Laws concerning taxation and the regulation of business are in the public area, as is criminal law, which involves the exercise of governmental power by way of enforcement and punishment. Debate has been continuous regarding the legitimacy of government intervention in areas where moral attitudes are in significant conflict, such as in matters of sexual practices, pornography, birth control, and euthanasia. Private Law Private law involves the various relationships that people have with one another and the rules that determine their legal rights and duties among themselves. The area is concerned with rules and principles pertaining to private ownership and use of property, contracts between individuals, family relationships, and redress by way of compensation for harm inflicted on one person by another. The relative significance of purely private law has decreased in modern times.
Public law dominates in government-controlled societies.
Democratic societies increasingly have a mix of public and private law. The legal process that concerns relations among nations is called international law. Such law differs greatly from national legal systems. International law is almost wholly based on custom, as opposed to legislation. These rules concern such matters as territorial titles and boundaries, use of the high seas, limits on war, telecommunication, diplomatic and consular exchange, and use of air space.