public hearing

From public +‎ hearing.

public hearing (plural public hearings)

1. A judicial hearing which anyone may attend, as opposed to a private hearing.
   • 2023 March 8, Paul Salveson, “Fond farewells to two final trains...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 55:

     It came as little surprise that the Horwich branch was one of hundreds of lines slated for closure in Beeching's The Reshaping of British Railways, published in 1963. The various formalities were covered by a public hearing, but the closure was given consent by the Transport Minister.

2. A meeting to hear public opinions on any issue; a meeting where members of the public hear the facts about any issue and give their opinions about it.
   • 2017, J. Michael Cole, “Civic activism and protests in Taiwan: why size doesn't (always) matter”, in Dafydd Fell, editor, Taiwan's Social Movements under Ma Ying-jeou: From the Wild Strawberries to the Sunflowers‎, Routledge, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 31:

     On many occasions, public hearings were more symbol than substance; key dissenting voices, interest groups and academics were either not invited, informed too late or barred access form the venue by large police deployments. In some cases, as with the controversy over InfraVest Corp's wind turbine project in Yuanli, Miaoli County, police inside a public hearing would turn their cameras on the villagers and activists, but did not do so when company representatives or government officials were making their case, measures that were regarded as intimidating.