Citizen's Arrest in Legal System of Iran and England

Arresting suspects and fighting against the disturbers of public order are the duties of police which are done by them as representative of people. However, lawmakers under some circumstance have granted this right to its original owners, i.e. the citizens. That being so, they are entitled to use force in order to arrest and hand over accused to the legal authorities. Present article reviews the history, circumstances and scope of citizens intervention regarding the arrest of the accused in the legal system of Iran and England where the origin of the citizen’s arrest theory is. In the common law, citizen's arrest has the historical basis and now citizens of English, in Indictable offences with other circumstances, have the right to arrest the accused. However, in the Iranian legal system and for the first time, the legislator has granted people the right of taking necessary actions in order to prevent the offender from escaping and protecting the crime scene based the Article 45 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (2014). This right is conditional due to the three conditions: just especial crimes, crime shall be evident and the absence of law enforcers.