9,901 articles
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation
PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation), state gaming regulator-operator under the Philippine Office of the President; created 1977, chartered by PD 1869; record Php112 billion 2024 revenues; banned all POGOs effective December 15, 2024.
Philippine criminal law
Philippine criminal law, chiefly the Revised Penal Code (Act No. 3815, effective January 1, 1932), defines crimes and penalties in the Philippines, descends from the Spanish Penal Code of 1870, and is being consolidated into a proposed new Criminal Code.
Philippine nationality law
Philippine nationality law governs who are Filipino citizens under the 1935, 1973, and 1987 Constitutions, Commonwealth Act 473 naturalization, Commonwealth Act 63 loss rules, and RA 9225 retention and reacquisition of citizenship.
Philippines v. China
Philippines v. China, PCA Case 2013-19, an Annex VII UNCLOS arbitration filed 22 January 2013; China refused participation; the 12 July 2016 award invalidated the nine-dash line historic-rights claim.
Phillip Paske
Phillip Ronald Paske (1953–1998) was a Chicago criminal and child pornography producer who ran the Delta Project trafficking ring with John David Norman and later worked for serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
Phishing
Phishing is social engineering in which attackers impersonate trusted parties by email, text, or phone to steal credentials or access. Coined in 1995 via AOL's AOHell tool; now AI-driven, with smishing, vishing, and phishing-as-a-service variants.
Phoebus cartel
Phoebus cartel, or Lightbulb Conspiracy: international cartel of Osram, Philips, GE and others formed in Geneva in December 1924 that capped incandescent bulb life at 1,000 hours with Swiss-lab testing and fines, the founding case of planned obsolescence; nullified in 1940.
Photograph of Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell
Photograph of Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, taken 10 March 2001 at Maxwell's London home by Jeffrey Epstein, published 2011; central evidence in Giuffre's allegations, disputed, later apparently confirmed by a Maxwell email.
Phyllis J. Hamilton
Phyllis J. Hamilton, born Phyllis Jean Hamilton in 1952, is an American jurist serving as a senior United States district judge in Northern California since 2021.
Pierce Butler (judge)
Pierce Butler (1866–1939), first Minnesotan on the U.S. Supreme Court, associate justice 1923–1939; Harding nominee, Four Horsemen member, lone Buck v. Bell dissenter.
Piercing the corporate veil
Piercing the corporate veil, also called the alter ego doctrine, lets courts set aside limited liability and hold shareholders personally liable for corporate debts, typically after commingling of assets, undercapitalization, or fraud, with differing US and English approaches.
Pierre Lalive d'Epinay
Pierre Lalive d'Epinay (1923–2014) was a Swiss law professor at the University of Geneva, called the grand old man of Swiss arbitration and the 1990 Balzan Prize laureate for private international law.
Pierre N. Leval
Pierre N. Leval, born 1936, is an American jurist serving as a senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 2002.
Pierre Pigneau de Behaine
Pierre Pigneau de Behaine (Bá Đa Lộc, 1741–1799), French MEP missionary, titular bishop of Adran, and vicar apostolic of Cochinchina, negotiated the 1787 Treaty of Versailles between Louis XVI and Nguyễn Ánh and aided his return to power.
Pig butchering scam
Pig butchering scam (sha zhu pan, 杀猪盘), also called cryptocurrency investment fraud or romance baiting: a confidence scam using fake crypto platforms, run from Southeast Asian scam centers with trafficked labor, causing billions in losses.
Pike County shootings
Pike County shootings, also called the Pike County massacre or Rhoden family massacre: the April 21–22, 2016 execution-style murders of eight Rhoden family members at four homes near Piketon, Ohio, by the Wagner family over a custody dispute; three Wagners convicted or pleaded guilty, Billy Wagner's trial pending.
Pillory
A pillory is a wooden locking device that restrained an offender's neck and wrists for public humiliation, used from medieval times into the 19th century.
Pink Panthers
Pink Panthers: international Balkan jewel-theft network named after the 2003 Graff London face-cream diamond find; hundreds of audacious heists worth hundreds of millions, countered by INTERPOL's Project Pink Panthers since 2007.
Pinochet case (R v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, ex parte Pinochet)
The Pinochet case was a 1998–1999 English extradition proceeding in which former Chilean head of state Augusto Pinochet, arrested in London, was denied immunity for torture.
Piracy
Piracy: illegal acts of violence or depredation for private ends on the high seas under UNCLOS article 101, distinct from armed robbery against ships in territorial waters; tracked by IMO and ICC IMB, with 137 incidents in 2025 and Somali resurgence.
Pirus
Pirus: Compton, California street gangs named after Piru Street; the original Pirus broke with the Crips and helped found the Bloods alliance in the early 1970s, spawning sets such as West Side, Tree Top, and 135 Pirus.
Pitt's India Act
Pitt's India Act (East India Company Act 1784), passed under William Pitt the Younger, created the Board of Control for political affairs, established dual control with the Court of Directors, subordinated the presidencies, and lasted until 1858.
Pittsburgh crime family
The Pittsburgh crime family, also called the LaRocca or LaRocca/Genovese family, is the Pittsburgh-based La Cosa Nostra organization of western Pennsylvania, shaped by Prohibition, the Youngstown war with the Cleveland Mafia, and a 1990 federal racketeering conviction of nine defendants.
Pixley ka Isaka Seme
Pixley ka Isaka Seme (1881–1951) was a South African lawyer, journalist, and politician who founded the ANC's forerunner at Bloemfontein in 1912 and served as its President-General from 1930 to 1936.
Plaintiff
Plaintiff: the party who starts a civil lawsuit by filing a complaint against a defendant, seeking damages or other relief and bearing the burden of proof; from Old French plaintif, complaining.
Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), the Supreme Court case reaffirming Roe v. Wade's core while adopting the undue burden standard, later overruled by Dobbs (2022).
Platt Amendment
Platt Amendment: 1901 US rider to the Army Appropriations Bill, drafted by Elihu Root and named for Senator Orville Platt, defining US-Cuba relations; treaty of May 22, 1903; gave the US intervention rights and the Guantánamo Bay lease; repealed 1934.
Playpen (website)
Playpen was a Tor hidden-service child abuse material site run by Steven Chase from August 2014, seized by the FBI in January 2015 and covertly operated under Operation Pacifier with an NIT warrant, leading to hundreds of arrests and major Rule 41 litigation.
Plea
A plea is the formal answer a defendant gives in court to criminal charges at arraignment: guilty, not guilty, or nolo contendere, in which the defendant accepts the penalty without admitting guilt.
Plea bargain
Plea bargain: negotiated guilty plea in exchange for reduced charges or sentence; resolves about 98% of US federal criminal cases, raising trial penalty and wrongful-plea concerns.