“Interaction of the public and private in the modern legal order”: review of the International Scientific Conference “Seventh Baskin Readings” (St. Petersburg, October 29, 2025)

Introduction: Participants in the Seventh Baskin Readings reflected on the state of public and private law in the modern legal order and identified areas for new research. Public law institutions are called upon to shape and protect the institutional environment in which private interests are realized. The interpenetration of these legal principles is manifested in new areas: public-private partnerships, the privatization of state property by private entities, the conclusion and execution of state (public) contracts, etc. This interaction between private and public entities has in recent years generated new risks and may lead to increased mistrust between public authorities and private investors. Limiting public interest to private autonomy and resolving contradictions between private and public methods of legal regulation are possible only on a fundamental scientific basis. This overview of the presentations will help you become familiar with the latest research by Russian and international scholars, promoting the harmonization of interactions between public and private entities.

Methodology and materials: The comparative approach is predetermined by the conference theme itself; comparing public and private law allowed for the discovery of new facets of normativity. Public law is based on imperative regulatory methods, a hierarchical structure of regulations, and permissive patterns of behavior. Private law is built on discretion, equality of rights between parties, conventionality, entrepreneurial initiative, and other algorithms that facilitate the search for optimal conditions for satisfying interests and generating profit. The authors examined the ontological conflict between the methodologies under consideration using classical methods of legal research: analysis, synthesis, induction, and deduction. The hermeneutic method and legal modeling allowed for the creation of relevant descriptions of the ideas expressed by scholars, taking into account their professional affiliations and proposed theses. The authors described the Seventh Baskin Readings, presented welcoming remarks and papers at the plenary session, and presented the results of the section participants’ presentations.

Research Results and Discussion: The results demonstrate the need to rethink the traditional division of law into public and private, taking into account the transformation of classical notions of legal families and the structure of the legal order. At the conference, which brought together representatives from 10 countries and 30 leading universities, over 35 researchers presented, reflecting on key trends in the development of regulatory systems. The active participation of representatives from all branches of government, including judges from national and international jurisdictions, demonstrates the importance of exchanging scholarly opinions between private and public figures. The study confirms the importance of an cross-sectoral approach to studying the interaction of public and private law and the relevance of further interdisciplinary communication.

Conclusions: Conference participants noted the need to rethink the traditional division of law into public and private in the face of modern challenges, including digitalization and globalization. An analysis of the presentations demonstrates the existence of a gap between private and public law in the post-Soviet academic paradigm. A call was made to rethink the dogmatic notions inherited from the Soviet legal structure and reproduced in the educational process. There is a clear need to develop an integrative approach to the sectoral division of law and a transition from the tripartite legal structure of “sector – institution – norm” to a more complex construct that corresponds to the real legal order.

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2. Rubkina, M. V., Romashov, R. A. (eds.) (2006) Pamyati Yuriya Yakovlevicha Baskina. Leningrad Legal Journal, no. 2 (6), pp. 254–255. (In Russ.)