Jurisprudential Foundation of Public Interest Litigation

Abstract

Public interest litigation (PIL) with the public interest as the trial object is not only dispute settlement activity but also political activity via which the public participate in public affairs, whereby it is necessary to reflect particular political morality and ethics, and to obtain the jurisprudential support. The individualistic litigation mechanism is deeply influenced by liberalism, and the idea of self-determination of the parties and procedural guarantee contained in it has become the fetters on the development of the PIL system. The partially modified mode of paternalistic litigation still cannot solve the fundamental contradiction between public interest protection and public interest representation. The communitarianism represented by communalism and civic republicanism justifies the collective procedure from the perspective of community value and public space, especially the negotianism, which provides a brand new procedural idea, frame, and mode of judgment for PIL, but the abstractness of “public good” limits its theoretical value. The people-centered philosophy on development and the thought of a human community with a shared future provide a value basis and political ethics for China's PIL system in the new era. On this basis, reasonable absorbing of various political philosophies can help the PIL system to realize the values of litigation democracy, due process, litigation efficiency, etc.

Keywords

public interest litigation (PIL) / liberalism / communitarianism / republicanism / people-oriented

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Higher Education Press