Private and Public Law: The Primacy of the State and the Limits of Private Autonomy

This article examines the relationship between private and public law through the lens of the primacy of the state as the holder of public authority and the source of a binding legal order within which private autonomy is constituted and exercised. It analyzes doctrinal criteria for distinguishing private and public law and the legal mechanisms that delineate the limits of private autonomy, including mandatory constraints, procedural guarantees of protection, the concepts of arbitrability and public policy, jurisdictional competition, and requirements of legal certainty. The article argues that private autonomy should be understood not as an extra-systemic freedom but as a state-recognized and state-secured legal regime whose stability depends on regulatory predictability and enforceability of decisions. Particular attention is given to the fact that, in nationally significant and resource-intensive sectors of the economy, the permissible scope of privatization and de-statization must be assessed in light of national interests and economic security objectives, which justifies state participation and coordination while maintaining a balance between private and public elements.