R
Abbreviation for Rex or Regina [Latin: King or Queen]. Criminal prosecutions on indictment are brought in the name of the Crown, since a crime is viewed as a wrong against the public at large, or the state, represented by the monarch. Hence the formula R v Defendant (the Crown against the defendant).

• latent defect
• law
• Law Commission
• Law Lords
• law merchant
• law officers of the Crown
• law of nations
• law of the sea
• Law Reform Committee
• law reports
• law sittings
• Law Society
• Law Society Conveyancing Protocol
• lay days
• laying an information
• leader
• Leader of HM Opposition
• Leader of the House
• lead evidence
• leading case
• leading question
• leapfrog procedure
• lease
• leasehold
• leasehold ownership