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Perroud, Thomas --- "The courts and public space: France, the UK and the US in historical perspective" [2017] ELECD 1112; in Rose-Ackerman, Susan; Lindseth, L. Peter; Emerson, Blake (eds), "Comparative Administrative Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 513

Book Title: Comparative Administrative Law

Editor(s): Rose-Ackerman, Susan; Lindseth, L. Peter; Emerson, Blake

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784718657

Section: Chapter 31

Section Title: The courts and public space: France, the UK and the US in historical perspective

Author(s): Perroud, Thomas

Number of pages: 16

Abstract/Description:

This chapter considers the historical development of the law of public space in the US, France, and the UK. In all three countries public spaces enjoy special status and privilege, and the administration is not free to manage them as it chooses. The rights of the public are of prime importance for political (assemblies) or commercial purposes, or simply for leisure. They cannot, or should not, be considered private properties. Ideally, the owner (the city, or the government) should not exclude members of the public, discriminate, or even sell to them. Here comes the difficulty – although the public spaces are open to everyone, legally, they are, very often, government-owned. In other words, the administration enjoys managerial and proprietary powers that could conflict with their publicness. We try here to explain how the law was designed historically to regulate how public bodies managed these spaces for everyone.