THE TRANSFORMATION OF PRIVATE LAW INTO PUBLIC LAW BY ‘SOCIAL’ LEGISLATION
In the last hundred years, the change from private law to public law has mainly happened to achieve social goals. Social aims include getting rid of legal discrimination that benefited powerful groups like landlords and employers. However, treating everyone equally does not mean favoring those who were treated unfairly in the past; it means applying the same rules to everyone. Justice focuses on fairness in transactions, not on the outcomes. This means that low wages in less productive areas can happen even if everyone behaves fairly.
Social legislation also means that the government provides important services to help weaker or less fortunate groups. While this service can increase taxes, it can still be organized under general rules of conduct. A more serious type of social legislation tries to guide private actions towards the interests of specific groups. This changes the universal nature of private law into public law rules meant to achieve particular social justice outcomes. This shift has been noticed in many Western countries, particularly in Germany, where private law is seen as less important than public law. The idea has become that the government should regulate individual actions more for social goals rather than letting individuals freely manage their own affairs.
In the last hundred years, the change from private law to public law has mainly happened to achieve social goals. Social aims include getting rid of legal discrimination that benefited powerful groups like landlords and employers. However, treating everyone equally does not mean favoring those who were treated unfairly in the past; it means applying the same rules to everyone. Justice focuses on fairness in transactions, not on the outcomes. This means that low wages in less productive areas can happen even if everyone behaves fairly.
Social legislation also means that the government provides important services to help weaker or less fortunate groups. While this service can increase taxes, it can still be organized under general rules of conduct. A more serious type of social legislation tries to guide private actions towards the interests of specific groups. This changes the universal nature of private law into public law rules meant to achieve particular social justice outcomes. This shift has been noticed in many Western countries, particularly in Germany, where private law is seen as less important than public law. The idea has become that the government should regulate individual actions more for social goals rather than letting individuals freely manage their own affairs.