Commercial Law 1C
Department of Mercantile Law
Assignment 01 for Semester 01 (compulsory)
Unique Number 624302
Due: 23 March 2020
Prescribed book:
General Principles of Commercial Law 9th ed (2020) Juta
PREVIEW OF QUESTION 1
Distinguish between public and private law. [2]
Answer:
, Public law is concerned with the distribution and exercise of power by the state and the
legal relations between the state and the individual, whereas private law is concerned with
the legal relationships between individuals.
For further information refer to chapter 2:
Public law consists of those legal rules which control the relationships between the state
and its citizens. Private law, in turn, consists of those legal rules which govern the
relationships between citizens in their dealings with each other. Certain subdivisions can be
made within these two categories: for example, public law can be subdivided into
international law, constitutional law, administrative law, criminal law and law of procedure.
Private law can be subdivided into the law of persons, family law, law of personality and
patrimonial law.