This paper considers how the law conceptualizes what is public and what private in higher education, and the legal consequences of those definitions. Following the institutionalist perspective, our interest is in the law as a source of coercive isomorphism. From the evidence gathered from seven countries in Latin America, exhibiting private sectors of varying dimension and degrees of maturity, it appears that the law assigns the same comprehensive mission to the two sectors, and expects from both the same all-encompassing repertoire of functions, regardless of the degree of development of private higher education. Yet, the law allows greater autonomy to the public sector, and delineates separate oversight and coordinating systems for private and publics, even where all of higher education is governed by the same law.