The Crown
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- "The Crown" is also used to refer to state prosecution services: the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Scotland and the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland.
The Crown is a corporation sole that in certain countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as in any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof, represents the legal embodiment of executive government. It evolved naturally first in the United Kingdom as a separation of the literal crown and property of the nation state from the person and personal property of the monarch; a concept which then spread via British colonization and is now rooted in the legal lexicon of the other 15 independent realms. It is thus not to be confused with any physical crown (such as those in the Crown Jewels), which are the property of the Crown and not the reigning monarch.
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[edit] Divisions
The Crown in each of the Commonwealth realms is a similar but separate legal concept.
Both Canada and Australia are federations: therefore, besides the Crown in Right of Canada and the Crown in Right of the Commonwealth of Australia, there are Crowns in Right of each Canadian province and each Australian state. For example, there is the Crown in Right of the Province of British Columbia. The rights which the Crown possesses in right of a Canadian province are exercised by the province's lieutenant-governor (e.g., the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia), not the Governor-General of Canada, and such rights are exercised under the advice of the provincial ministers (not the federal ministers). The situation in Australia is analogous with governors and state ministers instead of the Canadian equivalents.
[edit] Crown Servants
Many government workers in the United Kingdom are Crown Servants. The Crown takes responsibility for upholding the Queen's peace, and traditionally prison warders and police officers were directly employed by the Crown, and not by the Prison Service or Police Authorities. In a related way, there is the Crown Prosecution Service in the criminal courts whose lawyers are called Crown Prosecutors. Those working within the intelligence services such as MI5 and MI6 are also Crown Servants. Crown Servants may not sit as Members of Parliament and this is used as a way of allowing MPs to retire before their time—they are awarded a sinecure job as a Crown Servant and thus disbarred as an MP (see resignation from the British House of Commons). The Crown is also the source of all justice in the UK, which meant that it was immune from prosecution until the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 opened the Crown to ordinary court claims in contract and tort as for any other person.
[edit] Origins
The concept of the Crown took form under the feudal system, evolving from and synthesising oriental and barbarian concepts of kingship. Under the feudal system, in England and (separately) Scotland, all rights and privileges were ultimately granted by the ruler (though this was not the case in all countries that had this system). All land was granted by the Crown to lords, in exchange for feudal services, and they in turn granted the land to lesser lords. One exception to this was common socage—owners of land held as socage held it subject only to the Crown. The Crown as ultimate owner of all property also owns any property which has become bona vacantia.
[edit] Exercise of the Rights of the Crown
In Commonwealth law, the expression "Crown in Right of ..." is often used: e.g., the Crown in Right of the United Kingdom, the Crown in Right of Canada, the Crown in Right of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Crown in Right of the State of New South Wales, etc.
In practice, the powers of the Crown outside the United Kingdom are rarely exercised by the Monarch directly, but rather by a local vice-regal representative such as a Governor-General, Governor, or Lieutenant Governor, on the advice of the ministers of the appropriate local (federal/national, state or provincial) government. In those few cases where the Monarch exercises powers directly, she again generally does so on the advice of the ministers of that government.
[edit] In the courts
In criminal proceedings, the prosecuting party is the Crown; generally speaking, this is indicated by having Rex (for a male monarch) or Regina (for a female one) v. the defendant as the standard for naming criminal trials. In Australia particularly, on official transcripts of criminal trials the heading page reads "(name of defendant) v. The Queen". Rex and Regina are typically abbreviated R , for example a criminal case against Smith might be R v Smith, read "The Crown against Smith". In New Zealand court reporting, news reports will refer to the prosecuting lawyer (often called a Crown prosecutor, as in the United Kingdom) as representing the Crown, usages such as "For the Crown, Joe Bloggs argued..." being common.
This practice of using the seat of sovereignty as the injured party is analogous with criminal cases in the United States, where the format is ["the people" or "the State"] v. [the defendant] (e.g. People of the State of New York v. LaValle or State ex rel TLO) per popular sovereignty.
The Crown can also be a plaintiff or defendant in civil actions to which the government of the Commonwealth Realm in question is a party. Such Crown proceedings are often subject to specific rules and limitations, for example about the way judgments against the Crown can be enforced.
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[edit] Powers of the Crown
The powers which belong to each Crown in right of a particular realm can only be exercised on the advice of the ministers of the realm. So, for example, the rights which the Crown possesses in right of the United Kingdom can only be exercised under the advice of British ministers, and the rights which the Crown possesses in right of Canada can only be exercised under the advice of Canadian ministers. The British prime minister cannot advise Her Majesty in exercise of her rights in regard to Canada, nor can the Canadian prime minister advise her in exercise of her rights in regard to the United Kingdom. This applies also to various governments of a federation, so the ministers of the Commonwealth of Australia may not advise Her Majesty in exercise of her rights in regard to the state of Victoria, for instance, in the appointment of a state Governor.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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