Rethinking the boundaries between public law and private law for the twenty first century: An introduction

Abstract

In the broadest terms, in the context of common law jurisdictions, public law is inseparable from government. Private law traditionally encompasses the common law of contract, torts, and property that regulates relations among individuals. 3 Also, consistent with this distinction, and as more systematically established in the civil law tradition, constitutional law, administrative law, and criminal law fall within the ambit of public law. 4 In short, at the highest levels of abstraction, public law is the law that pertains to government—for example, constitutional separation of powers or administrative procedure; or to the vertical relation between the government and individuals to the extent that government imposes an obligation owed to it on individuals—for example, criminal law; or directly confers a right or entitlement on the latter—for example, laws pertaining to government dispensation of welfare assistance to the poor; or guarantees such individual right or entitlement— for example, constitutional law both as commanding government self-restraint 5 and