| In the long history of human progress, there always exists a contrast between the interest of individual and the interest of social group, which has evolved into a game on the measurement of each interest. Even nowadays, the combats for interests between individuals and individuals, individuals and society, individuals and country, if not become more fierce, have never ceased. For the sake of convenience, all the kinds of interests mentioned above are generally called public interest for the time being. There are a variety of arguments on the definition and existence of public interest, however, none of them is satisfying despite their respective advantages. With the development of the society, enhanced is not only the law theory but also the contradiction between individual interest and public interest. For example, this contradiction can be seen from the house removal and land expropriation, between the implement of government rights and national interest. It seems that anything seemingly fit for some group's interests can be approached to the sense of public interest and become a reason for the deprival of individual's interests, yet this is far from true. Therefore, only based on truely understanding the definition of public interest can the interest of individual be better protected.This dissertation aims at the definition of public interest. On the basis of many theories at home and overseas, the author extracts their strength and criticizes the weakness and then puts forward a relatively more precise way for the definition of public interest. By a deep analysis of some debatable approaches such as the one that claims the non-existence of public interest, the one that public interest consists of individual interests, the ones that public interest is the interest of the whole society, the one that public interest impairs individual interest and so on. Through studying public interest from the perspective of pragmatics, origin of law, forms of manifestation and inner structure, the author concludes that to carry out a set of criterion for public interest is the most feasible and efficient solution. The author even promotes public interest to the level of legislation in order for an application of the definition of public interest to practice. In details, this application should comply with the legal principles of our nation, base itself on the practical situation of our social community, figure out the main part of public interest... |
