In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.

Usage

The term has traditionally been used to refer to any person who holds a general power of attorney to represent a principal in all matters (he or she). In the common law tradition, anyone who represents the state, especially in criminal prosecutions, is such an attorney. Although a government may designate some official as the permanent attorney general, anyone who comes to represent the state in the same way, even if only for a particular case, is an attorney general, and when that is a private individual, he may be distinguished from the permanent official as being a private or pro tempore attorney general. Although most nations primarily use full-time professional prosecutors in criminal cases, this is a fairly recent development, emerging in the latter half of the 19th century. Until the advent of public prosecutors (in the United States commonly called district attorneys at the district or county level), criminal prosecutions were conducted by private persons, usually lawyers, who would be appointed attorney general by receiving a bill of indictment from a grand jury. Today private criminal prosecutions are discouraged by judges, but the practice survives in the use of "special prosecutors" or "independent counsel" created by special legislation.

This usage can also be seen in the title "secretary general", for a secretary, or executive official, with general authority, normally the chief executive of a hierarchy of executive officials, or "surgeon general", for the chief surgeon of a team of surgeons

Etymology

Some people think the word "general" used in that way entitles the official to the honorific "general", but this is strictly only appropriate for military generals. The word "general" in "attorney general" is an adjective (unlike the military term). The plural of "attorney general" is "attorneys general". The history of the term dates back to Norman England when many of the French legal terms were imported into English common law. In French, the adjective often comes after the noun and so Attorney General meant General Attorney.

Australia

In Australia the Attorney-General is the chief law officer of the Crown and a member of the Cabinet. The Attorney-General is the minister responsible for legal affairs, national and public security and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Robert McClelland is the current Attorney-General.

The Minister for Justice and Customs was formerly the minister assisting the Attorney-General. As of the December 3, 2007, the Minister for Home Affairs has been responsible for the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Customs Service, as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). The current Minister for Home Affairs is Bob Debus.