A public institution is a

juristic person A juridical person is a non-human legal person that is not a single natural person but an organization recognized by law as a fictitious person such as a corporation, government agency, NGO or International (inter-governmental) Organization (such ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

which is backed through public funds and controlled by the state.20 CFR §416.201 http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/416/416-0201.htm Typically a public institution will have a

board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

who govern the institution and the members of the board are public officials who are appointed by the state (typically a person in the

executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state. In poli ...

such as a

state governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

) for a fixed term of years. When public institutions are created, they lead to many other establishments such as new laws.

Description

In U.S. law, whether an institution is public or private determines how bound the institution is to the requirements for

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

to which the state must conform (see also

Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...

). A public institution is required to conform to the same requirements as the state for constitutional questions meaning that the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

, especially the

Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...

, applies to the institution as does the constitution of the state in which the public institution resides. Court cases involving public institutions are within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Federal Court System. In U.S. law, there are five major factors used by courts to determine if an institution is a public or a private institution and whether the court has

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

in the case (see '' Powe v. Miles'' for an example). * what amount of control does the state have in the governance of the institution * what amount of state funding is used to support the institution's activities * what amount of the institution's

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 consume, alter, share, r ...

is owned by the state * does the institution have tax-free status * is there a contract between the state and the institution

References

{{reflist

External articles

* United States
The Federal and state constitutions, colonial charters, and other organic laws of the state, territories, and colonies now or heretofore forming the United States of America
Govt. Print. Off., 1909. * Frank Johnson Goodnow
The principles of the administrative law of the United States
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1905. * Rudolf Sohm
The Institutes; a textbook of the history and system of Roman private law
1907. * Dugald J. Bannatyne
Handbook of republican institutions in the United States of America: based upon federal and state laws
W. Blackwood and sons, 1887 Legal entities