Public Law and Private Law

Public Law is a term in legal science, which is one of the major groups in the field of law other than Civil Law. Meanwhile, Private Law is a field of law that has a small scope. The division of the field of law greatly affects the relationship and interaction between the state and citizens, including matters related to the public interest. This article will explain briefly and clearly about public law and private law.

A. Public Law

According to C.S.T. Kansil in his literature of Pengantar Ilmu Hukum, Public Law is a law regulating the relationship among citizens in certain countries relating to the state and its institutions. Public law is defined globally because it regulates the public interest, meaning that it regulates the relationship between citizens and the state, and the public interest of its citizens. There are 4 (four) types of Public Law:

Criminal Law
Criminal Law is a law regulating violations or crimes which are related to the public interest.
Constitutional Law
Constitutional Law is a law regulating all matters relating to the state e.g., the existence of the basis for the establishment of a state, the formation of state institutions, the formation of institutional structures, the relationship between rights and obligations in law, and others.
State Administrative Law
State Administrative Law is a law regulating a number of procedures for carrying out tasks e.g., the rights and obligations of state institutions.
International Law
This law is divided into 2 (two) forms, as follows:
- International Public Law
  This is a law regulating the relationship between one country and another, which is related to international relations.
- International Civil Law
  This is a law regulating the relationship between citizens of a country against citizens of another ,which is related to international relations.

B. Private Law

Private Law is a law regulating the relationship between one individual and another which focuses on individual interests. Civil Law is a law that is included in Private Law, which regulates the relationship between an individual and another, which is currently contained in the Civil Code (“Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Perdata, “KUHP”).

Similiarity
Public Law and Private Law have similarity, which is related to the legal sanctions, which usually applies to any violation of law.
Difference
Besides having similarity, of course there are differences between the two. Here’s a table about the differences between the two:

Criteria	Public Law	Private Law
Subject	Government/Individual	Individual of Government/Individual
Legal Relationship	Vertical / One-sided between the State and the Individual	Autonomous/ Horizontal between individual and individual
Norm Nature	Coercive	Non-Coercive
Consequence	Public Law Field	Private Law Field
Study Focus	Focus on the problem of benefit or benefit	Tend to focus on personal or individual relationship problems
Enforcement	Public Law is enforced by the state and the government (active)	Private law is enforced by individuals as well as the government (passive)
Claim for Offenders	Prosecution filed by prosecutor	The claim is given by the plaintiff

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Disclaimer: This article has been prepared for scientific reading and marketing purposes only from ADCO Law. Accordingly, all the writings contained herein do not constitute the formal legal opinion of ADCO Law. Therefore, ADCO Law should be held harmless of and/or cannot be held responsible for anything performed by entities who use this writing outside the purposes of ADCO Law.