Crown attorneys or crown counsel (or, in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, crown prosecutors) are the prosecutors in the

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

system of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Crown attorneys represent

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

and act as prosecutor in proceedings under the

Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...

and various other statutes. Criminal prosecutions pursuant to federal statutes other than the Criminal Code, such as the ''

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act The ''Controlled Drugs and Substances Act'' (french: Loi réglementant certaines drogues et autres substances) (the ''Act'') is Canada's federal drug control statute. Passed in 1996 under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's government, it repeal ...

'', the '' Income Tax Act'', and others, are generally (but not exclusively) conducted by the

Public Prosecution Service of Canada The Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC; french: Service des poursuites pénales du Canada (SPPC)) was established on December 12, 2006 by the ''Director of Public Prosecutions Act''. A federal agency, the PPSC prosecutes offences on behal ...

, which also handles most narcotic case outside of Quebec and New Brunswick. There are similarities between this role and the procurator fiscal in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, crown prosecutor in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

and

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

or district attorney in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Crown attorneys are not elected. They are civil servants and may be removed from their positions pursuant to their employment agreements. Although the enactment of criminal law is under federal jurisdiction in Canada, the prosecution of most Criminal Code offences—outside of Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut—is the responsibility of the provincial

Attorneys General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exe ...

and their lawful deputies by virtue of the "interpretation" section of the Criminal Code.Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, s 2, definition of "Attorney General." As a result, the vast majority of crown attorneys are employed by Canada's ten provinces. Lawyers who act on

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

administrative Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...

matters for the provincial Crown are not referred to as crown attorneys ( Senior General Counsel,

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

), or simply crown counsel although both criminal and civil attorneys generally report to the provincial

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

's office. Lawyers who work for the Federal Ministry of Justice are often referred to as Crowns even if acting in civil matters. Moreover,

lawyers A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor, ...

, students-at-law and other persons who only represent the Crown on provincial offences matters (such as municipal

by-law A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...

enforcement and traffic offences) are referred to as "provincial prosecutors" or "provincial offences attorneys" (POAs) rather than crown attorneys. Regardless of whether the prosecuted matter is a criminal offence or a provincial offence, crown Attorneys represent and argue on behalf of

. In the province of Ontario, there is only one crown attorney appointed by the Attorney General per judicial district. The crown attorney is charged with supervising the office at the local level, and has a level of autonomy from the Attorney General's office. A crown attorney will then, in consultation with the Attorney General's office, hire ''assistant crown attorneys'' to further staff the office and prosecute offences. In this respect, Ontario functions similar to the US system of district attorneys and

assistant district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a lo ...

s, although within the aspects of the Canadian legal system. As crown attorneys are not elected, the Canadian prosecutorial system is often seen as less politically motivated than other systems.

References

{{reflist ;Sources
Crown attorney
on the

Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available ...

Law of Canada Legal professions Prosecution * es:Fiscalía General

See also

References