesses. Arrest on mesne process was abolished in England by the Debtors Act, 1869. Final process is practically coexistent with execution. It includes writs of fieri facias, capias, eleyit, sequestration, and attach ment. In criminal matters process only applies where the defendant does not appear upon summons or otherwise. A warrant is now the usual form of such process. Service of process on Sunday is void, except in cases of treason, felony, or breach of the peace, 29 Car. II., c. 7. Recent legislation gives facilities for service and execution of certain kinds of process of the courts of one part of the United Kingdom in another part. Thus by 44 & 45 Viet, c. 24 process of an English court of summary jurisdiction may be served in Scotland, and vice versa. A writ of summons in the High Court of Justice may be served out of the jurisdiction in certain cases (Rules of the /Supreme Court, 1883, Ord. xi.). Stet processus was a technical term used in old common law practice. It consisted of an entry on the record by consent of the parties for a stay of proceedings. Since the Judicature Acts there has been no record, and the stet 2^rocessus has disappeared with it. In Scotch law process is used in a much wider sense, almost equivalent to practice or procedure in English law. Process in the English sense corresponds rather to diligence. Where papers forming steps of a process are borrowed and not returned, diligence of process caption lies for their recovery. In the United States process is governed by numerous statutes, both of Congress and of the State legislatures. The law is founded upon the English common law. PROCIDA, an island less than 2 miles off the west coast of southern Italy between Capo Miseno (or rather Monte Procida) on the mainland and the island of Ischia, forming part of the circondario of Pozzuoli and the pro vince of Naples. Its total area is not much more than li square miles, but it is fertile, well-cultivated, and thickly peopled (10,788 inhabitants in 1871, 10,891 in 1881). Like the neighbouring mainland it is largely of volcanic origin, and the ancient Greek name Prochyte (Upo^i-i?), Latinized as Procita, possibly refers to this fact. The two fine bays on the south coast are remains of craters, and the soil is almost exclusively tuff. The coasts are usually a rocky scarp ; the general surface of the island is compara tively low and flat. Procida, the chief town, lies on the isthmus of a peninsula, at the landward extremity, looking out over a spacious bay It contains a castle, now used as a prison, and an old royal palace of the Bourbons, who had a hunting park in the island ; and the harbour is defended by a fort. In the Piazza dei Martiri is a monument to the twelve who were executed as political offenders in 1799. The islanders are mainly engaged in market-gardening, vine-growing, the fisheries, and the coasting trade ; but the number of fishing-boats belonging to Procida is much smaller than it used to be. In accordance with their claim to be of Greek descent the women are accustomed to wear on the festival of St Michael a picturesque Greek costume and to dance the tarantula. In the 13th century the island was the feudal possession of Gio vanni da Procida, the chief conspirator in the Sicilian Vespers. The capture off the coast, by the Ottoman fleet, of a number of Andrea Doria s galleys in 1522 was the last of many instances in which Procida was made to realize the hostility of Mohammedan powers. In 1799, from 1806 to 1809, and again in 1813 it was occupied by the English. PROCLUS. See NEOPLATONISM. PROCONSUL. See CONSUL, vol. vi. p. 315, and PROVINCE. PROCOPIUS, the most eminent historian of the Eastern Roman empire, was born at Ctesarea in Palestine, then one of the chief cities of the Roman East, towards the end of the 5th century, probably between 485 and 495 A.D. Of his family and earlier life nothing is known, but it has been plausibly conjectured from the aristocratic sympathies he manifests that he belonged to one of the better families of his city, and from the place of his birth that he was educated at the great law school of Berytus (Beirut). He became a lawyer, probably at Constantinople, and was in 526 appointed o-u/A/3mAos to Belisarius, who was proceed ing to command the imperial army in the war against the Persians (Proc., Pers., i. 12). The chief duties of this office, which is also described as that of TrupeSpos or cruy/ca^eSpo?, seem to have been the giving of legal advice to the general,