Discussion Of Plaintiff Qualification In Administrative Public Interest Litigation

Administrative public interest litigations refer to the administrative litigations that are raised for protecting public interest. Nowadays, the executive power is continuously expanding, which directly effects a series of important issues, such as the protection of public rights, the building of a harmonious society, and the perfection of judicial functions. According to the People’s Republic of China Administrative Procedure Law, in administrative litigations, plaintiff qualification is limited within the scope of interested parties, administrative public interest litigations that are raised by People’s Court against plaintiffs’ illegal administrative acts which damage national and social public interest are not allowed to enter judicial procedures.Qualified plaintiffs are essential in order to broaden judicial remedies for administrative public interest litigations. The investigating and prosecuting apparatus in China is a legal supervision authority, its prosecutorial power has the fundamental nature of protecting public interest, so it has the same goal of administrative public interest litigations by different routes. This paper applies the theory of administrative procedure law and function theory of investigating and prosecuting apparatus, this research focuses on the theoretical analysis and practical analysis of investigating and prosecuting apparatus as the plaintiff of administrative public interest litigation. The logic thread of this paper is:plaintiff qualification of administrative public interest litigation (deficiency)——functions of investigating and prosecuting apparatus(protection of public interest)——practices of investigating and prosecuting apparatus(participation in administrative public interest litigation)—suggestions for perfecting laws (institutional guarantee for investigating and prosecuting apparatus as a plaintiff of administrative public interest litigation).A cross-over study in fields of different subjects, such as nomology, administrative jurisprudence, and science of procedure laws is conducted in this paper. It summarizes the development and status of plaintiff qualification of administrative public interest litigation, and analyzes the rationality in which investigating and prosecuting apparatus is acted as the plaintiff of administrative public interest litigation in the aspects of nature of procuratorial power, legal status, and the function of supervision and inspection. In the end, it proposes suggestions about investigating and prosecuting apparatus’s participation in administrative public interest litigation in order to improve the regulations on plaintiff qualification in administrative public interest litigations.Besides introduction and conclusion, this paper includes four sections:Section One summarizes the following parts. Through the theoretical analysis of some concepts, such as public interest, public interest litigations and plaintiff qualification, this section states the definition of public interest, the definitions and features of judicial remedy and public interest litigations, the concept and development patterns of plaintiff qualification in administrative public interest litigations as well as the standard and expansion of plaintiff qualification in administrative public interest litigations in common law system and civil law system, respectively.Section Two is the theoretical analysis of investigating and prosecuting apparatus as a plaintiff in administrative public interest litigations. From the fact that the current legislation about plaintiff qualification in administrative public interest litigations is not adequate, then it introduces the juridical status and nature of procuratorial power in China and states that investigating and prosecuting apparatus files administrative public suits in order to exercise procuratorial power and protect public interest. In China’s present national conditions, investigating and prosecuting apparatus has more advantages in filing administrative public suits than other subjects, such as citizens and social organizations.In Section Three, we conduct a practical analysis of investigating and prosecuting apparatus as a plaintiff in administrative public interest litigations. It states the practical significance of investigating and prosecuting apparatus to file administrative public interest litigations. In other words, it can achieve justice and resolve conflicts during the period of social transition. Based on the existing practices of investigating and prosecuting apparatus, we explore three methos of instituting legal proceedings, including direct prosecution, sustain prosecution as well as raise of prosecutorial suggestions.Section Four describes the legislative suggestions about investigating and prosecuting apparatus’s participation in administrative public interest litigation. Firstly, it make a comment on revision of administrative public interest litigation law in the experts’ proposal. Secondly, it improves the legal ground of investigating and prosecuting apparatus’s participation in administrative public interest litigation in the aspects of legislative guarantee, organizational guarantee and institutional guarantee. It offer a reference for judicial remedy in order to improve public interest.