Lodged/registered

[Barman]

Please consider the following sentences,

1) The police have registered a complaint against four persons.

2) The police have lodged a complaint against four persons.

3) We have lodged a complaint against the four criminals.

4) We have registered a complaint against the four criminals.

Are all the sentences grammatically correct?

 

[probus]

They are all grammatical but they vary in meaning. 1 seems perfect to me. I am dubious about 2 and 3 because anyone can lodge a complaint, not only the police. With no context 4 leaves me asking who "we" are.

 

[emsr2d2]

Unless you need sentences 1 and 2 to be in legalese, use "people", not "persons". The police (and other legal personnel) use "persons" but I wouldn't use it if I was simply reporting what the police had done.

 

[jutfrank]

Are all the sentences grammatically correct?

That's the wrong question, Barman. You want to know about the meaning of the words, not the grammar.

 

[Barman]

That's the wrong question, Barman. You want to know about the meaning of the words, not the grammar.

Sorry. I wanted to know whether both the words 'registered' and 'lodged' are applicable to all of the sentences mentioned in #1.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Sorry. I wanted to know whether both the words 'registered' and 'lodged' are applicable to all of the sentences mentioned in #1.

Registered: Probably not.

Lodged: Definitely not.

In your context, police don't lodge complaints. Victims lodge complaints with police. Victims also file complaints. It means the same thing.

You can say logged. Police log complaints all the time.

Registered might make more sense than lodged, but it doesn't sound natural.

 

[Tdol]

Wouldn't you charge criminals? I would lodge a complaint about the service or goods supplied by a company.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Wouldn't you charge criminals? I would lodge a complaint about the service or goods supplied by a company.

Yes, although charge doesn't fit Barman's sentences.

Police charge criminals, but they don't charge complaints.

 

[Tdol]

There is scope for private prosecution in the Law of England and Wales. I have no idea about other jurisdictions.

 

[probus]

There is scope for private prosecution in the Law of England and Wales. I have no idea about other jurisdictions.

In Canada, criminal prosecution is initiated by someone swearing an information before a judge, magistrate or justice of the peace. This is normally done by the police, but in theory anyone can fo it. Whether the public prosecutor (who we call the Crown Prosecutor) will do anything about an information sworn by a private citizen is in the discretion of the prosecutor, but usually they do nothing in such circumstances.

 

[Tdol]

There was a famous private prosecution for murder here, which went nowhere because they didn't have the evidence. Many years later a couple of the offenders who had not been charged were sentenced. The ones charged cannot be charged again.