Fourth Theme: Sections and Branches of Law
The division of law into public law and private law is one of the most important
divisions described by jurists and commentators of law, and this traditional division,
which dates back to the era of Roman law, is still dominant in legal thought in most
countries of the world, and therefore we will address the basis for distinguishing
between the rules of public law and the rules of private law, and then we will present
the branches of each.
First: The basis for dividing the law into public law and private law:
Since the state is based on the basic interests of society, a party must enter into legal
relations as a sovereign and authority in order to achieve these interests, and in this
case these relations are subject to the rules of public law, for example, if the state
represented by the state, municipality, or any administrative public institution
expropriates a piece of land from its owner for the public benefit, the relationship
between it and the owner of this land is subject to public law.1
Here, it emphasizes that not every relationship to which the state is a party is subject
to public law, but that the state or one of its administrative institutions must use the
privileges of public authority, and here we say that what distinguishes public law is
the lack of balance between the parties to the legal association.
Private law is that which governs relations between private individuals or between
individuals and the State (or one of its institutions such as the state, municipality,
public administrative institution) when the privileges of public power are not used,
and here there is a balance between the parties to the legal bond.
1
Abdel MoneimFarag Al-Sadda, Usul al-Qanun – Cairo – Mustafa Al-Yani Al-Jali Library and Press, without
1965 edition, p. 11.
Second: Branches of Public Law and Private Law:
The Algerian legal system consists of several laws that can be divided into two
groups, the public law group and the private law group.
1. Branches of public law: Public law, as we have already indicated, governs
the internal or external relations to which the State is a party as sovereign and
authority.
1. External public law (public international law): It means those legal rules
that define the elements of the state as a person of the international community, and
they also regulate the relationship of states with each other and determine the rights
and duties of each of them, in the event of peace or war, as well as the relationship
of states with international organizations. Public international law regulates the
relations of States in a state of peace, such as diplomatic exchange, economic and
cultural cooperation, and also in the event of war, such as the end of war,
negotiations, prisoner exchanges and reparations for the aggressor.
2. Internal public law: It is the set of rules that define the entity of the state
and seeks to regulate its relationship with society, the relations of public bodies with
each other, and their relations with individuals. The internal public law includes a
series of sections, some of which will be presented as follows:
1. Constitutional Law: It is a set of legal rules that regulate the form of the
state and its system of government, the relations between the three powers of the
state legislative, executive and judicial, their competencies and the relationship of
these authorities with members of society, and it also determines the rights and
freedoms prescribed for the citizen,
2. Administrative law: It is a set of legal rules that are concerned with
organizing the administrative apparatus and determining the public services that the
state says and the management of public utilities, so the administrative law was called
the Public Utilities Law because public utilities in the state are the focus of attention
of administrative law, such as health facilities, electricity, gas and others in terms of
their management and management, and all affairs related to their employees.
3. Financial Law: It is the set of legal rules that regulate the general budget,
determine the form of the tax system, set the rules of financial control and regulate
the so-called financial judiciary. The Finance Act is promulgated annually by
Parliament, in accordance with the requirements of the Organic Act.
1. Branches of private law: As we have already explained, private law is a set
of legal rules that govern the relationship between individuals or between them and
the State when it intervenes as a private person and not as a sovereignty.
1. Civil law: It always comes at the top of the list, as the general law that
governs private relations among individuals unless it is governed by a text in another
branch of private law based on the rule (the private always restricts the general).2
Civil law has been defined as the set of legal rules that regulate private ties between
individuals, whether in relation to personal status or financial transactions.
2. Commercial Law: It emerged from the Civil Law, it includes a set of legal
rules that regulate commercial relations, i.e. the merchant and business, which is
the law of wealth exchange, creation and distribution, as well as regulating the
different types of commercial companies recognized by law, as well as determining
the means of commercial dealings and types of commercial papers such as checks,
bonds and bills of exchange, and regulating the rules of commercial bankruptcy.3
3. Maritime Law: It is the set of legal rules that regulate commercial relations
arising from maritime navigation, as its axis is the ship, and its role in navigation,
sale, insurance, and activities.
2
Dr. Ishaq Ibrahim Mansour - Theories of law and right and their applications in Algerian laws - University
Publications Bureau - p 58
3
Dr. Ishaq Ibrahim Mansour - Theories of law and right and their applications in Algerian laws - University
Publications Bureau - p 61
1. Air law: It is one of the latest branches of law, which is a set of rules that
regulate air navigation, and the relations arising from it from the use of air vehicles
and their movement, mortgage, sale, and the transport of goods and people, and
most of the rules of air law are derived from international conventions.
2. Labor Law: It is a set of legal rules that regulate the legal relations arising
between the worker and the employer, and determine the various social insurance
prescribed for the worker, that is, it governs social security.