  We study the global scaling-laws of 51 compact field galaxies with redshifts
z = 0.2-1.3 and apparent magnitudes I<23.74 in the flanking fields of the
Hubble Deep Field. Roughly 60% of the 45 compact emission-line galaxies have
sizes, surface brightnesses, luminosities, velocity widths, excitations, star
formation rates (SFR), and mass-to-light ratios characteristic of young
star-forming HII galaxies. The remaining 40% form a more heterogeneous class of
evolved starbursts, similar to local disk starburst galaxies. Without
additional star formation, HII-like distant compacts will most likely fade to
resemble today's spheroidal galaxies such as NGC 205. Our sample implies a
lower limit for the global comoving SFR density of 0.004 M/yr/Mpc^3 at z =
0.55, and 0.008 M/yr/Mpc^3 at z = 0.85. These values, when compared to a
similar sample of local galaxies, support a history of the universe in which
the SFR density declines by a factor 10 from z = 1 to today. From the
comparison with the SFR densities derived from previous data sets, we conclude
that compact emission-line galaxies, though only 20% of the general field
population, may contribute as much as 45% to the global SFR of the universe at
0.4 < z < 1.
