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95-621: Public law is the part of law that governs relations and affairs between legal persons and a government , between different institutions within a state , between different branches of governments , as well as relationships between persons that are of direct concern to society. Public law comprises constitutional law , administrative law , tax law and criminal law , as well as all procedural law . Laws concerning relationships between individuals belong to private law . The relationships public law governs are asymmetric and unequalized. Government bodies (central or local) can make decisions about

190-560: A physical person ), and a non-human person is called a juridical person (sometimes also a juridic , juristic , artificial , legal , or fictitious person , Latin : persona ficta ). Juridical persons are entities such as corporations, firms (in some jurisdictions ), and many government agencies . They are treated in law as if they were persons. While natural persons acquire legal personality "naturally", simply by being born, juridical persons must have legal personality conferred on them by some "unnatural", legal process, and it

285-568: A civil code whose interpretations rely on both the civil and common law systems. Because Puerto Rico 's Civil Code is based on the Spanish Civil Code of 1889, available jurisprudence has tended to rely on common law innovations due to the code's age and in many cases, obsolete nature. Several Islamic countries have civil law systems that contain elements of Islamic law . As an example, the Egyptian Civil Code of 1810 that developed in

380-592: A civil law code is the Napoleonic Code (1804), named after French emperor Napoleon . The Napoleonic code comprises three components: Another prominent civil code is the German Civil Code ( Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch or BGB), which went into effect in the German empire in 1900. The German Civil Code is highly influential, inspiring the civil codes in countries such as Japan, South Korea and Switzerland (1907). It

475-699: A civil law is the group of legal ideas and systems ultimately derived from the Corpus Juris Civilis , but heavily overlain by Napoleonic , Germanic , canonical , feudal, and local practices, as well as doctrinal strains such as natural law , codification, and legal positivism . The Napoleonic Code is the most widespread system of law in the world, in force in various forms in about 120 countries. Conceptually, civil law proceeds from abstractions, formulates general principles, and distinguishes substantive rules from procedural rules . It holds case law secondary and subordinate to statutory law . Civil law

570-433: A company limited by shares, its shareholders ). They may sue and be sued , enter into contracts, incur debt , and own property . Entities with legal personality may also be subjected to certain legal obligations, such as the payment of taxes. An entity with legal personality may shield its members from personal liability . In some common law jurisdictions a distinction is drawn between corporation aggregate (such as

665-544: A company, which is composed of a number of members) and a corporation sole , which is a public office of legal personality separated from the individual holding the office (these entities have separate legal personality). Historically most corporations sole were ecclesiastical in nature (for example, the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury is a corporation sole), but a number of other public offices are now formed as corporations sole. The concept of juridical personality

760-407: A distinction between international (right of nations), public (political right), and private (civil right) law according to various actors interests and rights. There, he writes: "Considered as inhabitants of a planet so large that different peoples are necessary, they have laws bearing on the relation that these peoples have with one another, and this is the right of nations . Considered as living in

855-496: A distinction does exist, and categorizing laws accordingly. The subjection theory focuses on explaining the distinction by emphasizing the subordination of private persons to the state. Public law is supposed to govern this relationship, whereas private law is considered to govern relationships where the parties involved meet on a level playing field. However, some areas commonly considered private law also imply subordination, such as employment law . Moreover, legal proceedings wherein

950-471: A law restricting the free speech of a corporation or a political action group or dictating the coverage of a local newspaper, and because of the Due Process Clause , a state government may not take the property of a corporation without using due process of law and providing just compensation. These protections apply to all legal entities, not just corporations. A prominent component of relevant case law

1045-569: A mixture of French and German civil law in the 19th century. After the reunification of Poland in 1918, five legal systems (French Napoleonic Code from the Duchy of Warsaw , German BGB from Western Poland, Austrian ABGB from Southern Poland, Russian law from Eastern Poland, and Hungarian law from Spisz and Orawa ) were merged into one. Similarly, Dutch law , while originally codified in the Napoleonic tradition, has been heavily altered under influence from

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1140-410: A phenomenal number of reported legal opinions . However, this tends to be uncontrolled, since there is no statutory requirement that any case be reported or published in a law report , except for the councils of state and constitutional courts. Except for the highest courts, all publication of legal opinions is unofficial or commercial. Civil law systems can be divided into: A prominent example of

1235-440: A public person (due to membership in some public body, such as a state or a municipality), public law applies, otherwise it is private law. A combination of the subjection theory and the subject theory arguably provides a workable distinction. Under this approach, a field of law is considered public law where one actor is a public authority endowed with the power to act unilaterally ( imperium ) and this actor uses that imperium in

1330-422: A society that must be maintained, they have laws concerning the relation between those who govern and those who are governed, and this is the political right . Further, they have laws concerning the relation that alI citizens have with one another, and this is the civil right ." Criticisms of interest theory include the difficulty in establishing a clear distinction between private and public interest, if such

1425-460: Is also found in virtually every other legal system. Some examples of juridical persons include: Not all organizations have legal personality. For example, the board of directors of a corporation, legislature, or governmental agency typically are not legal persons in that they have no ability to exercise legal rights independent of the corporation or political body which they are a part of. The concept of legal personhood for organizations of people

1520-455: Is at least as old as Ancient Rome : a variety of collegial institutions enjoyed the benefit under Roman law . The doctrine has been attributed to Pope Innocent IV , who seems at least to have helped spread the idea of persona ficta as it is called in Latin . In canon law , the doctrine of persona ficta allowed monasteries to have a legal existence that was apart from the monks, simplifying

1615-706: Is based heavily on the French and Spanish codes, as opposed to English common law . In Louisiana, private law was codified into the Louisiana Civil Code . Current Louisiana law has converged considerably with American law, especially in its public law , judicial system, and adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code (except for Article 2) and certain legal devices of American common law. In fact, any innovation, whether private or public, has been decidedly common law in origin. In theory, codes conceptualized in

1710-572: Is considered mainly influenced by the German civil code and partly influenced by the French civil code. The civil code of the Republic of Turkey is a slightly modified version of the Swiss code, adopted in 1926 during Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 's presidency as part of the government's progressive reforms and secularization. Some systems of civil law do not fit neatly into this typology, however. Polish law developed as

1805-447: Is creeping into civil law jurisprudence , and is generally seen in many nations' highest courts. Some authors consider civil law the foundation for socialist law used in communist countries, which in this view would basically be civil law with the addition of Marxist-Leninist ideals. Even if this is so, civil law was generally the legal system in place before the rise of socialist law, and some Eastern European countries reverted to

1900-445: Is divided into five parts: Civil law takes as its major inspiration classical Roman law ( c . AD 1–250), and in particular Justinian law (6th century AD), and further expanded and developed in the late Middle Ages under the influence of canon law . The Justinian Code's doctrines provided a sophisticated model for contracts , rules of procedure, family law , wills, and a strong monarchical constitutional system. Roman law

1995-590: Is for this reason that they are sometimes called "artificial" persons. In the most common case ( incorporating a business), legal personality is usually acquired by registration with a government agency set up for the purpose. In other cases it may be by primary legislation: an example is the Charity Commission in the UK. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 advocates for the provision of legal identity for all, including birth registration by 2030 as part of

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2090-484: Is not absolute. " Piercing the corporate veil " refers to looking at the individual natural persons acting as agents involved in a company action or decision; this may result in a legal decision in which the rights or duties of a corporation or public limited company are treated as the rights or liabilities of that corporation's members or directors . The concept of a juridical person is now central to Western law in both common-law and civil-law countries, but it

2185-482: Is often paired with the inquisitorial system , but the terms are not synonymous. There are key differences between a statute and a code. The most pronounced features of civil systems are their legal codes , with concise and broadly applicable texts that typically avoid factually specific scenarios. The short articles in a civil law code deal in generalities and stand in contrast with ordinary statutes, which are often very long and very detailed. The civil law system

2280-412: Is pertinent to the philosophy of law , as it is essential to laws affecting a corporation ( corporations law ). Juridical personhood allows one or more natural persons ( universitas personarum ) to act as a single entity ( body corporate ) for legal purposes. In many jurisdictions , artificial personality allows that entity to be considered under law separately from its individual members (for example in

2375-647: Is the Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , which ruled unconstitutional certain restrictions on corporate campaign spending during elections. Other United States points of law include: In Act II, Scene 1 of Gilbert and Sullivan 's 1889 opera, The Gondoliers , Giuseppe Palmieri (who serves, jointly with his brother Marco, as King of Barataria) requests that he and his brother be also recognized individually so that they might each receive individual portions of food as they have "two independent appetites". He is, however, turned down by

2470-415: Is the characteristic of a non-living entity regarded by law as having the status of personhood . A juridical or artificial person ( Latin : persona ficta ; also juristic person ) has a legal name and has certain rights, protections, privileges, responsibilities, and liabilities in law, similar to those of a natural person . The concept of a juridical person is a fundamental legal fiction . It

2565-460: Is the comprehensive codification of received Roman law, i.e., its inclusion in civil codes. The earliest codification known is the Code of Hammurabi , written in ancient Babylon during the 18th century BC. However, this, and many of the codes that followed, were mainly lists of civil and criminal wrongs and their punishments. The codification typical of modern civilian systems did not first appear until

2660-515: Is the most common legal system in the world, widely adopted across Latin America and in parts of Asia and Africa . The civil law system is often contrasted with the common law system, which originated in medieval England . Whereas the civil law takes the form of legal codes, the common law comes from uncodified case law that arises as a result of judicial decisions, recognising prior court decisions as legally binding precedent . Historically,

2755-418: Is the most widespread system of law in the world, in force in various forms in about 150 countries. Civil law is sometimes referred to as neo-Roman law, Romano-Germanic law or Continental law. The expression "civil law" is a translation of Latin jus civile , or "citizens' law", which was the late imperial term for its legal system, as opposed to the laws governing conquered peoples ( jus gentium ); hence,

2850-519: Is the property owned by the deity or idol as a "legal person". Humans appointed to act on behalf of deity are called the "shebait" . A shebait acts as the guardian or custodian of deity to protect the right of deity and fulfill the legal duties of the deity. Shebait is similar to a trustee in case the deity or temple does have a legally registered trust or entity. Under the Hindu Law property gifted or offered as rituals or donations, etc absolutely belongs to

2945-536: The " Animal Welfare Board of India vs Nagaraja" case in 2014 mandated that animals are also entitled to the fundamental right to freedom enshrined in the Article 21 of Constitution of India i.e. right to life, personal liberty and the right to die with dignity ( passive euthanasia ). In another case, a court in Uttarakhand state mandated that animals have the same rights as humans. In another case of cow-smuggling ,

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3040-592: The 2030 Agenda . As legal personality is a prerequisite to legal capacity (the ability of any legal person to amend – i.e. enter into, transfer, etc. – rights and obligations ), it is a prerequisite for an international organization to be able to sign international treaties in its own name . The term "legal person" can be ambiguous because it is often used as a synonym of terms that refer only to non-human legal entities, specifically in contradistinction to "natural person". Artificial personality , juridical personality , or juristic personality

3135-547: The Bordeaux trade. Consequently, neither of the two waves of Roman influence completely dominated in Europe. Roman law was ultimately a secondary source that was applied only when local customs and laws were found lacking on a certain subject. However, after a time, even local law came to be interpreted and evaluated primarily on the basis of Roman law, since it was a common European legal tradition of sorts, and thereby in turn influenced

3230-560: The Napoleonic Code expressly forbade French judges to pronounce general principles of law. There is no doctrine of stare decisis in the French civil law tradition. There are regular, good quality law reports in France, but it is not a consistent practice in many of the existing civil law jurisdictions. In French-speaking colonial Africa there were no law reports and what little is known of those historical cases comes from publication in journals. Civil law codes must be changed constantly because

3325-516: The Netherlands (1838), Serbia (1844), Italy and Romania (1865), Portugal (1867) and Spain (1888). Germany (1900), and Switzerland (1912) adopted their own codifications. These codifications were in turn imported into colonies at one time or another by most of these countries. The Swiss version was adopted in Brazil (1916) and Turkey (1926). Louisiana is the only U.S. state whose private civil law

3420-458: The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 provides: "... the provisions of this Bill of Rights apply, so far as practicable, for the benefit of all legal persons as well as for the benefit of all natural persons." In part based on the principle that legal persons are simply natural persons and their organizations, and in part based on the history of statutory interpretation of the word "person",

3515-503: The Punjab and Haryana High Court mandated that "entire animal kingdom including avian and aquatic" species has a "distinct legal persona with corresponding rights, duties, and liabilities of a living person" and humans are "loco parentis" while laying out the norms for animal welfare, veterinary treatment, fodder and shelter, e.g. animal drawn carriages must not have more than four humans, and load carrying animals must not be loaded beyond

3610-583: The Uttarakhand High Court , mandated that the river Ganges and Yamuna as well as all water bodies are "living entities" i.e. "legal person" and appointed three humans as trustees to protect the rights of rivers against the pollution caused by the humans, e.g. "pilgrims's bathing rituals" . The Supreme Court of India overturned the decision of the High Court of Uttarakhand in July 2017. Section 28 of

3705-417: The executive branch of a government rather than the judicial or legislative branches (if they are different in that particular jurisdiction). This body of law regulates international trade , manufacturing, pollution, taxation, and the like. This is sometimes seen as a subcategory of civil law and sometimes seen as public law as it deals with regulation and public institutions This type of law comprises

3800-726: The legal system of Japan , beginning in the Meiji Era , European legal systems—especially the civil law of Germany and France—were the primary models for emulation. In China, the German Civil Code was introduced in the later years of the Qing dynasty , emulating Japan. In addition, it formed the basis of the law of the Republic of China , which remains in force in Taiwan. Furthermore, Taiwan and Korea, former Japanese colonies, have been strongly influenced by

3895-730: The "legal person" status by the law "have rights and co-relative duties; they can sue and be sued, can possess and transfer property" . Since these non-human entities are "voiceless" they are legally represented "through guardians and representatives" to claim their legal rights and to fulfill their legal duties and responsibilities. Specific non-human entities given the status of "legal person" include " corporate personality , body politic , charitable unions etc," as well as trust estates , deities , temples, churches, mosques, hospitals, universities, colleges, banks, railways, municipalities, and gram panchayats (village councils), rivers, all animals and birds. In court cases regarding corporates,

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3990-401: The 17th and 18th centuries. Through the emergence of the nation-state and new theories of sovereignty , notions of a distinctly public realm began to crystalize. However, the claims made by monarchs, and later parliaments, to an unrestrained power to make law spurred attempts to establish a distinctly private sphere that would be free from encroaching State power in return. Traditionally,

4085-612: The Constitution, sometimes together with amendments or other constitutional laws. In some countries, however, such a supreme entrenched written document does not exist for historical and political reasons – the Constitution of the United Kingdom is an unwritten one. Administrative law refers to the body of law that regulates bureaucratic managerial procedures and defines the powers of administrative agencies. These laws are enforced by

4180-569: The Court (made up of fellow Gondolieri) because the joint rule "... is a legal person, and legal person are solemn things." Civil law (legal system) Civil law is a legal tradition from continental Europe that evolved from Roman , Germanic, and other legal traditions, including ecclesiastical and customary laws. It is characterized by comprehensive codes and detailed statutes , with no emphasis on precedent , and where judges primarily focus on fact-finding and applying codified law in courts. It

4275-450: The Dutch native tradition of Roman-Dutch law (still in effect in its former colonies). Scotland 's civil law tradition borrowed heavily from Roman-Dutch law. Swiss law is categorized as Germanistic, but it has been heavily influenced by the Napoleonic tradition, with some indigenous elements added in as well. Quebec law, whose private law is also of French civil origin, has developed along

4370-637: The Japanese legal system. Civil law is primarily contrasted with the English common law that influenced the legal traditions of the English-speaking countries. The primary contrast between the two systems is the role of written decisions and precedent as a source of law (one of the defining features of common law legal systems). While common law systems place great weight on precedent, civil law judges tend to give less weight to judicial precedent. For example,

4465-535: The Justinian Code's title Corpus Juris Civilis . Civil law practitioners, however, traditionally refer to their system in a broad sense as jus commune . It draws heavily from Roman law, arguably the most intricate known legal system before the modern era. In civil law legal systems where codes exist, the primary source of law is the law code , a systematic collection of interrelated articles, arranged by subject matter in some pre-specified order. Codes explain

4560-500: The Justinian Code. Germanic codes appeared over the 6th and 7th centuries to clearly delineate the law in force for Germanic privileged classes versus their Roman subjects and regulate those laws according to folk-right . Under feudal law, a number of private custumals were compiled, first under the Norman empire ( Très ancien coutumier , 1200–1245), then elsewhere, to record the manorial —and later regional—customs, court decisions, and

4655-448: The State is a party may undermine the totality of the State's authority, and the degree to which private persons are subordinate to the State, if a Court finds in favor of a non-State party (see Carpenter v. United States , for example). The subject theory is concerned with the position of the subject of law in the legal relationship in question. If it finds itself in a particular situation as

4750-433: The State need not necessarily be prohibited for private parties as well. As such, legal scholars commenting on common law systems, such as England and Canada, have made this distinction as well. For many years, public law occupied a marginal position in continental European law. By and large, private law was considered general law . Public law, on the other hand, was considered to consist of exceptions to this general law. It

4845-459: The State. The analytical and historical distinction between public and private law has emerged predominantly in the legal systems of continental Europe . As a result, German-language legal literature has produced extensive discussion on the precise nature of the distinction between public law and private law. Several theories have evolved, which are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive or separate. The interest theory of public law emerges from

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4940-536: The State. Public law consisted of the latter of these three relationships. However, Roman lawyers devoted little attention to this area, and instead focussed largely on areas of private law. It was, however, of great importance in Teutonic society, as noted by German legal historian Otto von Gierke , who defined the Teutons as the fathers of public law. Drawing a line between public and private law largely fell out of favor in

5035-419: The U.S. Supreme Court held that for the purposes of the case at hand, a corporation is "capable of being treated as a citizen of [the State which created it], as much as a natural person." Ten years later, they reaffirmed the result of Letson, though on the somewhat different theory that "those who use the corporate name, and exercise the faculties conferred by it," should be presumed conclusively to be citizens of

5130-550: The US Supreme Court has repeatedly held that certain constitutional rights protect legal persons ( such as corporations and other organizations). Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad is sometimes cited for this finding because the court reporter's comments included a statement the Chief Justice made before oral arguments began, telling the attorneys during pre-trial that "the court does not wish to hear argument on

5225-476: The United States, U.S. states began codification with New York's 1850 Field Code (laying down civil procedure rules and inspired by European and Louisiana codes). Other examples include California's codes (1872), and the federal revised statutes (1874) and the current United States Code (1926), which are closer to compilations of statute than to systematic expositions of law akin to civil law codes. For

5320-505: The activities, participants, and principal concerns involved best fit into. This has given rise to attempts to establish a theoretical understanding for the basis of public law. The distinction between public and private law was first made by Roman jurist Ulpian , who argues in the Institutes (in a passage preserved by Justinian in the Digest ) that "[p]ublic law is that which respects

5415-447: The areas of constitutional law , administrative law, and criminal law . In modern states, constitutional law lays out the foundations of the state. Above all, it postulates the supremacy of law in the functioning of the state – the rule of law . Secondly, it sets out the form of government – how its different branches work, how they are elected or appointed, and the division of powers and responsibilities between them. Traditionally,

5510-416: The basic elements of government are the executive , the legislature and the judiciary . And thirdly, in describing what are the basic human rights, which must be protected for every person, and what further civil and political rights citizens have, it sets the fundamental borders to what any government must and must not do. In most jurisdictions, constitutional law is enshrined in a written document,

5605-575: The civil law system should go beyond the compilation of discrete statutes, and instead state the law in a coherent, and comprehensive piece of legislation, sometimes introducing major reforms or starting anew. In this regard, civil law codes are more similar to the Restatements of the Law , the Uniform Commercial Code (which drew from European inspirations), and the Model Penal Code in the United States. In

5700-555: The code sets out general principles as rules of law. While the typical French-speaking supreme court decision is short, concise and devoid of explanation or justification, in Germanic Europe , the supreme courts can and do tend to write more verbose opinions, supported by legal reasoning. A line of similar case decisions, while not precedent per se , constitute jurisprudence constante . While civil law jurisdictions place little reliance on court decisions, they tend to generate

5795-463: The codification of Continental European private laws moved forward. Codifications were completed by Denmark (1687), Sweden (1734), Prussia (1794), France (1804), and Austria (1811). The French codes were imported into areas conquered by Napoleon and later adopted with modifications in Poland ( Duchy of Warsaw / Congress Poland ; Kodeks cywilny 1806/1825), Louisiana (1807), Canton of Vaud (Switzerland; 1819),

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5890-418: The constitutional law, tax law, administrative law and criminal law. Tax law first became an area of public law during the 17th century, as a consequence of new theories of sovereignty that began to emerge. Until this point, taxes were considered gifts under the law, given to the State by a private donor – the taxpayer. It is now considered an area of public law, as it concerns a relationship between persons and

5985-456: The corporation's State of incorporation. Marshall v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 16 How. 314, 329, 14 L.Ed. 953 (1854). These concepts have been codified by statute, as U.S. jurisdictional statutes specifically address the domicile of corporations. Indian law defines two types of "legal person", the human beings as well as certain non-human entities which are given the same legal judicial personality as human beings. The non-human entities given

6080-455: The deity Rama in the specific temple was a "legal entity" entitled to be represented by their own lawyer appointed by the trustees acting on behalf of the deity. Similarly, in 2018 SC decided that the deity Ayyappan is a "legal person" with " the right to privacy " in the court case regarding the entry of women to Sabarimala shrine of Lord Ayyapan. Under the Indian law, the "shebaitship"

6175-435: The deity and not to the shebait. Case example are "Profulla Chrone Requitte vs Satya Chorone Requitte, AIR 1979 SC 1682 (1686): (1979) 3 SCC 409: (1979) 3 SCR 431. (ii)" and "Shambhu Charan Shukla vs Thakur Ladli Radha Chandra Madan Gopalji Maharaj, AIR 1985 SC 905 (909): (1985) 2 SCC 524: (1985) 3 SCR 372" . India and New Zealand both recognised the legal rights of rivers in 2017. In court cases regarding natural entities,

6270-478: The delineation between competences of different courts and administrative bodies. Under the Austrian constitution , for example, private law is among the exclusive competences of federal legislation, whereas public law is partly a matter of state legislation. Legal person There are therefore two kinds of legal entities: human and non-human. In law, a human person is called a natural person (sometimes also

6365-416: The difficulty in balancing the need for such groups to have infrastructure though the monks took vows of personal poverty. Another effect of this was that, as a fictional person, a monastery could not be held guilty of delict due to not having a soul, helping to protect the organization from non- contractual obligations to surrounding communities. This effectively moved such liability to persons acting within

6460-540: The division between public and private law has been made in the context of the legal systems found in Continental Europe, whose laws all fall within the tradition of civil law . However, the public/private divide does not apply strictly to civil law systems. Given public law's emphasis on aspects of the State that are true of all systems of government and law, common law legal systems acknowledge, even if they do so unconsciously, that actions which must be prohibited by

6555-584: The early 19th century—which remains in force in Egypt is the basis for the civil law in many countries of the Arab world where the civil law is used— is based on the Napoleonic Code, but its primary author Abd El-Razzak El-Sanhuri attempted to integrate principles and features of Islamic law in deference to the unique circumstances of Egyptian society. Japanese Civil Code is considered a mixture drawing roughly 60% from

6650-538: The ensuing millennium, though, as Ernst Kantorowicz notes, Medieval jurists saw a concern with the Roman conception of the res publica inherent in the legal fiction of the king's two bodies . However, legal philosophers during this period were largely theologians who operated within the realm of Canon Law , and were therefore instead concerned with distinctions between divine law , natural law , and human law . The "public/private" divide in law would not return until

6745-405: The establishment of the Roman commonwealth, private that which respects individuals' interests, some matters being of public and others of private interest." Furthermore, he defines public law as the law concerning religious affairs, the priesthood, and offices of the State. Roman Law conceived of the law as a series of relationships between persons and persons, persons and things, and persons and

6840-492: The former. Instead, it elevated public law from its once marginal state, with an acknowledgment that there are few, if any, areas of the law that are free from potential State intervention. In Italy, for example, the development of public law was considered a project of state-building , following the ideas of Vittorio Emanuele Orlando . Indeed, many early Italian public lawyers were also politicians, including Orlando himself. Now, in countries such as France, public law now refers to

6935-571: The judiciary was not empowered to adjudicate under the established principles of the common law of contracts - they could only apply the code as written. Codification , however, is by no means a defining characteristic of a civil law system. For example, the statutes that govern the civil law systems of Sweden and other Nordic countries and the Roman-Dutch countries are not grouped into larger, expansive codes like those in French and German law. In actual practice, an increasing degree of precedent

7030-597: The land for their realms, as when Charles VII of France in 1454 commissioned an official custumal of Crown law. Two prominent examples include the Coutume de Paris (written 1510; revised 1580), which served as the basis for the Napoleonic Code, and the Sachsenspiegel (c. 1220) of the bishoprics of Magdeburg and Halberstadt which was used in northern Germany, Poland, and the Low Countries . The concept of codification

7125-696: The late medieval period, its laws became widely implemented in the West. It was first received in the Holy Roman Empire partly because it was considered imperial law , and it spread in Europe mainly because its students were the only trained lawyers. It became the basis of Scots law , though partly rivaled by received feudal Norman law . In England, it was taught academically at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge , but underlay only probate and matrimonial law insofar as both were inherited from canon law, and maritime law , adapted from lex mercatoria through

7220-400: The legal principles underpinning them. Custumals were commissioned by lords who presided as lay judges over manorial courts in order to inform themselves about the court process. The use of custumals from influential towns soon became commonplace over large areas. In keeping with this, certain monarchs consolidated their kingdoms by attempting to compile custumals that would serve as the law of

7315-456: The main source of law. Eventually, the work of civilian glossators and commentators led to the development of a common body of law and writing about law, a common legal language, and a common method of teaching and scholarship, all termed the jus commune , or law common to Europe, which consolidated canon law and Roman law, and to some extent, feudal law . An important common characteristic of civil law, aside from its origins in Roman law,

7410-407: The notion of a nation-state implied recorded law that would be applicable to that state. There was also a reaction to law codification. The proponents of codification regarded it as conducive to certainty, unity and systematic recording of the law; whereas its opponents claimed that codification would result in the ossification of the law. In the end, despite whatever resistance to codification,

7505-405: The organization while protecting the structure itself, since persons were considered to have a soul and therefore capable of negligence and able to be excommunicated . In the common law tradition, only a person could possess legal rights. To allow them to function, the legal personality of a corporation was established to include five legal rights—the right to a common treasury or chest (including

7600-546: The original one of 1865, introducing German elements as a result of its World War II Axis alliance. This approach has been imitated by other countries, including Portugal (1966), the Netherlands (1992), Brazil (2002) and Argentina (2014). Most of them have innovations introduced by the Italian legislation, including the unification of the civil and commercial codes . Germanistic to Napoleonic influence : The Swiss civil code

7695-581: The particular relationship. In other words, all depends whether the public authority is acting as a public or a private entity, say when ordering office supplies. This latest theory considers public law a special instance. There are areas of law that do not seem to fit into either public or private law, such as employment law – parts of it look like private law (the employment contract) while other parts look like public law (the activities of an employment inspectorate when investigating workplace safety). The distinction between public and private law has bearing on

7790-675: The pre-socialist civil law following the fall of socialism, while others continued using a socialist legal systems. The term civil law comes from English legal scholarship and is used in English-speaking countries to lump together all legal systems of the jus commune tradition. However, legal comparativists and economists promoting the legal origins theory prefer to subdivide civil law jurisdictions into distinct groups: However, some of these legal systems are often and more correctly said to be of hybrid nature: Napoleonic to Germanistic influence : The Italian civil code of 1942 replaced

7885-523: The precedent of courts is not binding and because courts lack authority to act if there is no statute. In some civil law jurisdictions the judiciary does not have the authority to invalidate legislative provisions . For example, after the fall of the Soviet Union , the Armenian Parliament , with substantial support from USAID , adopted new legal codes. Some of the codes introduced problems which

7980-404: The principles of law, rights and entitlements, and how basic legal mechanisms work. The purpose of codification is to provide all citizens with manners and written collection of the laws which apply to them and which judges must follow. Law codes are laws enacted by a legislature , even if they are in general much longer than other laws. Rather than a compendium of statutes or catalog of case law ,

8075-535: The question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution , which forbids a State to deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does." Later opinions interpreted these pre-argument comments as part of the legal decision. As a result, because of the First Amendment , Congress may not make

8170-506: The right to own property), the right to a corporate seal (i.e., the right to make and sign contracts), the right to sue and be sued (to enforce contracts), the right to hire agents (employees) and the right to make by-laws (self-governance). Since the 19th century, legal personhood has been further construed to make it a citizen, resident, or domiciliary of a state (usually for purposes of personal jurisdiction ). In Louisville, C. & C.R. Co. v. Letson , 2 How. 497, 558, 11 L.Ed. 353 (1844),

8265-498: The rights of persons. However, as a consequence of the rule-of-law doctrine, authorities may only act within the law ( secundum et intra legem ). The government must obey the law. For example, a citizen unhappy with a decision of an administrative authority can ask a court for judicial review . The distinction between public law and private law dates back to Roman law , where the Roman jurist Ulpian ( c. 170 – 228) first noted it. It

8360-532: The same lines, adapting in the same way as Louisiana to the public law and judicial system of Canadian common law . By contrast, Quebec private law has innovated mainly from civil sources. To a lesser extent, other states formerly part of the Spanish Empire, such as Texas and California, have also retained aspects of Spanish civil law into their legal system, for example community property . The legal system of Puerto Rico exhibits similarities to that of Louisiana:

8455-419: The shareholders are not responsible for the company's debts but the company itself being a "legal person" is liable to repay those debts or be sued for the non-repayment of debts. In court cases regarding animals, the animals have the status of "legal person" and humans have the legal duty to act as " loco parentis " towards animals welfare like a parent has towards the minor children. A court while deciding

8550-460: The specified limits and those limits must be halved when animals have to carry the load up a slope. In court cases regarding religious entities, the deity (deity or god is a supernatural being considered divine or sacred) is also a "legal person" who can engage in legal cases through " trustees " or " managing board in charge of the temple" . Supreme Court of India (SC), while deciding Ayodhya case of Ram Janmabhoomi , decided in 2010 that

8645-557: The work of Roman jurist Ulpian , who stated " Publicum ius est, quod ad statum rei Romanae spectat, privatum quod ad singulorum utilitatem. (Public law is that, which concerns Roman state, private law is concerned with the interests of citizens.) Charles-Louis Montesquieu elaborates upon this theory in The Spirit of the Laws , published during the 18th century, wherein Montesquieu establishes

8740-471: Was further developed during the 17th and 18th centuries AD, as an expression of both natural law and the ideas of the Enlightenment . The political ideals of that era was expressed by the concepts of democracy , protection of property and the rule of law . Those ideals required certainty of law; recorded, uniform law. So, the mix of Roman law and customary and local law gave way to law codification. Also,

8835-470: Was later adopted to understand the legal systems both of countries that adhere to the civil-law tradition , and of those that adhere to common-law tradition . The borderline between public law and private law is not always clear. Law as a whole cannot neatly be divided into "law for the State" and "law for everyone else". As such, the distinction between public and private law is largely functional rather than factual, classifying laws according to which domain

8930-462: Was not until the second half of the twentieth century that public law began to play a prominent role in European society through the constitutionalization of private law, as well as the development of administrative law and various functional fields of law, including labor law , medical law , and consumer law . Though this began to blur the distinction between public and private law, it did not erode

9025-622: Was received differently in different countries. In some it went into force wholesale by legislative act, i.e., it became positive law , whereas in others it was diffused into society by increasingly influential legal experts and scholars. Roman law continued without interruption in the Eastern Roman Empire until its final fall in the 15th century. However, given the empire's influence on the continent in Late Antiquity and then multiple incursions and occupations by Western European powers in

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