Editing Standing (law) (section)

==United Kingdom==
In British administrative law, an applicant needs to have a sufficient interest in the matter to which the application relates.<ref>Senior Courts Act 1981 s.31(3).</ref> This sufficient interest requirement has been construed liberally by the courts. As [[Lord Diplock]] put it:<ref>''Inland Revenue Commissioners Appellants v National Federation of Self-Employed and Small Businesses Ltd. Respondents'' [1982] A.C. 617.</ref>

{{blockquote|[i]t would&nbsp;... be a grave danger to escape ''[[Lacuna (law)|lacuna]]'' in our system of public law if a pressure group&nbsp;... or even a single public spirited taxpayer, were prevented by outdated technical rules of ''locus standi'' from bringing the matter to the attention of the court to vindicate the rule of law and get the unlawful conduct stopped.}}

In the [[English law of contract|law of contract]], the doctrine of [[privity]] means that only those who are party to a contract can sue or be sued upon it.<ref>''[[Tweddle v Atkinson]]'', ''[[Dunlop v Selfridge]]'', ''[[Beswick v Beswick]]''</ref> This doctrine was substantially amended by the [[Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999]], which allows third parties specified in a contract to enforce it provided the contract expressly grants them the right to do so.

Almost all criminal prosecutions are brought by the state via the [[Crown Prosecution Service]], so private prosecutions are rare. An exception was the case of ''[[Whitehouse v Lemon]]'' where [[Mary Whitehouse|Mrs Mary Whitehouse]], a self-appointed guardian of suburban morality, was permitted to bring a private prosecution for [[blasphemous libel]] (an offence still in existence until 2008) against the publisher of ''[[Gay News]]'', [[Denis Lemon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.swarb.co.uk/c/hl/1979Whitehouse-GayNews.html|title=Whitehouse v Lemon, Whitehouse v Gay News Ltd |website=lawindexpro}}</ref> Victims of crime have standing to sue the perpetrator and they may claim [[Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority|criminal injuries compensation]] from the state. If the state fails properly to bring a case, the victim or his family may have standing to bring a private prosecution, as in the case of [[Murder of Stephen Lawrence|Stephen Lawrence]].