public law

American  

noun

1. Also called public statute.  Also called public act,.  a law or statute of a general character that applies to the people of a whole state or nation.

2. a branch of law dealing with the legal relationships between the state and individuals and with the relations among governmental agencies.

3. public international law.

---

public law British  

noun

1. a law that applies to the public of a state or nation

2. the branch of law that deals with relations between a state and its individual members Compare private law

---

Etymology

Origin of public law

First recorded in 1765–75

Compare meaning

How does public-law compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• public law vs. private law

Example Sentences

The Afghan families' solicitor, Daniel Rourke, from the Public Law Project, said he was hopeful his clients would win the case and be allowed to return to south London.

From BBC • Jan. 12, 2023

Finally, on Sept. 20, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed Public Law 94-97, which redesignated Nov. 11 of each year as Veterans Day starting in 1978.

From Salon • Nov. 11, 2022

Dennis Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor, currently of counsel at the Renne Public Law Group in San Francisco.

From Washington Post • Jul. 6, 2021

From 1954 onwards, the plan evolved into the Public Law 480 programme of aid to allies, increasingly in southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

From Nature • Oct. 6, 2019

Public Law 102-307, enacted on June 26, 1992, amended the copyright law to make renewal automatic and renewal registration optional for works originally copyrighted between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977.

From Supplementary Copyright Statutes, US Copy. Office by Library of Congress. Copyright Office