Locus Standi in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • Gouriet v Union of Post Office Workers
    • House of Lords
    • 26 July 1977

    Attention was drawn to the procedure of applying for prerogative writs. These are often applied for by individuals and the courts have allowed them liberal access under a generous conception of locus standi. It was argued that analogy requires a similar and equally liberal right to bring relator actions. But the analogy is imperfect.

    But the jurisdiction of the court is not to declare the law generally or to give advisory opinions; it is confined to declaring contested legal rights, subsisting or future, of the parties represented in the litigation before it and not those of anyone else.

  • R v Commissioners of Inland Revenue, ex parte National Federation of Self-Employed and Small Businesses Ltd
    • House of Lords
    • 09 April 1981

    It would, in my view, be a grave lacuna in our system of public law if a pressure group, like the Federation, or even a single public-spirited taxpayer, were prevented by outdated technical rules of locus standi from bringing the matter to the attention of the court to vindicate the rule of law and get the unlawful conduct stopped.

  • F. Hoffmann-LA Roche & Company A.G. and Others v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
    • House of Lords
    • 03 July 1974

    It would, however, be inconsistent with the doctrine of ultra vires as it has been developed in English law as a means of controlling abuse of power by the Executive arm of Government if the judgment of a court in proceedings properly constituted that a statutory instrument was ultra vires were to have any lesser consequence in law than to render the instrument incapable of ever having had any legal effect upon the rights or duties of the parties to the proceedings ( c.f. Ridge v. Baldwin [1964] A.C. 40).

  • R v Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, ex parte World Development Movement Ltd
    • Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)
    • 10 November 1994

    Leaving merits aside for a moment, there seem to me to be a number of factors of significance in the present case: the importance of vindicating the rule of law, as Lord Diplock emphasised at 644E; the importance of the issue raised, as in ex parte Child Poverty Action Group and Others; the likely absence of any other responsible challenger, as in ex parte Child Poverty Action Group and Others and ex parte Greenpeace Ltd; the nature of the breach of duty against which relief is sought (See per Lord Wilberforce at 630D in ex parte National Federation of the Self-Employed and Small Businesses Ltd); and the prominent role of these Applicants in giving advice, guidance and assistance with regard to aid (See ex parte Child Poverty Action Group and Others at 1048J).

  • Arsenal Football Club Ltd v Ende
    • House of Lords
    • 28 April 1977

    Uniformity and fairness have always been proclaimed, and judicially approved, as standards by which to judge the validity of rates. Indeed I believe that many men feel a more acute sense of grievance if they think they are being treated unfairly in relation to their fellow ratepayers than they do about the actual payments they have to make. To produce a sense of justice is an important objective of taxation policy.

  • Re Bayoil SA
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 31 July 1998

    It is founded on the petitioner's inability to establish the locus standi to present a petition under what is now section 124(1) of the Insolvency Act 1986. The case of an undisputed debt with a genuine and serious cross claim is different, in that the dismissal or staying of the petition can only be a matter for the discretion of the court, albeit that its exercise may have been narrowed by authority.

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Legislation
  • Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1888
    • UK Non-devolved
    • January 01, 1888
    ... ... question of fact, or upon any question regarding the locus standi of ... a complainant ... (2.) Save as otherwise provided by this ... ...
  • Wirral Railway Transfer Act 1889
    • UK Non-devolved
    • January 01, 1889
    ... ... and the powers and privileges hereby agreed to shall not confer any locus standi on either of the three Companies to oppose any Bill in Parliament ... ...
  • Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) General Order, 1952
    • UK Non-devolved
    • January 01, 1952
    ... ... shall report specially whether they have determined to sustain the locus standi of any person who has not in the manner and within the time ... ...
  • Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1899
    • UK Non-devolved
    • January 01, 1899
    ... ... (2.) Commissioners shall hear and determine any question of ... locus standi, but they shall not sustain the locus standi of any person ... who ... ...
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Books & Journal Articles
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Law Firm Commentaries
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