At the beginning of his lecture, the professor explained the differences between public and private legislation. It came to light that private legislation forms part of the common political heritage of the United States, Great Britain and the British Commonwealth as opposed to most European countries.

The rest of the presentation was about private bill, which is a proposal for a law that would apply to a particular individual, group of individuals or corporate entity concerning the following questions: immigration, domestic or foreign claims against the government, patents and copyrights, taxation, veteran benefits etc. This is unlike public bill which applies to everyone within their jurisdiction. As we learnt from the presentation, if an individual has a specific grievance and the matter has not been resolved by any judical forum, the United States Congress has the right to decide in a particular case and judge money to compensate for the losses and injuries. In that case, however, the separation of powers – which is one of the most important pillars of the United States Constitution - can be questioned.

Private legislation is considered as an ’exception to the rule’ and therefore it is disappearing from the jurisdiction of the United States.