Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Private law
(6,266 words)

1. Definition and concept

1.1. Areas of law

The concept of private law was used in Roman law (Latin ius privatum), in which it was distinguished from public law (ius publicum). Since then, certain areas of law have been assigned to private law [16], despite the fact that the theoretical boundary between private and public law varied during the early modern period.

A key part of private law is made up by contracts (Contract [privat…

Cite this page
Hofer, Sibylle, “Private law”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 10 June 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_025903>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20210107



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