Private citizen

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Not to be confused with Sovereign citizen movement.

A private citizen is someone who does not have an official or professional role in a given situation.[1]

The same person may be a private citizen in one role, and an official in another. For example, a legislator is an official when voting in the legislature, but a private citizen when paying taxes or when undertaking a citizen's arrest in a public place.

A person may remain a private citizen even when having considerable political power and influence:

...Pericles, in his capacity as a private citizen, was able to dominate the affairs of the Athenian assembly, and to direct and guide the demos for nearly a generation.[2]

In law

Private citizens in

officers of the court, and are possibly eligible for a reward.[3]

Private citizens may have the right to make citizen's arrests under certain circumstances, despite not being sworn law-enforcement officials.[citation needed]

Private citizens may have the right to bring

citizen suits to enforce a statute.[citation needed
]

A government employee may be considered to be a private citizen in the context of law enforcement actions. For example, an emergency medical technician who discovered contraband on a patient was ruled not to be a "government agent" for the purposes of the constitutional restrictions on government searches.[4][5]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2014, s.v., definition 5
  2. doi:10.1080/00323268808402051
    .
  3. ISBN 1413310370, s.v. "qui tam action", p. 350
  4. ISBN 1590318226, p. 145
  5. ^ Walter v. United States
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