Superiority of public law holds that public law is superior to private law, which is included in public law; On the other hand, the superiority theory of private law holds that private law is superior to public law.

In this regard, the academic community has not yet reached a basic understanding. Generally, there are three viewpoints: the superiority of private law, the superiority of public law and the optimization of adjustment methods.

Public law mainly refers to the laws regulating the relationship between the state and ordinary citizens, organizations and state organs and their members, while private law mainly refers to the laws regulating the relationship between ordinary citizens and organizations.

Public law and private law are common legal classification methods in civil law countries. In recent years, in the legal circle of China, public law and private law have also become the methods to divide the laws of China. There are different opinions about the standard of classification. Urbian, an ancient Roman jurist, said: "Public law is a law about Roman countries, and private law is a law about personal interests."

Detailed introduction:

The division between public law and private law was first put forward by ancient Roman jurists. According to Urbian's explanation, public law is a law aimed at protecting national interests, while private law is a law aimed at protecting private interests.

Civil law countries generally believe that public law should adjust the interests of the state or the public, and its subject should be the state, which is generally unequal to other subjects. Public law denies autonomy of private law and gives priority to mandatory norms.

Private law, on the other hand, is a legal norm that emphasizes the relationship between private interests, mostly arbitrary norms, advocates the autonomy of private law, and takes autonomy as the highest principle and essence.

There are essential differences between public law and private law in the scope and mechanism of adjustment and the interests they safeguard. The biggest difference between public law and private law lies in their different legislative ideas: public law is mandatory to obey and pays attention to the operation of power; Private law pays attention to autonomy of will, equality and reciprocity, and the form and protection of rights.

The distinction between public law and private law, as the German scholar kyrk said, "The distinction between public law and private law is the basis of the whole legal order today".