A procurator fiscal (pl. procurators fiscal), sometimes called PF or fiscal, is a public prosecutor in Scotland, who has the power to impose fiscal fines. They investigate all sudden and suspicious deaths in Scotland (similar to a coroner in legal systems derived from the English legal system), conduct fatal accident inquiries (a form of inquest unique to the Scottish legal system) and handle criminal complaints against the police (administrative complaints are handled by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner). They also receive reports from specialist reporting agencies such as Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. For the majority of crimes in Scotland, the procurators fiscal present cases for the prosecution in the sheriff and justice of the peace courts (and formerly district courts), and the case for the defence is presented either by the accused, a solicitor, or an advocate. The solicitor will work for a firm of solicitors, or in certain areas of Scotland could be a public defender working for the Public Defence Solicitors' Office. The procurator fiscal has the discretion not to prosecute and pursue alternatives free from political interference, but is always subject to the directions of the Crown Office and the Lord Advocate. Origins The office most likely originates in the Roman-Dutch and French manorial or seignorial administrator (Dutch procurator-fiscaal, French procureur fiscal), who, as the fiscal in the title suggests, was originally an officer of the sheriff (the local law enforcement officer and judge) with financial (fiscal) responsibilities: the procurator fiscal collected debts, fines, and taxes. A procurator-fiscal is a procurator or court representative connected with the fisc or Treasury, and hence with the collection of fines or dues. In official records, a king's procurator-fiscal is referred to in 1457. Such an officer appears to have emerged first in the ecclesiastical courts. In the St Andrew's Formulare of 1514, there is reference to an episcopal appointment of a man as procuratorem et advocatum nostrum fiscalem in all the bishop's causes, spiritual, civil and criminal, with wide powers; it contains a reference also to power which attaches ex officio procuratoris fiscalis. He was assigned the duty of seeking out and prosecuting delinquents and disobedient people. In the mid-16th century, Cardinal Beaton had two procurators-fiscal. At this stage, it appears clear that a procurator-fiscal was competent in civil, criminal and spiritual causes. These duties of looking for and then prosecuting people may be the forerunner of policing