‘locus standi’

A-G of Hong Kong v. Ng Yuen Shiu  [1983] 2 AC 629 ; [1983] 2 All ER 346;  [1983] 2 WLR 735 and Council of Civil Service Unions & Ors v. Minister for the Civil Service [1984] 3 All ER 935;  [1984] 1 WLR 1174 (Cited in Lee Freddie & Ors v. Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya & Anor [1994] 3 MLJ 640):

The  term ‘locus standi’  as legal concepts is somewhat lacking in precision. What can be said ... ‘Locus standi’... is literally a place of standing. In the legal arena, it has become a place to stand in court, or a right to appear in a court of justice on a given question. That right is given to a person if he is suing to enforce some private right or even some public right provided the interference with that public right causes direct damage to him. To avoid a situation of asking which came first, the chicken or the egg, one has to determine first whether the right or legitimate expectation arises. A denial of locus standi will only follow where such existence is first negatived.