PUBLIC POLICY. 526 PTJBLITJS. modorn times, arose from wagers beiiifj allowed iictioiiable at eoTiimon law. The validity of such contracts liaviiif; l)een admitted, courts set to work to discourage them as much as possible by holding many of them to be against pul)lic policy. Contracts promotive of immorality liave al- ways been deemed subversive of jjublic utility and hence void. Agreements in n'straint of marriage, wagers that one will not marry, and marriage brokerage contracts, or agreements to l)ring about the marriage of a particuhir person, have been Iield void because against sound i)ul)lic policy. This principle has been applied, also, in avoiciing agreements for the sale of offices and for the a.ssi,gnment of officers' salaries, as tend- ing to injure the public service; in avoiding agreements with an alien enemy as well as those which are hostile to a friendly country, such contracts having a tendency either to harm our country ilirectly or to embroil us with other nations. Most frequently of all, perhaps, it is a])plied in avoiding contracts for the stilling of criminal prosecutions, or the perversion of jus- tice in civil suits, or for services in lobbying with legislators, or improperly influencing ad- ministrative otiicers. Combinations between busi- ness iiouses or corporations entered into for the purpose of preventing honest competition, or the creation of monopolies, are void as against pub- lic polic.y. (See Trusts.) f^onsult: Pollock, Principles of Coiitrncts (London. 1002) : Anson, l'ri)iciiiles of the English Lnir of Conlrarts (Lon- don, 1!)01) ; Greenhood, Doctrine of Public Policy in the Law of Contracts (Chicago, 1886). PUBLIC SCHOOLS. A term usually applied in the United States to the institutions main- tained at jniblic expense for the formal education of children. The idea of organizing schools where rich and ]ioor might obtain eincient free instruc- tion did not take firm root in the minds of the people of the several States until the early part of the nineteenth century, although even the earliest settlers of the colonies were not iinmiiidful of their duty with respect to the education of the young. In 104" a law was passed in Massachusetts requiring every town of fifty householders to maintain a master to teach reading and writing, and eery town of one hundred householders to maintain a gram- mar schooL the wages of such master to be paid by parents whose children took advantage of tiie instruction. A .somewhat similar law was passed in Connecticut in 10.50. In most of the New England colonies education was considered a public responsibility. New York, on the con- trary, owing to the wrangling between the Dutcli and English, was rather late in recognizing the necessity for a public school system; compara- tively little attention, in fact, having been paid to the subject before the close of the Revolution. The same is true of Pennsylvania, which de- pended mostly on private benefactions for the establishment of schools. New Jersey, on the other hand, passed a law in 1603 looking to the establisliment of schools. In the South there were no school systems previous to the Revolu- tion. What was done in the way of education was chiefly the result of private enterprise. The four decades following the Revolution form the transitional period. Local autonomy gradually gave way to centralization and State supervision, this process varying, of course, with local condi- tions. The Federal Government was from the very I beginning doing nuich b.y means of land grante i and other aid to encourage the several States in ; the establishment of school systems, setting aside i; in 1785 and 1787 one thirty-sixth of all the public land in the several States for school |)urposes. In 1795, at the instance of Governor Clinton, a law was enacted in New York pro- viding for local school supervision, and in 1812 the office of State superintendent of eouunon schools was created. Gideon Hawley holding it until 1821, when the oHice was unfortunately a))olished and the Secretary of State was nomi- nally left to carry out the duties of superin- tending schools. It was not until 1854 that the office was revived. In Massachusetts the Board of Education was organized in 18.37, and the vari- ous scliool organizations were united and corre- lated, the moving spirit in this work being Horace Mann (q.v. ). The other States followed the ex- ample of New I'ork and Massachusetts. Con- necticut and Rhode Island found a leader in Henry Barnard. In this successful movement for public schools no little credit is to be as- signed to the efforts of the various educational associations, particularly the National Educa- tional Association. The three main types of public .schools in the United States "are: (1) the city ele- mentary and high schools; (2) the town union school, which includes a high school department; (3) the district school, so called from its usually being established in certain rural districts, and offering elementary instruc- tion. As a rule, little attention is paid in these district schools to grading. The general ten- dency is growing now toward the establishment of public institutions for dependent children, truants, and incorrigiblcs, where, in connection with industrial training, the elementary branches are taught. In 1900 the attendance of the ele- mentary schools was al)OUt 15.900,000. about 1,300,000 attending private schools. The term public schools is anomalously used in England to denote the several famous preparatory schools, as Eton, Harrow, and Rugby. For details of the various systems of public instruction in the United States and the principal European coun- tries, see the articles on Schools: Common Schools; Grammar Schools; Evexino Schools; Education: National Education, Systems of. PUBLIC WASH-HOUSES. See Wash- iiousES, Public. PUBLILnUS SYKUS. A Roman writer of mimes. He was a native of Syria. He was brought to Rome when a boy as a slave; but his master was kind. educate<l iiim, and finally gave him his freedom. He excelled in writing mimes, which were in great vogue at Rome in the latter times of the Republic. .Tulius Cirsar gave him the preference over all other mimographers. His works are lost, but some of his moral apothegms, which have been preserved by Seneca and other ancient writers, are remarkable fo'r their laconic precision and justness of sense. These have been gathered under the title Pnlilili ftt/ri MimiSen- tcntiw, and were published by Meyer (Leipzig, 1880) and Friedrich (Berlin. 1880). PUB'LIUS. The signature used by Hamilton, .Lay. and Madison in their papers contributed to the Federalist. Papers 2-5 and 04 were written ,
