Private Law and Public Regulation in U.S. Courts
U. of Pittsburgh Legal Studies Research Paper
CILE STUDIES, PRIVATE LAW, PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW, AND JUDICIAL COOPERATION IN THE EU-US RELATIONSHIP, Vol. 2, pp. 115-135, 2005
21 Pages Posted: 29 Sep 2008
Date Written: September, 10 2008
Abstract
The distinction between public law and private law does not carry the same significance in the U.S. legal system as is the case in other countries. This is in part a result of historical developments that provide a public law role for private litigation. Private litigation is used in the United States in ways not common or even possible in other countries. Paul Carrington has written that the private law/public law distinction "is in America seldom noticed," in part because "American judicial institutions ... were not designed merely to resolve civil disputes, but were fashioned for the additional purpose of facilitating private enforcement of what in other nations would generally be denoted as public law." This characteristic of the U.S. judicial system has particular importance for the development of specific aspects of U.S. law, and provides context for consideration of cooperation with other nations in the areas of private law, private international law, and judicial cooperation. In this paper I explore a bit of the history behind these aspects of U.S. law, as well as the resulting unique legal characteristics that history has produced.
Keywords: impact litigation; private international law; U.S. law; American law
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
The European Social Model of Corporate Governance: Prospects for Success in an Enlarged Europe
-
The American Revolution and the European Evolution in Choice of Law: Reciprocal Lessons
-
Public Interest Litigation: Insights from Theory and Practice
By Scott L. Cummings and Deborah Rhode
-
Dual Illegality and Geoambiguous Law: A New Rule for Extraterritorial Application of U.S. Law