BETWEEN COMMON LAW AND EQUITY: CONFLICTING PRINCIPLES IN AMERICAN PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION

Abstract

Citizen suits allows us to identify some of the conditioning background of american legal field, particularly as regards procedural aspects of judicial protection of the public interest. Either looking at citizen suits from the point of view of the forms of production of truth, or the notions of public interest that underlies it is possible to identify a recurring tension between the political dimension of the process and procedural formalities. They are like two poles, one informed by a equity tradition and the other closer to common law.

Keywords

• colective actions
• us
• equity
• common law