The Real Party in Interest

Abstract

Ever since the adoption of the original New York Code of 1848 it has been a fundamental requirement of code pleading that every action should be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest, with an exception in favor of an executor or administrator, a trustee of an express trust or a person expressly authorized by statute. The framers of the Code, in explaining the occasion for the provision, referred to the common law prohibition against the assignment of a "thing in action" and stated this to be the condition of the parties: "If the assignee sues at law, he is turned out of court, and if the assignor sues in equity, he is turned out also." They added: "The true rule undoubtedly is that which prevails in the courts of equity, that he who has the right, is the person to pursue the remedy. We have adopted that rule."