Public
Pub´lic
a. | 1. | Of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; - opposed to private; as, the public treasury. |
| 2. | Open to the knowledge or view of all; general; common; notorious; as, public report; public scandal. |
| 3. | Open to common or general use; as, a public road; a public house. |
n. | 1. | The general body of mankind, or of a nation, state, or community; the people, indefinitely; as, the American public; also, a particular body or aggregation of people; as, an author's public. |
| 2. | A public house; an inn. |
LAW, PUBLIC. A public law is one in which all persons have an interest.
POLICY, PUBLIC. By public policy is meant that which the law encourages for
the promotion of the public good.
2. That which is against public policy is generally unlawful. For
example, to restrain an individual from marrying, or from engaging in
business, when the restraint is general, in the first case, to all persons,
and, in the second, to all trades, business, or occupations. But if the
restraint be only partial, as that Titius shall not marry Moevia, or that
Caius shall not engage in a particular trade in a particular town or, place,
the restraint is not against public policy,, and therefore valid. 1 Story,
Eq. Jur. Sec. 274. See Newl. Contr. 472.
PUBLIC. By the term the public, is meant the whole body politic, or all the
citizens of the state; sometimes it signifies the inhabitants of a
particular place; as, the New York public.
2. A distinction has been made between the terms public and general,
they are sometimes used as synonymous. The former term is applied strictly
to that which concerns all the citizens and every member of the state; while
the latter includes a lesser, though still a large portion of the community.
Greenl. Ev. Sec. 128.
3. When the public interests and its rights conflict with those of an
individual, the latter must yield. Co. Litt. 181. if, for example, a road is
required for public convenience, and in its course it passes on the ground
occupied by a house, the latter must be torn down, however valuable it may
be to the owner. In such a case both law and justice require that the owner
shall be fully indemnified.
4. This term is sometimes joined to other terms, to designate those
things which have a relation to the public; as, a public officer, a public
road, a public passage, a public house.
Babbittish,
Everyman,
John Doe,
Philistine,
Public,
accessible,
acknowledged,
adherent,
admitted,
affirmed,
alehouse,
announced,
apparent,
appendage,
associated,
attendant,
audience,
available,
bar,
barrel house,
barroom,
beer garden,
beer parlor,
bistro,
blatant,
blind tiger,
boardinghouse,
body politic,
bourgeois,
bourgeoisie,
broadcast,
brought to notice,
buff,
business,
buyers,
cabaret,
cafe,
campy,
carriage trade,
catholic,
cavaliere servente,
celebrated,
circulated,
citizenry,
citizens,
civic,
clear,
clear-cut,
clientage,
clientele,
cocktail lounge,
collective,
collectivistic,
common knowledge,
common man,
common property,
commonalty,
commonly known,
commonplace,
commonwealth,
communal,
communistic,
community,
community at large,
commutual,
conjoint,
conjunct,
conspicuous,
constituency,
consumers,
cooperative,
cortical,
cosmopolitan,
courtier,
cultural community,
current,
custom,
dangler,
declared,
demos,
dependent,
diffused,
disciple,
disreputable,
disseminated,
distributed,
dive,
dorm,
dormitory,
doss house,
dramshop,
drinking saloon,
dwellers,
eminent,
epidermic,
estate,
everybody,
everyman,
everyone,
everywoman,
exomorphic,
exposed,
exterior,
external,
extrinsic,
familiar,
famous,
fan,
flagrant,
fleabag,
flophouse,
flunky,
folk,
folks,
follower,
followers,
following,
free,
fringe,
general,
general public,
gentry,
gin mill,
government,
groggery,
grogshop,
guest house,
habitancy,
hackneyed,
hanger-on,
henchman,
high-camp,
hoi polloi,
homely,
homespun,
homme de cour,
honky-tonk,
hospice,
hostel,
hostelry,
hotel,
household,
illustrious,
in circulation,
in common,
in print,
in public,
in the open,
infamous,
influential,
inhabitants,
inn,
international,
joint,
kitschy,
known,
linguistic community,
local,
lodging house,
low-camp,
made public,
make public,
manifest,
market,
masses,
men,
middle class,
multitude,
municipal,
mutual,
nation,
national,
nationality,
nightclub,
notable,
noted,
notorious,
obvious,
open,
openly,
ordinary,
out,
outer,
outermost,
outlying,
outmost,
outside,
outstanding,
outward,
outward-facing,
overt,
parasite,
partisan,
patent,
patronage,
pension,
people at large,
people in general,
peripheral,
persons,
plain,
platitudinous,
plebeian,
plebeians,
polity,
pop,
populace,
popular,
population,
portion,
posada,
pothouse,
proclaimed,
projected,
proletariat,
prominent,
propagated,
proverbial,
pub,
public house,
publicly,
publish,
published,
purchasing public,
pursuer,
pursuivant,
rank and file,
rathskeller,
reciprocal,
renowned,
reported,
roadhouse,
rooming house,
roundabout,
rumshop,
rural market,
saloon,
saloon bar,
satellite,
sectary,
sector,
seeming,
segment,
shadow,
shared,
social,
socialistic,
societal,
speakeasy,
special-interest group,
speech community,
spread,
state,
stated,
stooge,
suburban market,
successor,
suite,
superficial,
supporter,
supranational,
surface,
tagtail,
tail,
talked-about,
talked-of,
taproom,
tavern,
telecast,
televised,
the citizenry,
the general public,
the people,
the populace,
the population,
the public,
third estate,
trade,
trainbearer,
trite,
truistic,
unconcealed,
universal,
universally admitted,
universally recognized,
unshrouded,
urban,
vernacular,
viewable,
visible,
votary,
ward heeler,
well-kenned,
well-known,
well-recognized,
well-understood,
whole people,
widely known,
widespread,
wine shop,
world,
worldwide,
you and me,
youth market