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Private law is the part of alegal system that governs interactions between individual persons. It is distinguished frompublic law, which deals with relationships between bothnatural andartificial persons (i.e., organizations) and thestate, including regulatorystatutes,penal law and other law that affects thepublic order. In general terms, private law involves interactions between private individuals, whereas public law involves interrelations between the state and the general population. In legal systems of thecivil law tradition, it is that part of thejus commune that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law ofcontracts andtorts[1] (as it is called in thecommon law tradition), and thelaw of obligations (as it is called in the civil law tradition).
One of the five capital lawyers inRoman law,Domitius Ulpianus, (170–223) – who differentiatedius publicum fromius privatum – the European, more exactly the continental law, philosophers and thinkers want(ed) to put each branch of law into this dichotomy:Public and Private Law.[2] "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 the Roman state, private law is concerned with the interests of citizens.)
The plebiscitelex Aquilia codified the law on damage to person and property through a particular fault. It is a forerunner of the modern law oftort. Other forms of private law included:
In the modern era,Charles-Louis Montesquieu (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."
The concept of private law in common law countries is somewhat broader, as it also encompasses private relationships between governments and individuals or other entities. In other words, relationships between governments and individuals based on contract or tort law are governed by private law and fall outside the scope of public law.
TheEuropean Commission and theEuropean Council have stated a desire to achieve greaterapproximation of private law across its (now) 27member states of the European Union, including within the fields of contract law, property law and family law. In regard to contract law, it the Commission and Council have argued that there are problems resulting from divergences in this field of law across the EU, and in regard to family law, the Council suggests that this field is "a possible subject for a discussion on ... approximation".[3]
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