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Full Idea
On Russell's view 'Elizabeth II = Queen of England' is only superficially an identity-statement; really it is a predication, and attributes a complex relational property to Elizabeth.
Gist of Idea
'Elizabeth = Queen of England' is really a predication, not an identity-statement
Source
report of Bertrand Russell (On Denoting [1905]) by William Lycan - Philosophy of Language Ch.1
Book Ref
Lycan,William G.: 'Philosophy of Language' [Routledge 2000], p.20
A Reaction
The original example is 'Scott = author of Waverley'. Why can't such statements be identities, in which the reference of one half of the identity is not yet known? 'The murderer is violent' and 'Smith is violent' suggests 'Smith is the murderer'.