Legal Definitions - foreign apposer

A foreign apposer is a historical legal term that refers to an official, typically within a government's financial department (such as the Exchequer in England), whose primary role was to examine and verify accounts related to revenues, debts, or fines that were considered "foreign." In this context, "foreign" did not necessarily mean from another country, but rather referred to matters that were not part of the ordinary, local county accounts. These were often sums pertaining directly to the central government or Crown. This official was responsible for scrutinizing these records, ensuring their accuracy, and demanding the collection of any outstanding sums.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept:

• Imagine in medieval England, a sheriff was responsible for collecting various fines and taxes on behalf of the Crown from different parts of their county. These were not just local taxes for local services, but specific revenues owed directly to the King. A foreign apposer would meticulously review the sheriff's submitted accounts for these Crown-specific revenues, checking for discrepancies, ensuring all due amounts were recorded, and initiating steps to recover any underpayments or uncollected debts owed to the central treasury.

  This example illustrates how the foreign apposer dealt with "foreign" (i.e., Crown-related, not purely local) revenue accounts and ensured their accurate reporting and collection for the central authority.

• Consider a modern, hypothetical scenario where a central government agency is tasked with overseeing the financial reports of various semi-autonomous public corporations that operate across different regions. If a specific division within this agency had the role of scrutinizing the revenue streams and debt collections of these corporations that are designated as "central government income" rather than local operational funds, that division would be performing a function analogous to a foreign apposer. They would be verifying the accuracy of these specific, centrally-owed financial accounts and ensuring their proper remittance.

  This example extends the concept to a central authority scrutinizing accounts from entities outside its immediate operational structure but owing funds to the center, much like the historical "foreign" debts.

• While historically "foreign" meant non-local within the same kingdom, we can create an example that uses the modern understanding of "foreign" to illustrate the *principle* of scrutinizing external accounts. Suppose a large international corporation has numerous subsidiaries operating in different countries. The central finance department at the corporation's headquarters might have a specialized team whose job is to audit and reconcile the financial reports specifically related to inter-company loans, royalty payments, and shared intellectual property revenues flowing *between* the subsidiaries and the parent company. This team, in essence, acts as a "foreign apposer" for these specific, centrally-managed financial flows, ensuring all accounts are accurate and all due payments are made across the different national entities.

  This example uses the modern sense of "foreign" (international) to demonstrate the core function: an official or body scrutinizing and enforcing collection of specific financial obligations that cross administrative or geographical boundaries, ensuring accuracy and remittance to a central authority.