lie on file

{{Short description|Legal term in English law}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2019}}

In English law, applicable to England and Wales, a criminal charge is allowed to lie on file when the presiding judge agrees that there is enough evidence for a case to be made, but that it is not in the public interest for prosecution to proceed, usually because the defendant has admitted other, often more serious, charges.{{cite web|url=http://www.thelawpages.com/law-forum/legal-terms.php|work=The Law Pages|title=Legal Terms Glossary|accessdate=22 November 2018}} No admission to the charge is made by the defendant, and no verdict is recorded against them.{{cite web|url=http://www.accountingevidence.com/blog/2012/05/confiscation-counts-left-on-file/|title=Confiscation – counts left to lie on the file|last=Winch|first=David|date=22 May 2012|work=Accounting Evidence|accessdate=15 October 2014}}

Charges which have lain on file may be reinstated at a later date, but only with the permission of the trial judge or the Court of Appeal.

Charges which have been laid on file have on occasions been taken into account in actions under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, to confiscate the gains of criminal activity. The legal commentator David Winch has argued that this is in breach of the presumption of innocence.