Private law is that part of a
civil law
Civil law may refer to:
* Civil law (common law)
Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the law of the United ...
legal system
The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four basic systems
A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole.
A system, surrounded and infl ...
which is part of the ''
jus commune
''Jus commune'' or ''ius commune'' is Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken in the area around Rome, known as Latium. Thro ...
'' that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of
contract
A contract is a legally binding agreement that defines and governs the rights and duties between or among its parties
Image:'Hip, Hip, Hurrah! Artist Festival at Skagen', by Peder Severin Krøyer (1888) Demisted with DXO PhotoLab Clearview ...

s and
tort
A tort, in common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent or judge-made law, or ) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial by virtue of being stated in written opinions. ' is the most-used legal dict ...

s
(as it is called in the
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent or judge-made law, or case law
Case law is the collection of past legal decisions written by courts and similar tribunal
A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority ...
), and the
law of obligations
The law of obligations is one branch of private law
Private law is that part of a civil law
Civil law may refer to:
* Civil law (common law)
Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Steven ...
(as it is called in
civil legal systems). It is to be distinguished from
public law
Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal person
In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as en ...
, which deals with relationships between both
natural
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the natural, physical, material world or universe
The universe ( la, universus) is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and ...
and
artificial persons (i.e., organizations) and the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* The State (newspaper), ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, Un ...
, including regulatory
statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative
A legislature is an assembly
Assembly may refer to:
Organisations and meetings
* Deliberative assembly
A deliberative assembly is a gathering of members (of any kind of collective) ...

s,
penal law
Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property
Property (''latin: Res Privata'') in the Abstract and concrete, abstract is what belon ...
and other law that affects the
public order
In criminology
Criminology (from Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken in the area around Rome, known as Latium. Thr ...
. In general terms, private law involves interactions between private individuals, whereas public law involves interrelations between the state and the general population.
Concept
One of the five capital lawyers in Roman law,
, (170–223) – who differentiated ius publicum versus ius privatum – the European, more exactly the continental law, philosophers and thinkers want(ed) to put each branch of law into this dichotomy:
Public
In public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization
An organization, or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth Engli ...
and Private Law.
"''huius studdii duæ sunt positiones: publicum et privatum. Publicum ius est, quod statum rei Romanæ spectat, privatum, quod ad singulorum utilitatem; sunt enim quædam publice utila, quædam privatim''". (Public law is that, which concerns Roman state, private law is concerned with the interests of citizens.) In the modern era
(1689–1755) amplified supremely this distinction: International (law of nations), Public (politic law) and Private (civil law) Law, in his major work:
(On) The Spirit of the Law (1748). "Considered as inhabitants of so great a planet, which necessarily contains a variety of nations, they have laws relating to their mutual intercourse, which is what we call the law of nations. As members of a society that must be properly supported, they have laws relating to the governors and the governed, and this we distinguish by the name of politic law. They have also another sort of law, as they stand in relation to each other; by which is understood the civil law."
Private law in common law jurisdictions
The concept of private law in common law countries is a little more broad, in that it also encompasses private relationships between governments and private individuals or other entities. That is, relationships between governments and individuals based on the law of contract or torts are governed by private law, and are not considered to be within the scope of public law.
Areas of private law
*
Agricultural law
Agricultural law, sometimes referred to as Ag Law, deals with such legal issues as agricultural infrastructure, seed, water, fertilizer, pesticide use, agricultural finance, agricultural labour, agricultural marketing, agricultural insurance, farmi ...
*Business law
**
Company law
Corporate law (also known as business law or enterprise law or sometimes company law) is the body of law
Law is a system
A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules t ...
**
Commercial law
Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of Legal person, persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered ...
*
Civil law
Civil law may refer to:
* Civil law (common law)
Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the law of the United ...
**
Law of obligations
The law of obligations is one branch of private law
Private law is that part of a civil law
Civil law may refer to:
* Civil law (common law)
Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Steven ...
***
Contract law
A contract is a legally binding agreement that defines and governs the rights and duties between or among its parties
Image:'Hip, Hip, Hurrah! Artist Festival at Skagen', by Peder Severin Krøyer (1888) Demisted with DXO PhotoLab Clearview ...
***
Tort law
A tort, in common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent or judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions. ''Black's Law ...
***Law of
unjust enrichment
In laws of equity, unjust enrichment occurs when one person is enriched at the expense of another in circumstances that the law sees as unjust. Where an individual is unjustly enriched, the law imposes an obligation upon the recipient to make rest ...
and
quasi-contract
A quasi-contract (or implied-in-law contract or constructive contract) is a fictional
Fiction generally is a narrative
A narrative, story or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional ( memoir, biogr ...
s
**
Trust law
A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right (eg. title to a chattel) gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In common law, English common law, the party who entrusts the ri ...
**
Law of agency
The law of agency is an area of commercial law dealing with a set of contractual, quasi-contractual and non-contractual fiduciary relationships that involve a person, called the agent, that is authorized to act on behalf of another (called the pr ...
**
Property law
Property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to , alter, , , ...
**
Family law
Family law (also called matrimonial law or the ''law of domestic relations'') is an area of the law
Law is a system
A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to for ...
- family-related issues and domestic relations including marriage, civil unions, divorce, spousal abuse, child custody and visitation, property, alimony, and child support awards, child abuse issues, and adoption.
**
- estate planning, testate and intestate succession, probate, and law of wills
*
Consumer protection
Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace fa:بازار
A market, or marketplace, is a location where people regularly gather for the pu ...
*
International private law
*
Labour law
Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade union
A trade union (or a labor union in American English
American English (AmE, AE, AmEng, ...
*
Transport law
Transport law (or transportation law) is the area of law
Law is a system
A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole.
A system, surrounded an ...
See also
*
International Institute for the Unification of Private Law
UNIDROIT (formally, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law; French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
France (), officially the French Republic (french: ...
*
International Journal of Private Law
*
Polycentric law
Polycentric law is a theoretical legal structure in which "providers" of legal systems compete or overlap in a given jurisdiction, as opposed to monopoly, monopolistic statutory law according to which there is a sole provider of law for each jurisd ...
*
Private law society
*
Social law
Social law is a unified concept of law, which replaces the classical division of public law
Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal person
In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any leg ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Private Law
ko:민법
sv:Civilrätt