Private law - Shiho

Also called civil law. The opposite of public law. Generally, it refers to the law that regulates legal relationships between equal private individuals, and is considered to fall into this category in the Civil Code and Commercial Code, but the distinction between public and private law has been debated for a long time, and there is no clear consensus on the concept or scope of private law. For example, some legal positivists argue that all law is public law in the sense that it is a command from public authority, and that there is no such thing as private law, and that so-called private law is also public law that determines the conditions for the exercise of public authority, namely the court. The idea that family law, which is centered on unequal relationships such as parent-child relationships, is public law has been strong since ancient Rome, and was a powerful argument even in Japan under the old family system.

In 20th century capitalism, the classical equal trading relationship became fictitious, and relationships such as those between employers and employees, companies and consumers, and landlords and tenants became those between the strong and the weak. As a result, new legislation in which authorities intervene to protect the weak appeared one after another, and the phenomenon of so-called "private law becoming public law" was widely seen. For example, employment relations are now under the supervision of the Labor Standards Bureau, agreements between large corporations are under the supervision of the Fair Trade Commission, and relationships between landlords and tenant farmers in agricultural land are under the supervision of the Agricultural Land Committee. In theory, the Code of Civil Procedure belongs to public law, but for convenience it is often treated as part of private law, such as the Civil Procedure Law Association belonging to the Private Law Association.

[Ryuichi Nagao]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

民事法ともいう。公法の対立概念。一般には、対等な私人間の法律関係を規制する法をさし、民法、商法などがこれにあたるとされるが、公法と私法の区別については古くから論争があって、私法の概念や範囲などについて明確な通説は存在しない。たとえば法実証主義者のうちには、法はすべて公権力の命令という意味で公法であり、私法などというものは存在しないという学者もあり、いわゆる私法もまた裁判所という公権力の発動の条件を定める公法であるという。また親子関係という不平等な関係を中心とする家族法は公法だという思想は、古代ローマ以来強く、旧家族制度下の日本でも有力な主張であった。

　20世紀の資本主義においては、古典的な対等な取引関係は擬制的なものとなり、使用者と労働者、企業と消費者、地主と借地人などの関係は強者と弱者の関係となってきたため、弱者の保護のために権力が介入する新立法が続々現れ、いわゆる「私法の公法化」の現象が広くみられる。たとえば、雇用関係が労働基準局の、大企業間の協定が公正取引委員会の監視下に置かれ、農地における地主と小作人との関係も農地委員会の監督下に置かれている。なお、民事訴訟法は理論上は公法に属するが、民事訴訟法学会が私法学会に属するなど、便宜上私法の一部として扱われることも多い。

［長尾龍一］

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