Public authorities keep their records legally closed as private corporate records
Evidence
The official records of most public agencies are public records, but not those of public authorities, since courts have held that they may be regarded as the records of private corporations, closed to scrutiny by the interested citizen or reporter. This was very important to Robert Moses. It was very important to him that no one be able to find out how it was that he was able to build. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 82
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in institutional design and how organizational forms allocate power—parallel to trust/institution literature on courts and private contracting. — connects to: Private title-insurance companies arose because public land records could not cope with volume — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2495; Keeping settlement details private helps prevent public perception from equating settlement with guilt — Is Settling Out of Court an Admission of Guilt? - LegalClarity; Litigation forced internal industry documents into public archives. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1617
- DEFINE: Defines the legal essence distinguishing public authorities from other public agencies.
- ADDENDUM: Relevant to the reader’s general interest in how infrastructure/state forms concentrate power, though not pointing to one of the three named articles directly.
Broader Connections
- Private title-insurance companies arose because public land records could not cope with volume
#contradicts(0.80) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2495 - Litigation forced internal industry documents into public archives.
#contradicts(0.80) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1617