Public law and Private law

 
Public law and Private law

Distinction is very important for civil lawc ountries, and much less
important in common law countries;

 However, no unifomity exists among civil law countries in distinguishing
public and private law;

 Generally speaking , public law is the law that governs the relationship
between the individuals (physical or legal persons) and the state . Thus, in
public law state is directly involved as a legal actor;

 Public law includes at least :
◦ constitutional law
◦ administrative law, and
◦ criminal law.

By contrast, private law governs the relationship
between private individuals without intervention
of a state or government. In this areas of law state
is not directly or primarily a party;

 Private law includes at least:
◦ civil law, and cemmercial law.

 Or, depending upon legal system and accepted
classification of branches of law, one can say that
private law includes the following branches:
contract law, tort law, family law, property law, etc.
(see next slides).

Distinction is ambiguous, besides, even such 'traditional'
private areas as family law are increasingly regulated by
the state;
 Classification of some areas is disputable:
 e.g. civil procedure-included either in private, or in public
law, depending upon legal system;
 labor law, agricultural law, social security law -sometimes
referred as 'mixed' public and private, sometimes
described as sui generis (Glendon, Gordon, and Osakwe,
p.266).
 Occasionally, public law would mean the law of general
application, as opposed to private law, which concerns
only a small class, or group, or even a single individual.

Public law
 defines the state or governs
the relationship between the
state and its citizens,
 tends to be more general, may
involve multiple parties or
interests,
 more likely to be prospective
(forward looking),
 in some cases goes beyond
awards of monetary damages
(e.g. imprisonment)

Private law
 governs relationship
between citizens,
 often retrospective,
concerns with resolving
secific disputes about past
conduct between identified
parties,
 rarely has public policy
implications.