the public prosecutor in inferior courts in Scotland acting under the instructions of the lord advocate, who is the principal public prosecutor. The procurator-fiscal usually makes the preliminary inquiries as to crimes committed in his district; and transmitting the papers to the lord advocate, that officer, or one of his assistants, either directs the case to be prosecuted at his own instance before the superior court, or leaves it to the conduct of the procurator-fiscal in the inferior court.