Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/600

* PUBERTY. 524 PUBLIC LAW. both sexes there is a rapid increase in size and weight. This period is critical in the life of the individual. Hereditary diseases are apt to de- clare themselves at this time, and many mental and nervous disturbances take place. PUBLICATUI (Lat., tax-gatherers). In an- cient Kome, the farmers of the public revenues {vectigalia). These revenues were put up to auction by the censors and were sold for a period of five years. They were derived chiefly from tolls, tithes, harbor-duties, script um (the tax paid for the use of pu"blic pasture-lands), mining and salt duties. As the State required the publi- cani to give security for the sum at which they had purchased the collecting of the taxes, and as this sum was usually much greater than the wealth of any single individual, companies were formed, the members of which were enabled to carry on conjointly undertakings far beyond the cap.i'bilities of the separate shareholders. Their contract with the Roman Government was made in the name of a single person, who was called mamceps, and who was held responsible for his socii to the State. Only Roman citizens were eligible as publicani. As in France before the Revolution, the farming of revenues resulted in great injustice and peculation, especially in out- lying provinces: and the publicans were a bitterly hated class, as appears in numerous passages of the Xew Testament. PUBLIC BATHS. See Bath-Houses, Mu- SKWAl.. PUBLIC CALLINGS. Any trade or calling carried on liy a private individual or private corporation which, because of its quasi public character, has certain privileges as well as legal obligations which do not attach to an ordinary private trade or calling. The business of com- mon carriers and that of innkeepers are examples of public callings. The essential characteristics of public callings are that those engaged in them hold themselves out as engaged in the business of serving the public indiscriminately. From the earliest time the common law held that the classes of business carried on by common carriers, innkeepers, truckmen, ferrymen, bakers, millers, and wharfingers were, ' or under proper conditions might be, public callings. And in later times the courts have held that the busi- nesses of telegraph and telephone companies, ele- vator companies, and warehousemen were public callings. In general it may be said that all who engage in public callings must serve the public without discrimination for reasonable compensa- tion, and with a high degree of care for the persons and property of those who engage their services. This rule, however, is subject to the limitation that the person claiming the public service must be a proper person to receive it. Those engaged in public callings in return for their obligation to serve all persons properly entitled to service have the compensating advantage that they either have a lien for their .services or may claim pay- ment or compensation in advance. They also have the right to make and enforce reasonable regulations governing the conduct of their busi- ness. When a business is affected with a public interest, and thus becomes a public calling, it ceases to lie juriH privati only, and is subject, within reasonable limits, to the right of the State to regulate it. See Carrier, Common; Txn, IXXKEEPER; COXSTITUTIOXAL LaW. PUBLIC COMFOBT STATIONS. These conveniences, often including lavatories and water-closets, are numerous in most of the larger European cities, but are entirely lacking, except in )iarks, in all but a very few American cities. In Europe a slight charge is usually made for their use, though in many cases they are ab- solutely free. Boston, Xew York, and San Fran- cisco have entered upon the work of establishing public comfort stations. In Boston in 1902 the bath department had charge of twelve public water-closets in various parts of the city. The underground structure on the Common had an average daily attendance of GOOO. In San Fran- cisco a commodious public convenience was built in 190.3 by the Merchants' Association and given to the city. In New York a committee previously appointed by the Mayor issued, in January, 1897, an exhaustive report on iniblic baths and public comfort stations. The report recommended that public comfort stations should be built, and several have been established. Consult chapter on "Public Baths and Water- Closets" in Baker, Municipal Engineering and Sanitation (New York, 1902). See also the re- port on Public Baths and Public Comfort Sta- tions (New York. 1897), referred to in the text. PUBLIC DOMAIN OF THE UNITED STATES. For a discussion of the sur-eys made upon the national domain, see Sukveying. See also Lands. Public. PUBLIC FUND. The money in the bands of an officer of a government to be employed for governmental purposes. Public funds are raised by taxation in various forms, and the accumula- tion of public revenues from any source. A State treasurer may have the public money credited to different 'funds,' as the 'school fund,' etc., and usually has no authority to transfer money from a fund raised for a certain purpose to another fund to be employed for an entirely different purpose. See Tax, and the authorities there referred to. PUBLIC LAW. That branch of the law which defines and protects the rights which sub- sist between State and subjeet, as distinguished from that which affects the rights that subsist be- tween subject and subject. In public law the State, which defines anil protects the right, is a party interested in or affected by the right, and may', therefore, uphold or extinguish it. The con- ception of public law, as opposed to private law, is due to the Roman law, in which the law of crime was included under the same head; and the civil law of the Continent of Europe retains the same classification. The field of public law may be divided in ac- cordance with the same distinctions which apply in the subdivision of private law; and the same distinctions may be made between substantive and adjective law. rights «i rem and rights in per- sonam, rights antecedent and remedial, and rights normal and abnormal. The connection and recip- rocal relations of these parts of the public law to each other have not yet become well settled ; and among modern civil law jurists they have been very differently and rather loosely treated. The topics under which public law is most commonly treated are: constitutional law. or that which defines the form of government; adminis-