Peculiarities of defence of public and private interests

Abstract

Construction planning infringes third party rights quite often. Real cases of defence of such rights frequently face a problem: the right of private perrsons to defend public interest is limited, though the concept of public interest itself is not unambiguously defined in legislation; the courts also have different interpretations of this concept. Infringement of public interest often means infringement of private person rights and vice versa. Thus it is not clear when third persons can defend their rights without consideration of this act as defence of public interest. This article aims to analyse public interest in the context of the society and of court practice, to define the concept of public interest and the limits of its defence in construction planning, and to examine issues related to separation of this interest from private interest in laws of the Republic of Lithuania and in judicial practice.

Planuojant statybas neretai pažeidžiamos ir trečiųjų asmenų teisės. Praktikoje, ginant šias teises, dažnai susiduriama su problema: privatiems asmenims yra ribojama teisė ginti viešąjį interesą, nors pati viešojo intereso samprata nėra vienareikšmiškai apibrėžta teisės aktuose, teismai taip pat skirtingai traktuoja šią sąvoką. Pažeidžiant viešąjį interesą, dažnai yra pažeidžiamos ir privačių asmenų teisės, nelaikant šio veiksmo viešojo intereso gynimu.