Legal Definitions - jus terti

Jus tertii is a legal principle that allows a party in a lawsuit to assert the legal rights or interests of a third party, rather than their own. Typically, to have "standing" (the legal right to bring a case to court), an individual or entity must demonstrate that they have personally suffered a direct injury or have a direct stake in the outcome of the dispute.

Jus tertii acts as an exception to this general rule. It permits one party to advocate on behalf of another, often when the third party faces significant practical or legal obstacles in asserting their own rights, or when there is a close relationship between the party in court and the third party whose rights are at issue.

• Example 1: Healthcare Provider Challenging a Law

  A medical clinic challenges a new state law that severely restricts access to a particular medical procedure. The clinic argues that the law infringes upon the constitutional rights of its patients to make private healthcare decisions. In this scenario, the clinic is asserting the rights of its patients (the third parties) to access medical care, rather than solely focusing on its own right to perform the procedure. The court might allow this under jus tertii because the patients themselves might find it difficult to individually challenge the law, and the clinic has a close relationship with its patients.

• Example 2: Advocacy Organization Protecting Members' Rights

  An environmental advocacy group files a lawsuit against a government agency, challenging a new regulation that permits extensive logging in a protected forest area. The group argues that the regulation violates the recreational and aesthetic rights of its members, who frequently use the forest for hiking and wildlife observation. Here, the organization is asserting the rights of its members (the third parties) to enjoy the natural environment, rather than claiming a direct injury to the organization itself. The court might recognize jus tertii because the organization is uniquely positioned to represent the collective interests of its members.

• Example 3: Bookseller Challenging Censorship

  A bookstore owner challenges a local ordinance that bans the sale of certain types of books, arguing that the ordinance violates the free speech rights of their customers to access diverse literature. The owner is not primarily arguing for their own right to sell books, but rather for the constitutional rights of their customers (the third parties) to read and purchase those books. This could be an application of jus tertii, as the bookstore owner has a close relationship with their customers and is directly impacted by a law that restricts their customers' access to information.