1. The state regarded as a sovereign; the state in its capacity as provider of protection to those unable to care for themselves (the attorney general acted as parens patriae in the administrative hearing); in Roman law, the emperor. [Cases: States
1. C.J.S. States §§ 2, 16.]
2. A doctrine by which a government has standing to prosecute a lawsuit on behalf of a citizen, esp. on behalf of someone who is under a legal disability to prosecute the suit (parens patriae allowed the state to institute proceedings). • The state ordinarily has no standing to sue on behalf of its citizens, unless a separate, sovereign interest will be served by the suit. — Also termed doctrine of parens patriae. [Cases: Infants 2; States 190. C.J.S. Infants §§ 12, 108, 198; States §§ 297, 314.]
