Abstract
This paper scrutinizes the idea that public law is a set of exemptions to general private law - and that, as a consequence, the public law is special to the private one. According to this text, a modern state is established on a tension between an autonomous individual and an autonomous political sphere, coexisting in interdependent relationship.
Modern public law is unable to use power in order to facilitate an autonomous existence of the individual without its own political autonomy, and a modern state cannot function without a participation of autonomous individuals. The paper summarizes the debate regarding public and private law in new Czech civil code of 2012.
This debate is used as a basis for highlighting the importance of sufficient legitimacy of public power and to draw consequences with respect to the judicial system.