8753. UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, Proctorship.—
The establishment of a proctor
is taken from the practice of Europe, where
an equivalent officer is made a part, and is a
very essential one, of every such institution;
and as the nature of his functions requires that
he should always be a man of discretion, understanding,
and integrity, above the common
level, it was thought that he would never be
less worthy of being trusted with the powers
of a justice, within the limits of institution here,
than the neighboring justices generally are;
and the vesting him with the conservation of
the peace within that limit, was intended, while
it should equally secure its object, to shield the
young and unguarded student from the disgrace
of the common prison, except where the case
was an aggravated one. A confinement to his
own room was meant as an act of tenderness to
him, his parents and friends; in fine, it was to
give them a complete police of their own, tempered
by the paternal attentions of their tutors.
And, certainly, in no country is such a provision
more called for than in this, as has been proved
from times of old, from the regular annual riots
and battles between the students of William and
Mary with the town boys, before the Revolution,
quorum pars fui, and the many and more serious
affrays of later times. Observe, too, that our
bill proposes no exclusion of the ordinary magistrate,
if the one attached to the institution is
thought to execute his power either partially or
remissly.—
To Joseph C. Cabell. Washington ed. vi, 537.
(M.
1816)
