Idiom Origins - Turn King’s/Queen’s/state’s evidence - History of Turn King’s/Queen’s/state’s evidence

Turn King’s/Queen’s/state’s evidence

Meanings and origins of thousands of idioms, curious words, and slang.

Origin of: Turn King’s/Queen’s/state’s evidence

Turn King’s/Queen’s/state’s evidence

To turn King’s or Queen’s evidence is to appear as a witness for the prosecution against one’s criminal accomplices. As a legal term, it dates from the 1500s. In America, after the American War of Independence, it of course changed to ‘to turn state’s evidence’.