Proxy

Proxy (contracted for Procuration), the agency of one person who acts as substitute for another. Every member of the House of Lords was formerly permitted, on obtaining a nominal license from the crown, to appoint another lord of parliament his proxy to vote for him in his absence. Only a spiritual lord could be proxy for a spiritual lord, and a temporal for a temporal lord, and no peer could hold more than two proxies at the same time. Proxies were never used in judicial business, or in committees of the House, nor could a proxy sign a protest. The practice of admitting proxies was discontinued in 1867. Shareholders in joint-stock companies may vote by proxy. Formerly princely persons were sometimes, for reasons of state or convenience, represented by deputy at their own marriages; but marriage by proxy is not recognised by the law of England. See MARRIAGE, Vol. VII. p. 58.