News and Perspectives of Public Law

Abstract

Since the earliest classic division of law into public law and private law, envisioned by the 3rd century Roman legal expert Ulpian, interdisciplinarity as a fundamental feature of the law has currently become noteworthy. The recent exceptional pandemic situation that we have faced, which can easily be regarded as “crisis,” has revealed once more that reference to society can only be made by resorting not only to law but also to ethics and morals. Public authorities have often found themselves in the position of making administrative decisions for the population, objected by the great majority, as fundamental rights have been restricted for short periods of time. This paper addresses a current topic of interest, namely Considering interdisciplinarity, can we speak nowadays of a new public law? If so, what should we do with the old law? Should we discard it or rebuild it? These questions are answered herein by using research methods specific to law, in order to emphasise the conclusions according to which the measures for good administration carried out by public authorities must express both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, taking the general interests of society into account. Keywords: Public law; Public Interest; European Ombudsman; Maladministration; The Venice Commission.