LEGAL INTEREST AS CRITERIA FOR LEGITIMATION IN CIVIL PROCESS

Abstract

Legitimation in civil proceedings is not limited to the holders of disputed rights. Th is possibility, ever more common in modern societies —for example through the defence of collective interests— opens up the study of civil procedural legitimation from a new perspective, one in which the basic issue is no longer the holding of an individual right, but the ownership of a legal interest. The paper discusses the rationale for this approach, establishing the various criteria for classifying legitimating interest. It also highlights the poor doctrinal and jurisprudential distinction made between a legitimating interest and the rules of legitimation.
We conclude that procedural legitimation is more highly subject to legislative policy considerations than to substantive legal requirements.