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Say that Viola the Victim and Percy the Perpetrator have a dispute, but don't want to go to court. However, William witnesses everything and wants to take Percy to court over what he did. Can William reasonably do this?

In the extreme case where the crime is murder and William is the government, then I'm pretty sure this happens. But what if the crime is domestic violence, and William is just a stalker who has the hots for Viola? Or Viola is an old lady with dementia, and William is a good samaritan who notices she's being abused?

Basically, can a private citizen with "no horse in the race" (i.e. a third-party) reasonably take someone to court over something?

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Generally, no. This is the concept of standing:

Standing, or locus standi, is the capacity of a party to bring a lawsuit in court. To have standing, a party must demonstrate a sufficient connection to and harm from the law or action being challenged.

If William didn't suffer any harm from Percy's action, he doesn't have standing to sue him, and so any suit brought by William would be dismissed.

The government is a special case. The government automatically has standing to prosecute all violations of criminal law. It also has standing to sue over many kinds of civil violations where the law explicitly gives it this power (e.g. consumer protection).

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    Does this mean that in this case the only way for William to see justice being served is to contact the authorities as a witness, and then let the state continue from there? And if the state does not deem it important enough to start a case, then there is little to do (besides talking to the press, and let the press make a fuss out of it, which might nudge the police to act more, in later cases)
    – vsz
    Commented Sep 24 at 7:18
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    @vsz: Correct. William can also encourage Viola to sue Percy herself, offer to pay her legal expenses, etc.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Sep 24 at 13:10
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    I don't think every government has standing for all violations of criminal law. In some jurisdictions, some minor violations can only be prosecuted if the victim agrees.
    – MSalters
    Commented Sep 26 at 11:42
  • @MSalters: Are any of those jurisdictions within the United States or California? It certainly may be true in practice that such crimes are only prosecuted with the agreement of the victim, often because the victim's testimony would be an essential piece of evidence, and it'll be hard to make a strong case unless they testify willingly. But it's not usually an absolute restriction, as far as I know.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Sep 26 at 21:32
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    @MSalters: Yes, and we have a question about that :-) - Is there any "delik aduan" like laws in the west?.
    – sleske
    Commented Oct 1 at 8:51
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But what if the crime is domestic violence, and William is just a stalker who has the hots for Viola? Or Viola is an old lady with dementia, and William is a good samaritan who notices she's being abused?

Private parties cannot bring criminal matters to court in most of the United States. Even Viola can't prosecute Percy in a California court.

Viola would likely be able to bring a civil suit. William cannot do that unless he also somehow suffered some harm. If Viola is incapacitated, then her legal guardian could do it on her behalf.

A stalker who observes domestic violence against the person he's stalking, as with any witness to a crime, can report it to the police. The same is true of a good Samaritan who has evidence of the abuse of someone suffering from dementia. The police may or may not investigate. If they do, they may or may not refer the investigation to the prosecutor. The prosecutor's office may or may not take up the investigation, and if they do, they may or may not actually charge the perpetrator.

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    There are a handful of U.S. states that allow for private prosecutions, but California is not one of them.
    – ohwilleke
    Commented Sep 23 at 14:56
  • @ohwilleke thanks for the correction.
    – phoog
    Commented Sep 23 at 15:12
  • I vaguely recall that some states also have relatively easy mechanisms for regular citizens to convene a grand jury, bypassing the local prosecutor's discretion. They tend not to be used very often.
    – Perkins
    Commented Sep 25 at 23:04
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Some jurisdictions allow the possibility of private prosecutions.

Some jurisdictions have created statutory causes of action that are not based on personal harm to the plaintiff. E.g. Texas's Heartbeat Act.

Unless you're in one of those circumstances, uninvolved third-parties have no standing to commence proceedings.

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    – feetwet ♦
    Commented Sep 27 at 20:25
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If a crime is committed, William can (probably should) go to the police and report it. He'd then likely be called as a witness if the case is prosecuted and goes to court.

That's where it ends though, William is not the police or prosecutorial office so can't bring a criminal case. He's also not a party in any civil dispute so he can't bring a civil case either.

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In Spain there is "popular prosecution" (or "popular action") where private citizens and legal persons have standing in criminal trials where they are not a harmed part.

Popular action is explicitly allowed by article 125 of the Constitution and has been consistently present in previous constitutions since 1812.

Some cases where it is often used:

  • Hate crimes, domestic violence crimes or other crimes over disadvantaged groups. Entities for defence of these groups and even city councils often use popular prosecution. Example of one of such entities explaining why it does.
  • Political groups (even political parties) in politically charged cases. In recent years, far right groups have been notably acting as popular prosecution in criminal trials against Catalan pro-independence politicians, which has received some criticism.

Therefore, in Spain, William could act as popular prosecution against Percy, but an entity that supports the rights of old people with dementia is more likely to do it, specially if the trial can help raise awareness about violence against such people.

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Generally, no, for standing reasons as mentioned in the other responses.

However, relevant to your question about Viola having dementia: there is a narrow and limited path at common law for a third-party to initiate a suit known as the next friend rule. However, the plaintiff typically must be a minor or non compos mentis, or otherwise incapable of securing representation, and the next friend must have some identifiable and well-established close relationship with the plaintiff in order to bring the lawsuit on their behalf.

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Yes. You just go to the police and say: "I saw a crime and would like to file a complaint."

Then they will investigate, and if they think they have evidence, they would take it to a prosecutor. If the prosecutor thinks he has the evidence to continue, he will press charges.

If it is civil, then it would depend on, if the 3rd party was damaged in some way. My stomach got ache is a hard sell and expect to be counter sued. He drug us through court, because he thought his tummy felt ache is not a hard sell.

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