The Development of the Public Group as a Juristic Person

The distinction between public and private "group-persons" which was noted in both the early Roman and German law and which is found to persist in modern Gentian, English, and American law, at least, is founded upon inherent differences in their nature. The function of the Public Group Person primarily is to advance the political or social welfare of the group, but as an agency of government, whereas the function of the Private Group Person, as its name indicates, is to engage wholly in private conduct and enterprise. From an early date, however, it has been found convenient for sub-divisions of the state to be clothed with the powers, functions and the form of a private corporation, and to be governed in its transactions, when in this character, not by its sovereign will but by the laws and customs which govern the transactions of its subjects. Because of the dual personality which apparently results, we find the thorniest of problems in the field before us. While the development of modern corporate theories would have been impossible without the development of the public corporation, we find that it is with respect to that group that legal theory and political theory must meet, and the line of demarcation is not always clear.