9,901 articles
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.
Potlatch ban
The potlatch ban was the prohibition, under Canada's Indian Act, of the potlatch ceremony of Northwest Coast First Nations, in force from 1885 until 1951.
Potter Stewart
Potter Stewart (1915–1985), U.S. Supreme Court associate justice 1958–1981, Eisenhower recess appointee from Ohio, Sixth Circuit judge, centrist swing vote, author of "I know it when I see it" in Jacobellis v. Ohio.
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.
Powers of the president of the United States
Powers of the president of the United States: the Article II authorities of the U.S. presidency, including commander in chief role, pardons, appointments, treaties, veto, executive orders, removal power, and their checks.
Practice of law
Practice of law: applying legal principles and judgment to another person's legal affairs, a regulated activity reserved to licensed lawyers, with defined exceptions, unauthorized-practice penalties, and ongoing reform and AI-era debates.
Praetor
Praetor: senior Roman Republic magistrate with imperium, ranked below the consulship. Praetor urbanus judged citizen cases from 366 BCE; the praetor peregrinus (242 BCE) handled foreigner cases; annual edicts shaped Roman private law.
Pragmatic Sanction of 1713
Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 (Pragmatische Sanktion), succession law of Emperor Charles VI issued 19 April 1713 declaring Habsburg lands indivisible with female succession; basis of the monarchy until 1918 and trigger of the War of the Austrian Succession.
Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar
Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar (प्रकाश यशवंत आंबेडकर), grandson of B. R. Ambedkar, is a Maharashtra politician who founded Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (1994) and leads Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, a Dalit-Muslim-bahujan front that polled 6.92% in the 2019 Assembly elections.
Prashant Bhushan (प्रशांत भूषण)
Prashant Bhushan (प्रशांत भूषण), Indian Supreme Court advocate and public interest litigant, son of Shanti Bhushan; known for 2G and coal corruption PILs, AAP co-founder expelled 2015, and the 2020 Re. 1 contempt fine for tweets.
Preamble
Preamble: the introductory statement of a constitution stating its history, sovereignty source, goals, and national identity; 74 percent of 50 sampled democracies have one; legal status ranges from ceremonial to substantive.
Preamble to the Constitution of India
The Preamble to the Constitution of India, drafted under B.R. Ambedkar from Nehru's Objectives Resolution and adopted 26 November 1949, declares popular sovereignty and the goals of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity; amended in 1976 to add socialist, secular, and integrity.
Preamble to the United States Constitution
The Preamble to the United States Constitution, opening "We the People of the United States," states six goals of the 1787 Constitution. Drafted largely by Gouverneur Morris, it grants little direct legal force but guides interpretation.
Precautionary principle
The precautionary principle is a risk-management rule allowing protective action against possible serious harm despite scientific uncertainty. Key forms: EU Article 191 TFEU, Rio Declaration 1992, Wingspread 1998 burden-shifting.
Precedent
Precedent: prior judicial decisions followed by courts under stare decisis ("to stand by things decided"), with binding vertical and horizontal force in common law systems and persuasive or jurisprudence constante roles in civil law systems.
Preemptive war
Preemptive war is first use of force against an imminent attack, distinguished from preventive war against a distant potential threat. Defined by the Caroline criteria, constrained by UN Charter Articles 2(4) and 51, tested in 1967, 1981, and Iraq 2003.
Preet Bharara
Preet Bharara, born in Firozpur, Punjab, was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (2009-2017), known for insider-trading convictions (Rajaratnam, Gupta), Silver and Skelos corruption cases, and his 2017 firing by Trump; now a podcaster and author.
Prefect
Prefect (Latin praefectus, "one set in charge"): a senior official governing an administrative division for a central power. Roman praefecti, the Napoleonic French department prefect, and modern prefects in Italy, Romania, and Ukraine.
Pregnancy from rape
Pregnancy from rape, or rape-related pregnancy, is conception resulting from sexual assault. Key figures: 5.0% per-rape pregnancy rate among women aged 12–45, about 32,101 US pregnancies yearly, and 1 in 20 US women affected lifetime.
Prejudice (legal term)
Prejudice (legal term): detriment to legal rights in procedure. 'With prejudice' dismissals are final and barred by res judicata; 'without prejudice' allows refiling and protects settlement talks (Ofulue, Calderbank).
Preliminary hearing
Preliminary hearing (preliminary examination, probable cause hearing): an adversarial post-arrest court proceeding testing probable cause. Governed federally by Fed. R. Crim. P. 5.1 and 18 U.S.C. § 3060; 14-day custody deadline; evidence rules and suppression objections do not apply; alternative to grand jury indictment.
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).
Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization
The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization is an international body in Vienna, Austria, that operates the International Monitoring System and detected North Korea's nuclear tests.
Prescriptive jurisdiction
Prescriptive jurisdiction is a state's authority to make its law applicable to persons, conduct, relations, or interests, one part of the tripartite division alongside enforcement and adjudicative jurisdiction.
Presidency of Bill Clinton
The presidency of Bill Clinton, also called the Clinton administration, was the tenure of the 42nd US president, a Democrat from Arkansas who held office from 1993 to 2001.
President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992
The JFK Records Collection Act of 1992 (PL 102-526) requires all government records on President Kennedy's assassination to be disclosed in a single National Archives collection, enforced by the five-member Assassination Records Review Board under a clear-and-convincing-evidence standard.
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.
President of the Judicial Yuan of Taiwan
The President of the Judicial Yuan heads Taiwan's highest judicial organ and is one of its fifteen grand justices; Ming-Yan Shieh has held the office in an acting capacity since November 2024.
President of the Supreme People's Court of China
The President of the Supreme People's Court of China heads China's highest court and is elected by the National People's Congress; Zhang Jun has held the office since 2023.
President's rule
President's rule (Article 356, Indian Constitution; State Emergency) is direct Union rule over a state when its constitutional machinery fails, approved by Parliament within two months, renewable to three years, limited by the 1994 Bommai judgment.