what is public law

Public law is the part of law that governs relations 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 as a whole. Public laws are also known as slip laws, which are official publications of the law and are admissible in all state and Federal courts and tribunals of the United States. Most laws passed by Congress are public laws, which affect society as a whole. Private laws, on the other hand, affect an individual, family, or small group, and are enacted to assist citizens that have been injured by government programs or who are appealing an executive agency ruling such as deportation. The borderline between public law and private law is not always clear, and the distinction between them is largely functional rather than factual, classifying laws according to which domain the activities, participants, and principal concerns involved best fit into. Public law regulates the structure of government and its relations with individuals and foreign nations, and serves to promote individual well-being and the common good.