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private action See civil action.

private action See civil action under ACTION (4).

private adoption See ADOPTION.

private adoption An adoption that occurs independently between the biological mother (and sometimes the biological father) and the adoptive parents without the involvement of an agency. A private adoption is usu. arranged by an intermediary such as a lawyer, doctor, or counselor. Legal custody though sometimes not physical custody remains with the biological parent or parents until the termination and adoption are complete. Also termed privateplacement adoption; direct-placement adoption; direct adoption; gray-market adoption; identified adoption; independent adoption. Cf. agency adoption.

private agent An agent acting for an individual in that person's private affairs.

private agent See AGENT (2).

private annuity See ANNUITY.

private annuity An annuity from a private source rather than from a public or life-insurance company.

private attorney See ATTORNEY (1).

private bank An unincorporated banking institution owned by an individual or a partnership and, depend-ing on state statutes, mayor may not be subject to state regulation.

private bank See BANK.

private benefit See PRIVATE BENEFIT.

private benefit The use of a tax-exempt organization s assets primarily to further the interests of a private individual or entity, rather than for a public interest. Under most circumstances, this type of benefit is prohibited. See IRC (26 USCA) § 501(c)(3). Cf. private inurement under INUREMENT.

private bill See BILL (3).

private bill A bill relating to a matter of personal or local interest only. Cf. special law under LAW. "A private Bill is a measure for the interest of some person or class of persons, whether an individual, a corporation, or the inhabitants of a county, town, parish, or other locality, and originates on the motion of some member of the [leg' islature] in which the Bill is introduced." Courtenay P. libert, Legislative Methods and Forms 28 (1901).

private boundary An artificial boundary marker.

private boundary See BOUNDARY.

private brand An identification mark placed on goods made by someone else under license or other arrangement and marketed as one's own .The seller of pri-vate-brand goods sponsors those goods in the market, becomes responsible for their quality, and has rights to prevent others from using the same mark.

private brand See BRAND.

private carrier Any carrier that is not a common carrier by law . A private carrier is not bound to accept business from the general public. - Also termed contract carrier. 2. INSURER.

private carrier See CARRIER.

private contract An agreement between private parties affecting only private rights.

private contract See CONTRACT.

private corporation A corporation founded by and composed of private individuals principally for a nonpublic purpose, such as manufacturing, banking, and railroad corporations (including charitable and religious corporations). - Also termed quaSi-individual.

private corporation See CORPORATION.

private delict See DELICT.

private delict A wrong regarded primarily as a matter of compensation between individuals.

private easement An easement whose enjoyment is restricted to one specific person or a few specific people.

private easement See EASEMENT.

private fact A fact that has not been made public. Whether a fact is private often arises in invasionof-privacy claims. Cf. public fact.

private fact See FACT.

private foundation A charitable organization that is funded by a Single source, derives its income from investments rather than contributions, and makes grants to other charitable organizations. A private foundation is generally exempt from taxation. IRC (26 USCA) § 509. Also termed private nonoperat ingfoundation.

private foundation See FOUNDATION.

private grant See GRANT.

private injury See personal injury (2) under INJURY.

private injury See personal injury (2).

private international law International conflict of laws. Legal scholars frequently lament the name "private international law" because it misleadingly suggests a body of law somehow parallel to public international law, when in fact it is merely a part of each legal systems private law. Also termed international private law; jus gentium privatum; intermunicipal law; comity; extraterritorial recognition of rights. See CONFLICT OF LAWS (2). "[A] word must be said about the name or title of the subject. No name commands universal approval. The expression Private International Law, coined by Story in 1834 Uoseph Story, Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws § 9 (1834)], and used on the Continent by Uean Jacques Gaspard] Foelix in 1838, has been adopted by Westlake and Foote and most French authors, The chief criticism directed against its use is its tendency to confuse private international law with the law of nations or public international law, as it is usually called. There are obvious differences between the two, The latter primarily governs the relations between sovereign states and it may perhaps be regarded as the common law of mankind in an early state of development; the former is designed to regulate disputes of a private nature, notwithstanding that one of the parties may be a private state. There is, at any rate in theory, one common system of public international law ... ;but ...there are as many systems of private international law as there are systems of municipal law: G.C. Cheshire, Private International Law 15 (6th ed. 1961).

private international law See INTERNATIONAL LAW.

private inurement An inurement consisting in the use by a private shareholder or an individual who has an insider relationship with a tax-exempt organization of the organizations earnings or assets for personal gain other than reasonable and adequate compensation. Such a benefit is prohibited. See IRC (26 USCA) § 501(c)(3).

private inurement See INUREMENT.

private judging A type of alternative dispute resolution whereby the parties hire a private individual to hear and decide a case. This process may occur as a matter of contract between the parties or in connection with a statute authorizing such a process. Also termed rent-a-judging. "In contrast [to arbitration]. private judging is a less contractual, less privatized process. Party agreement, usually formed post-dispute, does send a case to private judging. And the parties have the freedom of contract to determine the time and place of trial, as well as the identity of the judge. Unlike arbitration, however, privately judged trials may ... be: (1) required to use the same rules of procedure and evidence used in ordinary litigation, (2) exposed to public view by court order, (3) adjudicated only by a former judge, and (4) subject to appeal in the same manner as othertrial verdicts. In sum, private judging is essentially an ordinary bench trial except that the parties select, and pay for, the judge," Stephen J, Ware, Alternative Dispute Resolution § 2.54, at 113 (2001).

private land grant See LAND GRANT.

private land grant A land grant to a natural person. See land patent under PATENT (2).

private law 1. The body of law dealing with private persons and their property and relationships. Cf. PUBtIC LAW (I). 2. See special law under LAW.

private letter ruling See LETTER RULING.

private morality See MORAtITY.

private mortgage insurance See mortgage insurance.

private mortgage insurance See mortgage insurance under INSURANCE.

private necessity See NECESSITY

private nonoperating foundation See private foundation under FOUNDATION.

private nonoperating foundation See private foundation.

private nuisance See NUISANCE.

private offering An offering made only to a small group of interested buyers. Also termed private placement.

private offering See OFFERING.

private operating foundation See FOUNDATION.

private operating foundation A private foundation that conducts its own charitable program rather than making grants to other charitable organizations. Most of the foundation's earnings and assets must be used to further its particular charitable purpose.

private person 1. A person who does not hold public office or serve in the military. 2. Civil law. An entity such as a corporation or partnership that is governed by private law.

private person See PERSON (I).

private person See private person (2) under PERSON (1).

private placement 1. The placement of a child for adoption by a parent, lawyer, doctor, or private agency, rather than by a government agency. At least eight states have prohibited private-placement adoptions. Also termed direct placement. 2. Securities. See private offering under OFFERING.

private power A power vested in a person to be exer•cised for personal ends and not as an agent for the state.

private power See POWER (3).

private prison See PRISON.

private prison A prison that is managed by a private company, not by a governmental agency.

private property Property - protected from public appropriation over which the owner has exclusive and absolute rights.

private property See PROPERTY.

private prosecution A criminal prosecution initiated by a privately employed attorney or by a layperson or private organization, rather than a district attorney or other government-employed prosecutor. Until the 19th century, victims often had the burden of directly prosecuting criminals who had harmed them. With the rise of public-prosecution services, the need for private prosecutions declined. Though uncommon, they are still sometimes permitted in England.

private prosecution See PROSECUTION.

private prosecutor See PROSECUTOR (2).

private publication See limited publication. 3. Defamation. The communication of defamatory words to someone other than the person defamed. The communication may be in any form, verbal or nonverbal. "Publication means the act of making the defamatory statement known to any person or persons other than the plaintiff himself. It is not necessary that there should be any publication in the popular sense of making the statement public. A private and confidential communication to a single indiVidual is sufficient. Nor need it be published in the sense of being written or printed; for we have seen that actions as well as words may be defamatory. A communication to the person defamed himself, however, is not a sufficient publication on which to found civil proceedings; though it is otherwise in the case of a criminal prosecution, because such a communication may provoke a breach of the peace. Nor does a communication between husband and wife amount to publication; domestic intercourse of this kind is exempt from the restrictions of the law of libel and slander. But a statement by the defendant to the wife or husband of the plaintiff is a ground of action." R.F.V. Heuston, Salmond on the Law of Torts 154 (17th ed. 1977). The publication of a libel might be in the form of a book, pamphlet or newspaper, but nothing of that nature is required. A letter sent to a single individual is sufficient." Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 489 (3d ed. 1982). 4. Wills & estates. The formal declaration made by a testator when signing the will that it is the testator s will. There is no requirement that the provisions of the will or the identities of the beneficiaries be revealed to the witnesses.

private publication See limited publication under PUBLICATION.

private reprimand See REPRIMAND.

private reprimand An unpublished communication between a diSciplinary agency and a wrongdoing attorney, admonishing the attorney about the improper conduct. Sometimes a published reprimand that does not identify the lawyer by name is considered a private reprimand.

private right A personal right, as opposed to a right of the public or the state. Cf. public right.

private right See RIGHT.

private right-of-way See EASEMENT.

private right-of-way See EASEMENT.

private river A river to which a riparian owner may claim ownership of the riverbed because the river is unnavigable or navigable only by vessels with shallow drafts. A navigable private river is not wholly owned by a private person and cannot be closed to public use; people may still make ordinary use of the river for transportation and navigation.

private river See RIVER.

private sale An unadvertised sale negotiated and concluded directly between the buyer and seller, not through an agent.

private sale See SALE.

private school A school maintained by private individuals, religious organizations, or corporations, funded, at least in part, by fees or tuition, and open only to pupils selected and admitted based on religious affiliations or other particular qualifications.

private school See SCHOOL.

private seal A corporate or individual seal, as distinguished from a public seal.

private seal See SEAL.

private search A search conducted by a private person rather than by a law-enforcement officer. Items found during a private search are generally admissible in evidence if the person conducting the search was not acting at the direction of a law-enforcement officer.

private search See SEARCH.

private sector The part of the economy or an industry that is free from direct governmental control. Cf. PUBLIC SECTOR.

private servitude A servitude vested in a particular person. Examples include a landowners personal right -of-way over an adjoining piece of land or a right granted to one person to fish in anothers lake.

private servitude See SERVITUDE (2).

private signature A signature made on a document (such as a will) that has not been witnessed or notarizeq.

private signature See SIGNATURE.

private statute See special statute under STATUTE.

private statute See special statute.

private stream A watercourse, the bed, channel, or waters of which are exclusively owned by private parties.

private stream See STREAM.

private treaty See TREATY (3).

private trust See TRUST.

private voluntary organization See NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION.

private war See WAR.