780 articles
Part IV Family Law Act 1996 orders
Part IV Family Law Act 1996 orders are civil protective orders in England and Wales, giving courts two remedies for associated persons: non-molestation orders and occupation orders.
Passing off
Passing off is a common law tort protecting business goodwill against misrepresentation, requiring goodwill, misrepresentation, and damage; key UK cases include Jif Lemon, Warnink, Irvine v Talksport, and Rihanna v Topshop.
Pastoral lease
A pastoral lease is a leasehold over Crown land granting exclusive grazing rights while the state keeps ownership; about 44 percent of the Australian mainland is leased this way.
Pastoral leases in Australian land law
Pastoral leases in Australian land law: statutory Crown-land tenures for grazing livestock, covering about 44 percent of Australia. Distinct from freehold through lease conditions, Crown reservations, and coexistence with native title under Wik (1996).
Pastoral runs and Crown pastoral leases in New Zealand
Crown pastoral leases in New Zealand are perpetually renewable 33-year grazing tenures giving lessees exclusive pasturage but no right to the soil, covering about 1.2 million hectares of South Island high country.
Patent law of China
Patent Law of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国专利法), the national patent statute adopted 1984, effective 1985, covering inventions, utility models, and designs with terms of 20, 10, and 15 years, amended 1992, 2000, 2008, and 2020.
Paula Franzese
Paula A. Franzese, American legal scholar; Peter W. Rodino Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law; property and housing law, government ethics reform; ten-time Professor of the Year.
Paula Jones
Paula Jones, Arkansas state employee whose 1994 lawsuit against Bill Clinton over a 1991 Excelsior Hotel incident produced Clinton v. Jones (1997), the unanimous Supreme Court ruling rejecting temporary presidential immunity, and ended in an $850,000 settlement.
Peace bond
A peace bond is a Canadian court order intended to prevent harm by imposing conditions on a person against whom there are reasonable grounds for fear. Section 810 of the Criminal Code.
Penalties in English law
Penalties in English law: the rule against penalty clauses, from Dunlop's genuine pre-estimate test to the Cavendish/ParkingEye legitimate-interest test, covering secondary obligations, deposits, forfeiture, and comparative approaches.
Per stirpes
Per stirpes (Latin, "by branch") is an inheritance distribution method in which a predeceasing beneficiary's share passes equally to that beneficiary's own descendants, contrasted with per capita, where surviving beneficiaries split the share. Used in wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations.
Performance bond
A performance bond is a surety bond guaranteeing a project owner that a contractor will complete a contract, with the surety arranging completion if the contractor defaults.
Permanent Settlement (চিরস্থায়ী বন্দোবস্ত)
Permanent Settlement (চিরস্থায়ী বন্দোবস্ত), the 1793 Cornwallis settlement fixing Bengal's land revenue forever with zamindars as proprietors paying ten-elevenths; distinct from Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems.
Personal injury
Personal injury: harm to body or mind compensated through tort law, chiefly negligence, or through no-fault schemes like workers' compensation; covers history, Florida NICA, UK claim data.
Personal property
Personal property (personalty, goods and chattels) is any property that is not land or items immovable by law: tangible goods plus intangibles like copyrights, shares, and debts, protected historically by detinue, trover, and trespass to chattels.
Personhood
Personhood (legal personality): the status of holding rights and duties under a legal system, held by natural persons and artificial persons like corporations and states, distinct from being human; covers capacity, birth and death, rights of nature, and fetal personhood.
Peter Rachman
Peter Rachman (Perec Rachman, 1919-1962) was a Polish-born Notting Hill landlord notorious for intimidating rent-controlled tenants; "Rachmanism" entered the Oxford English Dictionary, and his posthumous 1963 exposure stemmed from the Profumo affair.
Polish contract law
Polish contract law is the part of the law of obligations governing contract formation, rights and duties, and breach, contained mainly in Book Three of the 1964 Civil Code.
Posthumous sperm retrieval
Posthumous sperm retrieval (PSR, PMSR) extracts sperm from dying or deceased men for later conception. First reported 1980; viable up to 3 days postmortem; consent and legality vary by country.
Posting rule
Posting rule (mailbox rule): contract-law doctrine from Adams v Lindsell (1818) under which a posted acceptance forms a contract on dispatch, not receipt; excluded for option contracts, stipulated-receipt offers, and instantaneous media.
Postnuptial agreement
Postnuptial agreement (postnup): a contract spouses sign after marriage or a civil union, covering property division, debts, and spousal support on divorce or death; enforceability varies by state and country, unlike prenuptial agreements made before marriage.
Power of attorney
Power of attorney: a legal document authorizing an agent (attorney-in-fact, donee) to act for a principal. Covers ordinary, durable/enduring, and lasting powers (LPA/EPA), capacity rules, abuse safeguards, and cross-border recognition; not a lawyer, guardianship, or conservatorship.
Prenuptial agreement
Prenuptial agreement (prenup, premarital or antenuptial agreement): a contract signed before marriage setting property, debt, and support terms for divorce or death; governed in the US by the UPAA and in England and Wales given weight but not automatic enforceability after Radmacher v Granatino (2010).
President of the Family Division
President of the Family Division: senior judge of the High Court's Family Division and Head of Family Justice in England and Wales. Current holder Sir Stephen Cobb (23 April 2026), succeeding Sir Andrew McFarlane; appointed by the King on JAC panel recommendation.
Presumption of death
Presumption of death: legal doctrine letting courts or agencies treat a long-missing person as dead, classically after 7 unexplained years; UK Presumption of Death Act 2013, US 38 USC 108, civil law 5-20 years.
Primogeniture
Primogeniture: inheritance rule passing property to the firstborn legitimate child, historically male-preference. Variants include agnatic, semi-Salic, and absolute primogeniture; largely abandoned for private property and mostly replaced by absolute primogeniture in monarchies.
Principles of European Contract Law
The Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) are proposed general rules for European contract law, drafted by the Ole Lando-chaired Commission and published between 2000 and 2003.
Privacy laws of the United States
Privacy laws of the United States: sectoral federal statutes (Privacy Act of 1974, HIPAA, GLBA, FCRA, COPPA), constitutional and common-law privacy protections, and the growing patchwork of state comprehensive laws including the CCPA, with no single federal privacy statute.
Private property
Private property: legally enforceable bundle of rights (use, exclusion, transfer) held by non-state actors over things; rooted in Roman dominium, split into civil-law ownership and common-law estates traditions, limited by expropriation and regulation.
Privity of contract
Privity of contract: common law rule that only parties to a contract can enforce it or be bound by it, criticized from Tweddle v Atkinson and Dunlop v Selfridge and reformed in England by the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.