pactum donationis(pak-tam doh-nay-shee-oh-nis). [Latin] An agreement to make a gift. Justinian made such agreements enforceable. If informal, the agreement would be valid up to a fix sum (500 solidi). |
pactum illicitum(pak-tam i-lis-a-tam). [Latin] An illegal agreement. |
pactum legis commissoriae(pak-tam lee-jis kom-i-sor-ee-ee). [Latin] An agreement under which the seller received the benefit of the lex commissoria. See LEX COMMISSORIA. |
pactum legis commissoriae in pignoribus(pak-tam lee-jis kom-i-sor-ee-ee in pig-nor-a-bas). [Law Latin] An agreement giving the pledgee the benefit of a for feiture clause. See LEX COMMISSORIA. The pactum legis commissoriae in pignoribus was a Roman law paction, sometimes adjected to a redeemable right, whereby it was provided, that, if the subject were not redeemed against a determinate day, the right of reversion should be irritated, and the subject should become the irredeemable property of him to whom it was impledged. Such stipulations were held in the Roman law to be contra bonos mores; but, by the law of Scotland, irritant clauses in contracts, obligations, infeftments, and the like, are effectual. William Bell, Bell s Dictionary and Digest ofthe Law of Scotland 758 (George Watson ed., 7th ed. 1890). |
pactum liberatorium(pak-tam Iib-ar-a-tor-ee-am). [Law Latin a liberating agreement"] An agreement liberating parties from honOring a real right. This type of agreement appears to have been long defunct. |
pactum super hereditate viventis(pak-tam s[y]oo-par ha-red-i-tay-tee vI-ven-tis). [Law Latin] See pactum corvinum de hereditate viventis. |
padSlang. (Of a lawyer, paralegal, etc.) to overstate the number of (billable hours worked). See BILLABLE HOUR. padding, n. |
padded-payroll ruleSee FICTITIOUS-PAYEE RULE. |
padfidstSee PACIFIST. |
paid-in capitalThe money paid for the capital stock of a corporation. |
paid-in capitalSee CAPITAL. |
paid-in fundA reserve cash fund established by a mutual insurance company to pay unforeseen losses. The fund is in lieu of a capital stock account. |
paid-in fundSee FUND (1). |
paid-in surplusThe surplus gained by the sale, exchange, or issuance of capital stock at a price above par value. Also termed capital surplus; premium on capital stock. |
paid-in surplusSee SURPLUS. |
paid-up insuranceSee INSURANCE. |
paid-up insuranceInsurance that remains in effect even though no more premiums are due. |
paid-up leaseOil & gas. A mineral lease that does not provide for delay-rental payments and does not subject the lessor to any covenant to drill. In effect, the lessor makes all delay-rental payments, and perhaps a bonus, when the lease is Signed. A paid-up lease may be used to lease a small area or a fractional interest, or for a short primary term or for small delay rentals. The lease is effective through the primary term. |
paid-up policySee INSURANCE POLICY. |
paid-up policyA policy that remains in effect after premiums are no longer due. |
paid-up stockSee full-paid stock. |
paid-up stockSee full-paid stock under STOCK. |
pain and sufferingPhysical discomfort or emotional distress compensable as an element of noneconomic damages in torts. See DAMAGES. |
pain of, onSee ON PAIN OF. |
pains and penalties, bill ofSee BILL OF PAINS AND PENALTIES. |
pairParliamentary law. Two voters, usu. legislators, on opposite sides of an issue who agree that they will abstain if either cannot vote on the issue. A pair is usu. announced and recorded. In a legislative body it is a rule that no member can vote who is not present when the question is put, but pairing: which is a type of absentee voting by which a member agrees with a member who would have voted opposite to the first member not to vote, has long been used in Congress and some of the states and has been recognized by the courts. Each house of the legislature, under the authority to make rules for its own governance, has power to recognize what are called pairs. National Conference of State Legislatures, Mason s Manual of Legislative Procedure § 538, at 385 (2000). |
paired voteSee VOTE (1). |
pais(payor pays). See IN PAIS. |
palace courtSee PALACE COURT. |
Palace CourtA court having jurisdiction over all personal actions arising within 12 miles of Whitehall. This court was created by James in response to complaints about the inconvenience of using the itinerant Court of the Marshalsea; its jurisdiction was similar to that of the Marshalsea, but the court remained in Whitehall. It was abolished along with the Court of the Marshalsea in 1849. Formerly also termed curia palatii. See COURT OF THE MARSHALSEA. The court of the marsha/sea, and the palace court at Westminster, though two distinct courts, are frequently confounded together. The former was originally holden before the steward and marshal of the king s house, and was instituted to administer justice between the king s domestic servants, that they might not be drawn into other courts, and thereby the king lose their service. But this court being ambulatory, and obliged to follow the king in all his progresses, so that by the removal of the household, actions were frequently discontinued, and doubts having arisen as to the extent of its jurisdiction, [the king] erected a new court of record, called the curia palatii, or palace•court, to be held before the steward of the household and knight marshal, and the steward ofthe court, or his deputy; with jurisdiction to hold plea of all manner of personal actions whatsoever, which shall arise between any parties within twelve miles of his majesty s palace at Whitehall. 3 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 76 (1768). |
palimony(pal-a-moh-nee). [Portmanteau word from pal +alimol1Y) (1977) 1. A court s award of post-relationship support or compensation for services, money, and goods contributed during a long-term nonmarital relationship, esp. where a common-law marriage cannot be established. Though not recognized under most state statutes, caselaw in some jurisdictions authorizes palimony claims. The term originated in the press coverage of Marvil1 v. Marvil1, 557 P.2d 106 (CaL 1976). Cf. ALIMONY. 2. Loosely, child support. This sense is esp. common in the United Kingdom. |
pallio cooperire(pal-ee-oh koh-op-a-ri-ree). [Latin "to cover with a pallium"]. A marriage ofpersons who have already had a child together. The pallium was a veil or cover over the bride, which was extended to cover the bastard child. Its removal at the wedding was deemed to legitimate the child. |
Palmer s ActAn English statute, enacted in 1856, giving a person accused of a crime falling outside the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court the right to have the case tried in that court. St. 19 & 20 Vict., ch. 16. Also termed Central Criminal Court Act. See CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT. |
palming offSee PASSING OFF. |
Palsgraf rule(pawlz-graf). The principle that negligent conduct resulting in injury will lead to liability only if the actor could have reasonably foreseen that the conduct would cause the injury. In Palsgrafv. Long Islal1d R.R., 162 N.E. 99 (N.Y. 1928), two railroad attendants negligently dislodged a package of fire-works from a man they were helping board a train. The package exploded on impact and knocked over some scales that fell on Mrs. Palsgraf. The New York Court ofAppeals, in a 4-3 majority opinion written by Chief Justice Benjamin Cardozo, held that the attendants could not have foreseen the possibility of injury to Palsgraf and therefore did not breach any duty to her. In the dissenting opinion, Justice William S. Andrews asserted that the duty to exercise care is owed to all, and thus a negligent act will subject the actor to liability to all persons proximately harmed by it, whether or not the harm is foreseeable. Both opinions have been widely cited to support the two views expressed in them. |
Pan-American ConventionOne of a series of copyright conventions held among Western Hemisphere countries to negotiate treaties patterned after the Berne Convention. The first Convention was held in 1902, the last in 1946. The largest was the 1910 Pan American Convention in Buenos Aires. |
pandect(pan-dekt). 1. A complete legal code, esp. of a nation or a system of law, together with commentary. 2. (cap. & pl.) The 50 books constituting Justinian s Digest (one of the four works making up the Corpus Juris Civilis), first published in A.D. 533. The substance of 2,000 treatises was distilled into this abridgment. One estimate is that 3 million lines were reduced to 150,000. This prodigious amount of work was carried out in three short years (A.D. 530-533) by a commission of 17 jurists headed by Tribonian. Also termed (in sense 2) Digest. Also spelled (in reference to German law) pandekt. PI. pandects, pandectae. See CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS. |
panderOne who engages in pandering. Also termed panderer. See PIMP. |
pandering(pan-dar-ing), 1. The act or offense of recruiting a prostitute, finding a place of business for a prostitute, or soliciting customers for a prostitute. Also termed promoting prostitutiol1. 2. The act or offense of selling or distributing textual or visual material (such as magazines or videotapes) openly advertised to appeal to the recipient s sexual interest. Although the concept of pandering was invoked by the U.S. Supreme Court in Gil1zburg v. United States, 383 U.S. 463, 86 S.Ct. 942 (1966), it has seldom been discussed by the Court since then. pander, vb. |
Panduit testA four-factor test for measuring profits lost because of patent infringement. The patentee must prove (1) that there was a demand for the product; (2) that the patentee had the manufacturing and marketing capacity to meet that demand; (3) that there were no acceptable noninfringing alternatives on the market; and (4) how much was lost in profits. Pal1duit Corp. v. Stahlin Bros. Fibre Works, Inc., 575 F.2d 1152 (6th Cir. 1978). |
panel1. A list of persons summoned as potential jurors; VENIRE. 2. A group of persons selected to serve on a jury; JURY. 3. A set of judges selected from a complete court to decide a specific case; esp., a group of three judges designated to sit for an appellate court. 4. Scots law. A person indicted in a crime; the accused. Also spelled (in sense 4) pal1l1el. |
panel attorneySee ATTORNEY. |
panel attorneyA private attorney who represents an indigent defendant at the government's expense.o A panel attorney is usu. a member of an affiliated list and aSSigned by a court to a particular client. |
panelation(pan-al-ay-shan). (The act of empaneling a jury. Also spelled panel/ation. |
panel-shoppingThe practice of choosing the most favorable group of judges to hear an appeal. |
panhandlingThe act or practice of approaching or stopping strangers and begging for money or food - panhandler, n. panhandle, vb. |
pannage(pan-ij). 1. The right to feed animals, esp. swine, on the windfallen nuts, etc. in a forest. 2. The payment made to a forest s owner in exchange for the right. |
papal law(pay-paI). See CANON LAW. |
paper1. Any written or printed document or instrument. 2. A negotiable document or instrument evidencing a debt; esp., commercial documents or negotiable instruments considered as a group. See NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT. 3. (pl.) COURT PAPERS. |
paper lossSee LOSS. |
paper marketSee derivative market under MARKET. |
paper moneySee MONEY. |
paper patentA patent granted for a discovery or invention that has never been used commercially. A paper patent may receive less protection under the law than a patent granted for a device that is actually used in industry. As a prior-art reference, a paper patent may carry less weight with examiners than one for an invention that has been commercially exploited, because it may suggest that the invention did not work as claimed. |
paper patentSee PATENT (3). |
paper profitSee PROFIT (1). |
paper profitA profit that is anticipated but not yet realized. Gains from stock holdings, for example, are paper profits until the stock is actually sold at a price higher than its original purchase price. Also termed unrealized profit. |
paper standardA monetary system based entirely on paper; a system of currency that is not convertible into gold or other precious metal. Cf. GOLD STANDARD. paper street. See STREET. |
paper streetA thoroughfare that appears on plats, subdivision maps, and other publicly filed documents, but that has not been completed or opened for public use. |
paper titleSee record title under TITLE (2). |
papersSee COURT PAPERS. |
Papian lawSee LEX PAPIA POPPEA. |
parSee PAR VALUE. |
par delictum(pahr di-lik-tam). [Latin) Equal guilt; equal wrong. |
par itemSee ITEM. |
par itemAn item that a drawee bank will remit to another bank without charge. |
par of exchangeThe recognized standard value of one country s currency expressed in terms of that of another. |
par valueThe value of an instrument or security as shown on its face; esp., the arbitrary dollar amount assigned to a stock share by the corporate charter, or the principal ofa bond at maturity. Often shortened to par. Also termed face value; nominal value; stated I value. At one time par value had considerable importance because it was widely viewed as the amount for which the shares would be issued: shares with a par value of one hundred dollars could be subscribed for at one hundred dollars per share with confidence that all other identical shares would also be issued for $100. This practice, however, long ago fell into disuse. Today, par value serves only a minor function and is in no wayan indication of the price at which the shares are issued, with this one exception: The one basic rule about setting the price for shares of common stock with a par value is that the price must be equal to or greater than par value." Robert W. Hamilton, The Law of Corporations in a Nutshell 109 (3d ed. 1991). |
parade-of-horrors objectionSee WEDGE PRINCIPLE. |
parage(par-ij), n. [Law French]. Equality of condition, blood, or dignity; esp., the equal tenure in land existing among the nobility who inherit from a common ancestor. - Also termed paragium. Cf. DISPARAGARE (2). |
paragium(pa-ray-jee-am). [Law Latin] PARAGE. |
parajudgeSee UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE. |
paralegal1. A person who has some education in law and assists a lawyer in duties related to the practice of law but who is not a licensed attorney. Also termed legal assistant; legal analyst. 2. Canadian law. A nonlawyer who is legally qualified through experience or special training and is licensed to provide limited legal services in certain fields. Paralegals may assist in representing clients in both civil and criminal matters. - Also termed (in sense 2) law clerk. paralegal, adj. |
paralegalizevb. Slang. To proofread, cite-check, and otherwise double-check the details in (a legal document). |
parallel citationAn additional reference to a case that has been reported in more than one reporter. For example, whereas a Bluebook citation reads "Morgan v. United States, 304 U.S. 1 (1938)," the same reference induding parallel citations reads "Morgan v. United States, 304 U.S. 1, 58 S.Ct. 773, 82 L.Ed. 1129 (1938)," in which the main citation is to the U.S. Reports and the parallel citations are to the Supreme Court Reporter and to the Lawyers Edition. |
parallel citationSee CITATION (3). |
parallel importsGoods bearing valid trademarks that are manufactured abroad and imported into the United States to compete with domestically manufactured goods bearing the same valid trademarks. Domestic parties commonly complain that parallel imports compete unfairly in the U.S. market. But C.S. trademark law does not prohibit the sale of most parallel imports. Also termed gray market goods. See gray market under MARKET. |
parallel parentingA situation in which divorced parents, although disagreeing on some aspects of child-rearing, allow each other to handle diScipline and daily regimens in their own individual ways when with the child. |
parallel parentingSee PARENTING. |
parallel researchThe coincident but independent development of similar information or ideas by more than one person. Parallel research may be offered to establish an independent-conception defense. If more than one person independently reaches the same result, each may protect the product as a trade secret. |
paramil(par-a-vayl or par-a-vayl). adj. [Law French "at the bottom"] (Of a tenant) holding of another tenant. |
paramount titleSee TITLE (2). |
paraph(par-af), 1. A flourish that follows a signature, intended as a safeguard against forgery. 2. A signature itself; esp., a notary public s signature on a document, followed by the date, names of the parties, and seal. |
paraph(par-af), vb. Civil law. To add a paraph to <paraphed the contract>. |
parapherna(par-a-far-na), n. (Greek "things brought on the side"]. 1. Roman law. Property of a wife not forming part of her dowry. See DOS (1). 2. Scots law. A married woman s personal property, such as clothing, jewelry, and intimate possessions, which a husband did not acquire by virtue of marriage. See JUS MARITI. |
paraphernal propertySee extradotal property. |
paraphernal propertySee extradotal property under PROPERTY. |
paraphernalia(par-a-far-nay-lee-,a). 1. Property that a wife was allowed to keep, in addition to her dowry, on the death of her usband. "[I]n one particular instance the wife may acquire a property in some of her husband s goods: which shall remain to her after his death and not go to the executors. These are called her paraphernalia, which is a term borrowed from the civil law. signifying something over and above her dower. 2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 435-36 (1765). |
Paraphrase of TheophilusSee INSTITUTE (4). |
parata executio(pa-ray-ta ek-sa-kyoo-shee-oh). [Law Latin a prepared diligence"] Scots law. A creditor s completed diligence allowing the creditor to proceed to obtain payment of a debt. |
paratitla(par-a-tit-la). pl. [Law Latin "next to the title"] Roman & civil law. Notes or abstracts prefixed to titles of law. giving a summary of their contents. |
paratum habeo(pa-ray-tam hay-bee-oh). [Law Latin] have him in readiness"]. A sheriff s return of a capias ad respondendum, signifying that the defendant is ready to be brought to court. |
paratus est verificare(pa-ray-tas est ver-a-fi-kair-ee). [Law Latin] He is ready to verify This phrase formerly concluded a verified pleading. |
parcel1. A small package or bundle. 2. A tract ofland; esp. a continuous tract or plot ofland in one possession, no part of which is separated from the rest by intervening land in another s possession. |
parcelTo divide and distribute (goods. land, etc.) This verb is often used with out <the land is parceled out in allotments> or, rarely, off <the father arranged to have a 1O.474-acre tract of his farm parceled off and retitled to his children as joint tenants>. |
parcenary(pahr-sa-ner-ee). See COPARCENARY. |
parcener(pahr-sa-nar). See COPARCENER. |
parco fracto(pahr-koh frak-toh). See DE PARCO FRACTO. |
pardonThe act or an instance of officially nullifying punishment or other legal consequences of a crime. A pardon is usu. granted by the chief executive of a government. The President has the sole power to issue pardons for federal offenses, and state governors have the power to issue pardons for state crimes. Also termed executive pardon. See CLEMENCY. Cf. COMMUTATION (2); REPRIEVE. pardon, vb. The term pardon is first found in early French law and derives from the Late Latin perdonare (to grant freely) suggesting a gift bestowed by the sovereign. It has thus come to be associated with a somewhat personal conces. sion by a head of state to the perpetrator of an offense, in mitigation or remission of the full punishment that he has merited. Leslie Sebba, Amnesty and Pardon, in 1 Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice 59, 59 (Sanford H. Kadish ed., 1983). |
pardon attorneyA Justice Department lawyer who considers applications for federal pardons and forwards those of promising candidates for review by the President. |
parens binubus(par-enz bI-n[y]oo-bas). [Latin "twice-married parent") Roman law. A parent who has remarried. |