In New Zealand, as provided by the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, anyone can be a prosecutor (subject to limitations when the trial is by jury).

Section 5 defines "prosecutor" as "the person who is for the time being conducting the case against the defendant in accordance with section 10".

Section 10 specifies who may conduct proceedings against defendant, the first and foremost being "the person who commenced the proceeding".

And, according to Section 15:

Any person may commence a proceeding.

So, how does that work? Prosecutions in New Zealand are either public or private.

The first is the classic type: a Crown entity (e.g. the police) lays charges, and then someone (typically a crown lawyer, but could be just an employee of the Crown entity without a law degree at all) appears in court to present the case against the defendant.

In private prosecutions a layman can download the official charging document form, fill it with details of whom he wants to prosecute and for what, and present it to a court registrar for NZ$30. The court registrar may:

1. Accept the document ("file" it), in which case they will also issue summons to the defendant (section 33) and schedule the first hearing date where the defendant will need to appear before a judge to plead either guilty or not; OR
2. Refer the document to a judge who will direct what happens next. Typically the judge will request that the layman provides evidence to support the charges. His/Her Honour will assess if the evidence appears sufficient to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt should the case go on trial, and if so, go to #1. If the evidence is weak, the charges will not be accepted.

If #1 above happens, the layman will be the prosecutor.

In New Zealand, as provided by the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, anyone can be a prosecutor (subject to limitations when the trial is by jury).

Section 5 defines "prosecutor" as "the person who is for the time being conducting the case against the defendant in accordance with section 10".

Section 10 specifies who may conduct proceedings against defendant, the first and foremost being "the person who commenced the proceeding".

And, according to Section 15:

Any person may commence a proceeding.

So, how does that work? Prosecutions in New Zealand are either public or private.

The first is the classic type: a Crown entity (e.g. the police) lays charges, and then someone (typically a crown lawyer, but could be just an employee of the Crown entity without a law degree at all) appears in court to present the case against the defendant.

In private prosecutions a layman can download the official charging document form, fill it with details of whom he wants to prosecute and for what, and present it to a court registrar for NZ$30. The court registrar may:

1. Accept the document ("file" it), in which case they will also issue summons to the defendant (section 33) and schedule the first hearing date where the defendant will need to appear before a judge to plead either guilty or not; OR
2. Refer the document to a judge who will direct what happens next. Typically the judge will request that the layman provides evidence to support the charges. His/Her Honour will assess if the evidence appears sufficient to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt should the case go on trial, and if so, go to #1. If the evidence is weak, the charges will not be accepted.

If #1 above happens, the defendant will face the fact that a layman can be a prosecutor in New Zealand.