Julien, Jérôme (2022) An introduction to French private law. In: International journal of legal information Cambridge University Press. pp. 43-47.

Abstract

Private law is usually defined as all the rules of law which govern relationships between private individuals. Thus defined, it is opposite to public law and differentiated from ‘mixed law’ such as criminal law which has aspects of both. Of course, understanding private relationships between individuals, depend to a large extent on the country where they are observed and its history. French individualism (which of course does not exclude the general interest) which is notably embodied by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789 is doubtless at the heart of private law—I was going to say private law legislation—and is illustrated by the central place which is reserved for the law of private property. Private law therefore governs all relationships between individuals in all aspects of their lives: their private lives, their business relations, their working relationships, and so on.