What locus standi means
Locus standi is the answer to a preliminary question: is this your case to bring?
Before a court examines whether a claim is right, it asks whether the person bringing it has a sufficient interest in the subject matter. A person with no connection to a dispute cannot litigate it merely because they disapprove of what happened.
The rationale is practical. Courts have finite time, defendants should not answer to strangers, and disputes are better argued by the people actually affected by them.
It is a threshold issue, which means it is raised early, often by preliminary objection, and it can end a case before the merits are considered at all. A claimant who has assembled excellent evidence and cannot show standing has assembled it for nothing.
How it is used
In ordinary civil litigation standing is rarely contentious. The person whose contract was breached, whose goods were taken or whose land was trespassed on obviously has an interest.
It becomes live in three settings.
Public interest litigation, where somebody challenges government action affecting the public generally rather than them specifically. The question is whether their interest is sufficient or merely the interest every citizen has.
Company matters, where a shareholder seeks to complain about a wrong done to the company. The general rule is that the proper claimant is the company itself, with limited exceptions allowing a member to act.
Judicial review, where the applicant must show sufficient interest in the decision challenged.
A claimant should therefore plead their interest clearly and early: how the matter affects them, what they stand to lose, and why they rather than somebody else are the right person to bring it.
Key features
- The right to bring a claim, decided before the merits
- Requires a sufficient interest in the subject matter
- Usually raised by preliminary objection
- Rarely contentious in ordinary private disputes
- Most often argued in public interest and constitutional matters
- Relaxed considerably in fundamental rights proceedings
How this works in Nigeria
Nigerian courts once took a restrictive view, requiring an applicant to show that their own civil rights and obligations were affected, which shut out a great deal of public interest litigation.
That position has been relaxed over time, and the shift is most visible in constitutional and fundamental rights matters. The Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules expressly encourage a broad approach, allowing applications by people acting on behalf of others and in the public interest, including by human rights organisations and activists.
That matters practically. A person detained unlawfully is rarely in a position to instruct a lawyer, and the Rules allow a relative, a lawyer or an organisation to apply on their behalf.
Outside that area the position is less generous, and challenges to government action on general public interest grounds still meet standing objections.
In company law, the rule that the company is the proper claimant for a wrong done to it remains the starting point, with CAMA providing routes for a member to act in defined circumstances, including where the conduct is unfairly prejudicial to them.
The practical advice is to anticipate the objection. Set out the claimant's interest in the originating process rather than waiting to argue it, because a poorly pleaded interest invites the preliminary objection that ends the case.
Locus standi vs jurisdiction vs cause of action
Three preliminary questions a Nigerian court asks before the merits, and all three can end a case.
Jurisdiction asks whether this court can hear this kind of matter. An employment claim brought in a State High Court rather than the National Industrial Court fails on jurisdiction, however strong it is.
Locus standi asks whether this claimant can bring it. A person with no sufficient interest is shut out even in the right court.
Cause of action asks whether the facts pleaded disclose a claim the law recognises. A genuine grievance that does not fit a recognised legal wrong fails here.
A defendant faced with a weak claim will test all three by preliminary objection before touching the evidence, which is why the originating process should address each of them on its face.
Limits and risks
Standing can shut out meritorious cases. A serious wrong may go unchallenged because nobody with sufficient interest is willing or able to litigate it.
The test is also imprecise. Sufficient interest is a matter of degree, decisions are not always easy to reconcile, and outcomes can be difficult to predict.
Preliminary objections on standing add delay and cost even when they fail, and defendants use them tactically for exactly that reason.
And the relaxed approach is not uniform. It is strongest in fundamental rights matters and much weaker in general public interest challenges, so an applicant cannot assume the broader approach applies to their case.
Worth knowing
Plead your interest on the face of the originating process, not in reply to an objection. Nigerian cases are struck out on standing at the preliminary stage more often than they are lost on the facts, and the answer is usually two paragraphs the claimant did not think to include.
Questions people ask
What is locus standi?
The right to bring a case. A claimant must show a sufficient interest in the subject matter, and a court will not hear a claim from somebody with no such interest, however serious the complaint.
When is standing usually challenged?
In public interest litigation, in judicial review, and where a shareholder seeks to complain about a wrong done to their company. It is rarely contentious in ordinary private disputes.
Has Nigeria relaxed the rules on standing?
Considerably in constitutional and fundamental rights matters. The Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules encourage a broad approach, allowing applications on behalf of others and in the public interest.
Can somebody bring a case for a detained person?
Yes, in fundamental rights proceedings. A relative, a lawyer or an organisation can apply on behalf of somebody detained, which matters because the person affected is often unable to instruct anybody.
Can a shareholder sue for a wrong done to the company?
The starting point is that the company is the proper claimant. CAMA provides routes for a member to act in defined circumstances, including where the conduct is unfairly prejudicial to them.
What happens if I lack standing?
The case is struck out at the preliminary stage, before the merits are considered. Pleading your interest clearly in the originating process is the way to avoid it.