Standing in Private Law: Powers of Enforcement in the Law of Obligations and Trusts develops the idea that we should attend more to 'standing', conceived as a power to hold another accountable before a court as a distinct private law concept. Prominent lawyers have claimed that private law does not have or need standing rules, yet this seems implausible. If private law is obligation-imposing, we need rules about who can sue on these obligations to hold their bearers accountable. This book argues that a reason why standing has been relatively overlooked and under-conceptualized, receiving meagre attention from private lawyers, is because it has been obscured from plain sight: it has been swallowed up by the more dominant and capacious concept of a 'right'. However, standing is a distinct and separable private law concept that can and should be distinguished more clearly from 'right'. Doing so is necessary for the continued rational development of private law doctrine. It is also necessary for a deeper theoretical understanding of standing's significance, and its place within the remedial apparatus of private law. This book argues that an implicit standing rule exists across the law of obligations. It examines its justifiability, and the justifiability of exceptions to the rule. It also shows how and why recognising standing's distinctiveness can help us to interpret, develop, and resolve debates within different areas of private law, including the laws of contract, torts, unjust enrichments, and relatedly, the law of trusts.

About the Author
Timothy Liau is an Assistant Professor in Private Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He previously held the position of Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and prior to that, Stipendiary Lecturer in Law at Merton College, Oxford. He holds an LLB from NUS, where he was top First and Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medallist. He did his postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford as a Clarendon Scholar, and Graduate Prize Scholar at Merton College, reading for the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL), MPhil, and DPhil, while also teaching Commercial Remedies on the BCL.

Reviews
Standing in Private Law is a ground-breaking work, shining a light upon the neglected private law standing rules and urging a clarity of thought from which the developed public law standing rules might also benefit. It is a work of deep theory, building upon the writing of some of the great legal theorists of the 20th and 21st centuries...The understanding that Dr Liau encourages will have significant effects on private law legal doctrine. * The Hon James Edelman, Justice of the High Court of Australia *
This is not a voluminous book. However, each chapter is packed with in-depth analysis of theories and doctrines...This book might be best placed in an academic setting. * Law Society Gazette *
In a remarkable book full of insights for both familiar and new problems, Dr Liau meticulously unpacks the concept of standing in private law, distinguishing it from adjacent concepts which could obscure it from view, and shows how recognising standing as a distinct private law concept can help us understand, illuminate, and perhaps even resolve debates and difficulties in private law doctrine...despite the 'deep theory' the themes and arguments of the book are undoubtedly also relevant for those wrestling with problems in the very practical world of banking and financial law. They will find many insights within its pages. All need this excellent book on their bookshelf should the issues it discusses arise. * Sir Ross Cranston KC FBA, Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law *
The novelty and ambition of Standing in Private Law truly shines - in forcing us to interrogate and clarify a term which has been used all too infrequently and all too imprecisely. To conclude with one final sense of 'standing': Standing in Private Law certainly stands out as a rigorous and rich contribution to an area of private law which has long awaited such a work. * The Cambridge Law Journal *



Book Information
ISBN 9780192869661
Author Timothy Liau
Format Hardback
Page Count 368
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 666g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 165mm * 25mm