The Crown - in The Courts

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) versus the defendant as the standard for naming criminal trials, typically abbreviated R, for example a criminal case against Smith might be R v Smith, said "the Crown and Smith". In Australia particularly, on official transcripts of criminal trials the heading page reads The Queen v Smith. In New Zealand court reporting, news reports will refer to the prosecuting lawyer (often called a Crown prosecutor, as in Canada and 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. " (e.g. People of the State of New York v. LaValle) under the doctrine of popular sovereignty. In Federal criminal cases, it is "United States v. ," as in United States v. Nixon.

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 the enforcement of judgments against the Crown.