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"Public Interest" published on by Oxford University Press.

The public interest is, in some way or other, the interest of everyone (or anyone). According to Benthamite analyses, however, the public interest is taken to be a summation of individual interests; but such analyses face the standing problem of trying to maintain that certain acts (or policies) which are against the interest of some are nevertheless in the public interest. These difficulties are to be handled by drawing a distinction between a person's interests & what is in his interest. The public interest is to be found not by determining which acts are in the interest of most individuals, but rather by determining which acts promote interests which are interests of anyone who is a member of the public. For example, a policy which ensures that everyone will have enough to eat promotes an interest which is an interest of anyone, & is thus in the public interest, even if not everyone benefits from the policy. The concept of the public interest is, however, a weaker concept than it is often taken to be, for questions as to what is in the public interest are usually not carefully distinguished from questions as to what the best thing to do is. The account of the public interest that is given is a collective rather than a distributive one. An act or policy is in the public interest not on the ground that it is in the interest of Smith, of Jones, of Brown, etc, but on the ground that it promotes or protects an interest which is an interest of anyone who is a member of the public. A collective conception of the public interest has the merit of handling adequately certain cases which a distributive conception cannot handle adequately. AA.

This book analyses in a comprehensive manner the phenomenon of "public interest" in different areas of law, both public and private. The contributions focus on the definition of public interest and the distinction between public and private interest. Further, they define the relevant "public" and investigate the weight of public interest in case of conflict with other considerations and the legal consequences of its breach