This chapter examines the role of government as representative claimant, representing the class. The government may be a directly affected claimant, or may fulfill the role of an ‘ideological claimant’. This role may fall to a government regulator, most commonly. Difficult legal issues may arise where that representative claimant does not share a cause of action with the class members which it purports to represent, or seeks a remedy which is different from that which the class members are seeking. Much depends upon the level of precision (or lack thereof) with which the class action statute is designed.