Crown attorneys or crown counsel () or, in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

and

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

, 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, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

system of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Crown attorneys represent

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

and act as

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

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 Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controll ...

'', the '' Income Tax Act'', and others, are generally (but not exclusively) conducted by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, which also handles most narcotic case outside of Quebec and New Brunswick. There are similarities between this role and the

procurator fiscal A procurator fiscal (pl. ''procurators fiscal''), sometimes called PF or fiscal (), is a public prosecutor in Scotland, who has the power to impose fiscal fines. They investigate all sudden and suspicious deaths in Scotland (similar to a corone ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

crown prosecutor Crown prosecutor is the title given in a number of jurisdictions to the state prosecutor, the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual in a criminal trial. The title is commonly used in Commonwealth realms. Examples * ...

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, 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. Th ...

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 ...

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Crown attorneys are not elected. They are

civil servants The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

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 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 or administrative 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 (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

'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, 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), 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 authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some othe ...

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

s and

assistant district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represe ...

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 Law of Canada Legal professions Prosecution * es:Fiscalía General

See also

References