Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
The concept of the ‘private attorney general’ has been well-known in North America since the 1970s. It has received less traction in other jurisdictions where, until recently, social change and behaviour modification have not been major goals of litigation. While the concept has many permutations, its best known form is a private attorney general who brings private law actions on behalf of a wider population, filling a regulatory void left by public officials who are unable or unwilling to act. In that process, private law grievances are transformed into quasi-public actions, and lines between public and private law are blurred.

Chiodo, Suzanne, Private Law and Mass Claims: Regulating in the Place of the State (September 24, 2024). Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Forthcoming.