Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/525

* PROSECtTTION. 457 PROSELYTE. and an indictment may be found or presentment made by the grand jury before the arrest of the accused. Whether the accusation is by informa- tion or indictment, the accused wlien arrested is required to plead to the information or indict- ment and is then placed upon trial in the court having jurisdiction. For the other proceedings in a criminal prosecution, see Arbest; Gband Jury: Ixdictitext; Prosecutor; Pleadixg; Pbo- CEr>rRF, PROSECUTOR (Lat. prosecutor, prosequutor, from prosequi, to follow). One who institutes and conducts a criminal prosecution in behalf of the government. In most European countries the duty of con- ductinsr prosecutions for criminal offenses is im- posed on public officers. In England it has been customary for all criminal prosecutions to be conducted by counsel employed by private indi- viduals, except in rare cases of crimes directly affecting the sovereign, when the prosecution was conducted by the attorney-general. In cases of private prosecution in England the person insti- tuting the criminal proceeding is usually re- quired to give a bond conditioned upon his pro- ceeding with the prosecution. He can be relieved from this obligation only by the court or on the entry of a nolle prosequi by the attorney-general. The prosecutor is required to bear all the costs of the prosecution, but the court may award him a sum with which to defray his expenses in ease of all felonies and most misdemeanors. This sum, however, is in practice usually inadequate. This system of private prosecution seems to have been quite effective, although burdensome to the prosecutor and liable to grave abuses. In 1879 an act of Parliament (47 and 48 Vic- toria, c, .54) "more effectually providing for the prosecution of offenses in England" was framed which enacted that the Secretary of State might from time to time appoint an officer called the Director of Public Prosecutions, whose duty it should be to institute and carry on prosecutions under the direction of the Attorney-General. The authority of this officer, however, was somewhat limited, and it is still true that under the Eng- lish system there is no officer whose duty it is to prosecute for all crimes. In the United States, while prosecutions by private individuals are permissible, the English system of prosecution by private individuals exclusively is not followed. Both under the Fed- eral Government and the several State govern- ments provision is made for the prosecution of offenders by public prosecutors usually known by the title of district attorney (q.v. ). The prosecuting officer's authority is confined to the preparation and trial of eases. He cannot stipulate for exemption from punishment or as to the amoimt of punishment which shall be in- flicted, although his recommendations are often accepted and acted upon by the court. In most States, but not all. he may with leave of the court accept the assistance of private counsel, but he still remains the responsible instrument of the law. He may, if the evidence or facts within his knowledge justify in hi« judgment the step, enter a notle prosequi, thus ending the pres- ent prosecution, hut not barring the right to begin a new action on the obtaining of further proof. In some States he must obtain the con- sent of the court to do this. Besides district attorneys, there are in many States special prosecutors appointed to conduct prosecutions in police and other minor courts with less power than that of district attorneys. Special prosecuting agents are also sometimes appointed to prosecute for violations of the liquor laws. See Indictment; Information; Jeop- ardy; XoLUE Prosequi; etc. PROSELYTE (Lat. proselytus, from Gk. 7rpo(77JXi>-os. convert, one who has come over, from Trpo<Tid(iv, proselthein, to have come toward, from jTpos, pros, toward + 4deiv, elthein, to have come). A convert, generally to a new religion. In the Septuagint the Greek Trpoff^/uros is the usual translation of the Old Testament term ycr, i.e. one who takes up his residence in a foreign land and puts himself under the protec- tion of a foreign people. It is applied more par- ticularly to the foreigner residing in Palestine, but in the Xew Testament is the name given by the .Jews to a convert to .Judaism. The transi- tion, however, from the former to the latter meaning is already foreshadowed in certain parts of the Old Testament belonging to the exilie period, as in certain passages of the Priestly Code (e.g. Xum. xv.) and in Isaiah (e.g. chap, xiv. ), but it was not until the second century B.C. that the term proselvte fully acquired its tech- nical sense. According to Jewish law circum- cision was an essential preliminary to admission into the svnagogue as a member. The proselyte is therefore a ger who has been circumcised, but by the side of the proselyte in the full sense Rab- binic literature recognizes a class of persons known as 'proselvtes of the gate' who had taken up their residence in Israel's land without em- bracing Judaism by the act of circumcision. It is almost equivalent to the biblical phrase 'a sojourning gcr' (e.g. Lev. xxv. 47). The phrase, however, as well as the class, has only a theo- retical significance, and as a matter of fact there was at all times only one class properly desig- nated as proselytes. In view of this, another phrase, 'the god-fearing ones,' which is particu- larly prominent in the Book of Acts, must not be confused with proselytes, though it might seem that at times the line of demarcation be- tween the two is very faint. The inflow of foreigners into Palestine after the Greek con- quest, the more intimate contact of .Jews with non-.Jews both within and without Palestine, the spread of .Jewish influence through the presence of .Jews in Eg;-pt. Persia, and elsewhere were important factors in making .Judaism attractive to many who had lost their faith in the old gods. The decay of the Greek religion was a powerful stimulus to a movement which at one time prom- ised to increase the numbers of believers in .Juda- ism considerably, but the nationalistic tinge of the .Jewish religion as well as its elaborate cere- monialism acted as checks to the movement, and the actual number of those who went over com- pletely to .Judaism was not very large. On the other hand, those who might be designated as sympatliizers with .Judaism, who had cast aside their own religious customs and adopted some of the .Jewish ones, such as the observance of the Sabbath, certain dietary laws, contributing to the temple treasury, and the like, while openly proclaiming their belief in the essential doctrine of .Judaism — namely monotheism — were very nu- merous. It is to these that the terra 'the god- fearing ones' more particularly applied. The full proselyte, known in Rabbinical litera-