A Case Study Of The Third Party Clause In Administrative Public Interest Litigation

From the perspective of institutional construction,administrative public interest litigation is also a type of administrative litigation,which refers to the actions brought by the People’s Procuratorate based on its status as a legal supervisor against administrative organs that illegally exercise their functions and powers or fail to act,resulting in infringement of national or social public interests.In this process,whether the interests of a third party will be involved,and whether the third party needs to participate in the litigation process,It is a topic that neither theory nor practice can avoid.According to the cases collected from China Judgement Document Network,Peking University Magic Weapon,Jufa.com,etc.,the number of cases involving third parties in administrative public interest litigation has been increasing year by year since it was piloted in 2015 and officially implemented in 2017.However,there is currently no clear provision for the third party in administrative public interest litigation in relevant norms in China.In judicial practice,dealing with issues related to the third party in administrative public interest litigation can only be compared to the provision of the third party in administrative litigation.However,the third party in administrative public interest litigation has its particularity,which inevitably leads to a series of problems when applying the related system design of the third party in administrative litigation.The relatively scientific and complete third party system of administrative public interest litigation is of great significance to the effective operation of the administrative public interest litigation system.The article uses case analysis,literature analysis,normative analysis,and other research methods to conduct empirical research using administrative public interest litigation cases involving third parties as samples.Firstly,starting from the difference between it and related concepts,it clarifies the unique attribute of the concept of the third party in administrative public interest litigation;Referring to the standard setting of the third party in ordinary administrative litigation,a systematic overview of the standard setting of the third party in administrative public interest litigation is made.On this basis,four main categories are distinguished: the purpose of participation clause,the qualification determination standard clause,the participation method clause,and the litigation status clause of the third party in administrative public interest litigation;At the same time,it analyzes the relevant theories of the academic community on the establishment of a third party in administrative public interest litigation,clarifies the legitimacy of the establishment of a third party in administrative public interest litigation,and uses it as a guide for subsequent content development.Through collecting cases from China Judicial Documents Network,Peking University’s Magic Weapon,and Jufa,this article analyzes the types of cases involving third parties in administrative public interest litigation practices from the perspective of the four main categories of the third party provisions in administrative public interest litigation,and examines the difficulties that third parties in administrative public interest litigation face when specifically applying the guiding provisions for third parties in ordinary administrative litigation in judicial practice.As for the application of the clause on the purpose of participation in litigation,there is no consensus in judicial practice on the purpose of third parties participating in administrative public interest litigation,and there are disputes over whether their participation in litigation is to maintain public interests or private interests;In terms of the application of the standard provisions for qualification determination,the expression in the judicial documents is vague,but it is only a general application,without distinguishing between behavioral and consequential interests.In addition,the interest itself is a vague concept,resulting in difficulties in determining the scope of third parties;In terms of the application of the clause on the mode of participation in litigation,in judicial practice,there are disputes over whether the court should "notify" or "may" notify a third party ex officio,which has led to the mislisting of third parties and the omission of third parties.In the way a third party applies for participation in litigation,due to the restriction of the condition "no litigation" in the clause,In practice,the qualifications of third parties to participate in litigation on application are also limited;Regarding the application of the litigation status clause,there are questions about whether the third party in administrative public interest litigation is independent or dependent on the prosecutor or defendant in the public interest litigation,which in turn leads to the issue of whether the third party bears the burden of proof in the litigation and the confusion in the determination of the defendant after the third party appeals.In administrative public interest litigation,from the perspective of ascertaining the facts of the case,closing the case,and saving judicial resources,the third party is valuable.Based on this,it is necessary to propose corresponding application suggestions for the problems existing in the application of the third party clause in administrative public interest litigation,with a view to constructing a relatively systematic set of rules for the use of third parties in administrative public interest litigation,and promoting the smooth development of administrative public interest litigation.In terms of the dilemma in the application of the purpose clause of participation in litigation,judicial organs should balance the protection of private interests and the maintenance of public interests,taking into account the legitimate rights and interests of third parties while maintaining public interests;On the issue of confusion in the application of qualification determination standards,when identifying third parties,the people’s court should clarify the specific applicable standards,clarify the relationship between the two,and define the relationship of interest from the dimensions of legal rights and causality,so as to accurately identify the third party;Regarding the difficulties in the way of participation in litigation,the limiting condition of "not bringing a lawsuit" should be interpreted from the perspective of "dual litigation interests" in administrative public interest litigation,and the concept of "necessary third party to participate in the litigation" should be introduced to clarify the standard of participation in litigation on the basis of authority;On the issue of questionable litigation status,the people’s court can clarify the status of third parties from the perspective of classification of third parties,and clarify the right remedies for third parties.