Also known as: public right · public-right doctrine
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A right held in common by members of the general public. An interference with the right is unreasonable when the conduct involves a significant impact on public health, safety, peace, comfort or convenience, violates a statute or regulation, or produces a continuing or permanent effect that the actor knows or has reason to know will significantly affect the right.
A dispute arising between a private party and the government in its sovereign capacity under a valid statute creating enforceable rights. Such disputes may be assigned by Congress to non-Article III tribunals for adjudication.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A right held in common by members of the general public. An interference with the right is unreasonable when the conduct involves a significant impact on public health, safety, peace, comfort or convenience, violates a statute or regulation, or produces a continuing or permanent effect that the actor knows or has reason to know will significantly affect the right.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The Hog Farm Partnership sprays liquid manure on fields near a public lake and parks, violating a state agricultural regulation. Strong odors and flies reach a highway rest area, campground, school grounds, and town parks, causing nausea and canceling community events. The partnership knows from prior complaints that the recurring invasions significantly affect public comfort and convenience.
The Hog Farm Partnership allows manure lagoons to overflow after heavy rains multiple times each year. The resulting odors and flies persist for days on each occasion and reach public parks and a lakeside campground. The partnership has received prior complaints and therefore knows the continuing invasions produce a long-lasting effect on public comfort.
MetroFiber's foreman Lewis deliberately leads a crew across public parkland and a posted lakeshore to install fiber line. The crew acts knowing the entry will occur at that location even though an outdated map showed an easement that had terminated. The purposeful crossing interferes with the public's right to use and enjoy the land without significant disruption.
An interference is unreasonable when the conduct produces a significant effect on public health, safety, peace, comfort or convenience, violates a statute or regulation, or is continuing or permanent and the actor knows or has reason to know it will significantly affect the public right.
Supporting sources
An interference is unreasonable when the conduct produces a significant effect on public health, safety, peace, comfort or convenience, violates a statute or regulation, or is continuing or permanent and the actor knows or has reason to know it will significantly affect the public right.
Supporting sources
A dispute arising between a private party and the government in its sovereign capacity under a valid statute creating enforceable rights. Such disputes may be assigned by Congress to non-Article III tribunals for adjudication.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Omar, a banking lawyer, accepts an assignment through a bar association program to represent Roy, a minimum-wage worker facing eviction from a building foreclosed by Omar's longtime client. Omar files answers and negotiates stays without charging Roy any fee. The representation protects Roy's housing rights where payment of standard fees would be inappropriate given Roy's limited resources.
Taxpayers file suit alleging that federal expenditures for religious schools violate the Establishment Clause. They sue as private attorneys general to vindicate interests shared by the public at large rather than to protect any personal or proprietary right of their own. The suit seeks to enforce a public right created by the Constitution.
An environmental organization sues to enforce statutory protections for endangered species abroad. The members allege only a generalized interest in wildlife preservation shared by the public rather than any concrete, particularized injury to themselves. The claim therefore seeks to vindicate a public right rather than an individual right.
A public right arises in a dispute between a private party and the government acting in its sovereign capacity under a valid statute. A private right involves disputes between private parties that traditionally were resolved in Article III courts and therefore generally require adjudication by judges with life tenure and salary protection.
Supporting sources
Yes. Model Rule 6.1(b)(1) expressly permits a lawyer to count hours spent delivering legal services without fee or at a substantially reduced fee to individuals or organizations seeking to secure or protect public rights when payment of standard fees would significantly deplete the organization's resources or would otherwise be inappropriate.
Supporting sources
…such a manner as that each may be a check on the other—that the private interest of every individual may be a sentinel over the public rights. These inventions of prudence cannot be less requisite in the distribution of the supreme powers of the State." This Court has not hesitated to enforce the principle of separation of…
…issue that "no part of this opinion is intended to foreclose the public's opportunity to adjudicate the possibility that
…321 U. S. 288, 309-310 (1944) (footnote omitted). "Individual rights," within the meaning of this passage, do not mean public rights
…and nontaxpayers alike. These are and must be, to adopt Professor Jaffe's useful phrase, "public actions" brought to vindicate public rights
…degree of intrusion is reasonable, but whether First Amendment principles require that the right of privacy give way to the