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Private attorney general is an informal term usually used today in the United States to refer to a private attorney who brings a lawsuit considered to be in the public interest, i.e., benefiting the general public and not just the plaintiff, on behalf of a citizen or group of citizens.〔The earliest known use by a court in the United States is by Judge Frank in ''Associated Industries of New York State, Inc. v. Ickes'', 134 F.2d 694 (2d Cir. 1943).〕 The attorney is considered a "private attorney general" and may, at the equitable discretion of the court, be entitled to recover attorney's fees if he or she prevails. The rationale behind this principle is to provide extra incentive to private attorneys to pursue suits that may be of benefit to society at large. ==Examples of application== Many civil rights statutes rely on private attorneys general for their enforcement. In ''Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises'',〔 88 S.Ct. 964, 19 L.Ed.2d 1263.〕 one of the earliest cases construing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the United States Supreme Court ruled that "A public accommodations suit is thus private in form only. When a plaintiff brings an action . . . he cannot recover damages. If he obtains an injunction, he does so not for himself alone but also as a 'private attorney general,' vindicating a policy that Congress considered of the highest priority." The United States Congress has also passed laws with "private attorney general" provisions that provide for the enforcement of laws prohibiting employment discrimination, police brutality, and water pollution. Under the Clean Water Act, for example, "any citizen" may bring suit against an individual or a company that is a source of water pollution. Another example of the "private attorney general" provisions is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). RICO allows average citizens (private attorneys general) to sue those organizations that commit mail and wire fraud as part of their criminal enterprise. To date, there are over 60 federal statutes that encourage private enforcement by allowing prevailing plaintiffs to collect attorney's fees. Attorneys who function as a private attorney general do so without compensation. The statutes permitting a plaintiff to recover attorneys' fees have been held not to apply when the plaintiff is an attorney. While there is such a thing as a private attorney general act, it should be stated that there is no such thing as a private non-attorney citizen being a "private attorney general" for all purposes. The term applies only to the exercise of one's ability to pursue certain specific kinds of legal actions which are statutorily authorized. It does not create the ability to call one's self a "private attorney general". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「private attorney general」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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