Žmogaus individualūs interesai kaip viešojo intereso pagrindas

Abstract

The article aims to disclose the problem of defining the concept of public interest in law from the perspectives of subjects and objects of public interest. The first chapter of the article deals with an analysis of the interrelation and interdependence between need and interest. Legal interest is described as a legally protected conscious aspiration of an objectively existing good, which can satisfy a person’s need, by using legal measures. The author of the article stresses two main elements without which no interest can exist. These elements are: a subject having particular interest and an object of an interest (certain values). In author’s opinion, interests are what binds a person with the society, makes him social. In the second chapter of the article, the author analyzes the subjects of public interest. The author states that society is only one of the subjects of public interest, because the accomplishment or satisfaction of a society’s interests is not always a sufficient condition for the accomplishment or satisfaction of individual or state interests. The same is to be said about state interests in relation with the interests of a society and an individual.Further on, the article deals with the interrelation between individual and general attributes of interest in law. The author claims that the category of public interest means not only quantity, but also quality. Therefore, a subject of public interest is not the only element that describes the category under investigation. Interests of individuals, the whole society and the state must be in accord with each other. In a democratic state, a compromise should be found between the interests of all subjects, because an individual, the society and the state are values for each other, their interests depend on and influence the development of every subject. A violation of the interests of one subject automatically causes a violation of the interests of another subject; in this situation neither a consecutive development of all earlier mentioned subjects is possible nor a common welfare can be achieved. The fourth chapter of the article deals with the object of public interest. By analyzing the introductory part of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania and the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania, the author states that objects of public interest are goods and values that are embedded in norms and principles of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. The author stresses that the main and the greatest value and, therefore, the main object of public interest is the human and his rights.