private law

private law (uncountable)

1. (law) The area of law pertaining to the relationship among persons (citizens or legal persons including corporations), as opposed to relations between the state and persons.

• Major subdivisions of private law include (depending on whether the jurisdiction belongs to the civil law, common law, or other legal tradition) torts and contracts or the law of obligations as well as property law, family law, commercial law, and the law of succession (probate and estates). It encompasses most areas of law considered civil law (i.e., non-criminal law), such as those governed by a civil code (in a civil-law or continental-traditional legal system).

• public law
• private international law
• conflicts of law