780 articles
Iddah (العدة)
Iddah (العدة, iddat) is the Islamic waiting period a woman observes after divorce or her husband's death before remarrying: three menstrual cycles or three months for a divorcee, four months and ten days for a widow, delivery if pregnant, codified in Muslim personal status laws.
Ideal Maternity Home
Ideal Maternity Home (IMH), East Chester, Nova Scotia, 1928 to mid-1940s: commercial maternity and adoption home run by William and Lila Young, linked to the "Butterbox Babies" scandal, black-market adoptions, and Nova Scotia child-welfare reforms.
Illegality and public policy in contract law
Illegality and public policy in contract law: doctrines refusing enforcement of contracts involving crimes, statutory prohibitions, or conduct contrary to public policy. Modern English approach set by Patel v Mirza (2016) range-of-factors test, replacing the reliance rule of Tinsley v Milligan.
In loco parentis
In loco parentis, Latin for "in the place of a parent," is a common law doctrine letting schools, relatives, or institutions assume parental duties such as discipline, care, and consent, rooted in Blackstone's 1765 formulation.
In pari delicto
In pari delicto, Latin for "in equal fault," is an equitable defense in tort and contract law barring a plaintiff's recovery for a wrong the plaintiff participated in, with exceptions such as the adverse interest exception and statutory override.
Income shares model
Income shares model: child support guideline formula using both parents' incomes, also called income shares guidelines; contrasts with percentage-of-income model; used in most U.S. states and seven of ten jurisdictions in an international review.
Indemnity
Indemnity: a binding promise by one party (indemnifier) to compensate another for defined loss, also called hold harmless; distinct from guarantee (secondary, three-party) and from regulated insurance; primary obligation, dollar-for-dollar recovery, construed strictly.
Index of real estate articles
Index of real estate articles: an organized guide to real estate and real property law, estates in land, land tenure history, appraisal and mortgage finance, and OECD housing market policy topics, each linked to cited sources.
Indian Child Welfare Act
Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), US federal law enacted November 8, 1978 (Public Law 95-608) setting minimum standards for removing and placing Indian children and confirming tribal jurisdiction; upheld 7-2 in Haaland v. Brackeen (2023).
Indian Contract Act, 1872
The Indian Contract Act, 1872 (भारतीय संविदा अधिनियम, 1872), Act No. 9 of 1872, is India's principal contract statute, in force 1 September 1872, covering general contract law and special contracts.
Indian Patent Office
Indian Patent Office (IPO), part of the CGPDTM under DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, grants patents in India. Operates under the Patents Act, 1970 and Patents Rules, 2003; granted 33,504 patents in 2024-25.
Indigenous customary adoption in Canada
Indigenous customary adoption in Canada is adoption under a First Nations, Inuit, or Métis community's own customs, recognized by Canadian courts for over 40 years.
Inevitable disclosure doctrine
The inevitable disclosure doctrine is a US trade secret law doctrine allowing courts to bar a departing employee from a new job that would inevitably rely on the former employer's trade secrets.
Inheritance
Inheritance is property passing to heirs at death, chiefly through intestacy when there is no valid will. Covers intestate succession, Islamic, common law, and civil law systems, forced heirship, women's inheritance rights, and EU succession rules.
Inheritance law in Switzerland
Swiss inheritance law, part of the Civil Code, was revised with effect 1 January 2023: descendants' compulsory portion cut to 1/2, parents' abolished, giving testators a freely disposable half of the estate.
Inheritance tax
Inheritance tax (death duty, estate tax) is a tax on wealth transferred at death, levied on heirs (inheritance tax) or the whole estate (estate tax). Levied in 24 of 36 OECD countries but raising only 0.5% of tax revenues.
Insult (offence against honour)
Insult (offence against honour), or injure/Beleidigung, is a legal offence punishing speech intended to offend a person's honour or dignity, distinct from defamation because no specific fact is asserted and truth is no defence; over 160 countries retain related criminal laws.
Intellectual property in China
Intellectual property in China (知识产权): the statutory and judicial system protecting patents, trademarks, copyrights, and IC layout designs, built after 1978 and periodically revised, most recently through 2026 plans and rules.
Intellectual property law by jurisdiction
Intellectual property law by jurisdiction is the comparative study of how countries organize their patent, copyright, trademark, and design systems, and how treaties like TRIPS constrain them.
Intellectual property law journals and magazines
Intellectual property law journals and magazines are periodicals devoted to patent, trademark, and copyright law, ranging from peer-reviewed law reviews to trade magazines for IP professionals.
Intentional infliction of emotional distress
Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), the tort of outrage, is a U.S. tort requiring extreme and outrageous conduct, intent or recklessness, and severe distress; limited by the First Amendment, Snyder v. Phelps, and defamation-overlap rules.
Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000
The Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 is a US federal statute implementing the 1993 Hague Adoption Convention, designating the State Department as Central Authority and accrediting adoption providers.
Intercountry adoption in Canada
Intercountry adoption in Canada: Hague Convention party (ratified 1996, in force 1997). Provinces run adoptions, IRCC handles citizenship/immigration; two routes exist. China closed to non-Chinese adopters in 2024; Ethiopia, Russia, and others restrict or ban adoptions.
Intercountry adoption law in Commonwealth jurisdictions
Intercountry adoption law in Commonwealth jurisdictions governs adopting children from abroad in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand under the 1993 Hague Convention, including central authorities, costs, and citizenship recognition.
Intercountry adoption law of the United Kingdom
The intercountry adoption law of the United Kingdom governs adoptions with a foreign element, chiefly under section 83 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and the 2005 foreign-element regulations.
International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property
The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) is a politically neutral, non-profit association based in Zurich, Switzerland, founded in 1897, with over 8,000 members in more than 110 countries.
International matrimonial law
International matrimonial law: treaty rules and private international law governing cross-border marriage, divorce, and matrimonial property, centered on Hague Conference conventions (1902, 1970, 1978), the 1962 UN marriage convention, and EU Regulation 2019/1111.
Interspousal immunity
Interspousal immunity is a common-law doctrine that bars one spouse from bringing a tort suit against the other for personal injuries, resting on the old fiction that husband and wife are one legal person.
Interstate and international recognition of protective orders
Interstate and international recognition of protective orders is how protective orders issued in one state, tribe, or country are enforced elsewhere, chiefly through VAWA's full-faith-and-credit rule.
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) is a uniform state law, adopted in 1960, governing how children cross state lines for foster care or adoption.