Sovereign immunity

Sovereign immunity, also called crown immunity, is the legal principle that a sovereign or state cannot commit a legal wrong and, at least in its own courts, is immune from civil suit or criminal prosecution, a doctrine historically expressed in the maxim that the king can do no wrong. Its foundation lies in the classical idea of sovereignty, under which a sovereign could not be made subject to another authority's jurisdiction without its own consent, a difficulty compounded in constitutional monarchies where the courts themselves derive their authority from the sovereign. The doctrine takes two main forms, immunity from suit, which prevents a sovereign from being made a defendant at all, and immunity from enforcement, which prevents collection of a judgment even where one is obtained, though separation of powers principles, natural justice, and statutes that expressly bind the state have created broad exceptions to both. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/