Noun
Any authority which has a legal mandate to govern, administrate a part or aspect of public life, such as all branches of the executive power of a state, province, municipality etc.
In a wider sense also various chartered organisations holding their authority from the above without being run by public officials
Source: en.wiktionary.orgShow me the man who keeps his house in hand, He's fit for public authority. Sophocles
When we speak of power, we mean man's control over the minds and actions of other men. By political power we refer to the mutual relations of control among the holders of public authority and between the latter and the people at large. Hans Morgenthau
Obedience to public authority ought not to be based either on ignorance or stupidity. Napoleon Bonaparte
Riots were also the most virulent symptoms to date of another, and in some ways graver, national disorder - the decline in respect for public authority and the rule of law in America. Far from being a great society, our is becoming a lawless society. Richard Nixon
Rock gives children, on a silver platter, with all the public authority of the entertainment industry, everything their parents always used to tell them they had to wait for until they grew up and would understand later. Allan Bloom
Also, some new sponsors are participating this year including Kuwait University, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training and others. Source: Internet