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plurality opinion An opinion lacking enough judges votes to constitute a majority, but receiving more votes than any other opinion.

plurality opinion See OPINION (1).

plurality vote See PLURALITY.

plurality voting 1. See PLURALITY. 2. See VOTING.

pluries (pluur-ee-eez), n. [Latin "many times ]. A third or subsequent writ issued when the previous writs have been ineffective; a writ issued after an alias writ. Also termed pluries writ.

plurinational administrative institution An entity deSigned to perform transnational administrative activities when politically oriented international organizations and traditional international agreements are unsuitable. These institutions usu. arise in fields where transnational arrangements are necessary (such as natural-resource management, transportation, or utilities), and they are often organized as international corporations, national agencies, or private corporations.

plurium defense See MULTIPLE ACCESS.

plus factor A fact that supports finding that a specified legal test has been satisfied.

plus petere tempore (plas pa-ten-di tem-pa-ree). [Latin "to overclaim in point of time"] Roman law. To claim before payment was due.

plus petitio (plas-pa-tish-ee-oh). [Latin "overclaim" or "claiming too much] Roman law. A claim for more than is due; esp., the mistake ofclaiming more in one s pleadings than is due. This was fatal to the action under classical law. Under cognitio extraordinaria, however, a claimant could continue the action, but could be liable for treble damages to any person injured by the overstated claim. Also spelled (erroneously) pluspetitio. Also termed pluris petitio. "A plaintiff may overclaim in substance (re) when he claims a bigger amount than is due to him; in time (tempore) when he claims before the payment is due; in place (loco), when he claims at a place (in a city) other than that where the payment had to be performed or in cause (causa) when he claims a certain thing although the debtor had the right to choose between two or more things. After the abolition of the formula• regime the pluspetitio lost its actuality. Imperial legislation modified the severe provisions against overciaims. In Justinian s law the plaintiff lost the case only if he aliciously persisted during the whole trial in his overclaim." Adolf Berger, Encye/opedic Dictionary of Roman Law 633 (1953).

plus quam tolerabile (plas kwam tol-a-rab-a-lee). [Latin]. More than can be endured .The phrase appeared in reference to damage to crops from unavoidable causes (vis major).

PM abbr. 1. POSTMASTER. 2. PRIME MINISTER. 3. BUREAU OF POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS.

PMI abbr. Private mortgage insurance. See mortgage insurance under INSURANCE.

PMM See purchase-money mortgage under MORTGAGE.

PMRT See purchase-money resulting trust under TRUST.

PMSI See purchase-money security interest under SECURITY INTEREST.

pneumoconiosis Chronic lung disease and related conditions characterized by respiratory and pulmonary impairments and caused or aggravated by coal-dust exposure during coal-mine employment. The disease is usu. latent and often does not manifest until after coal-dust exposure has ended. 20 CFR § 718.201. Also termed black-lung disease.

po. lo. suo abbr. PONIT LOCO SUO.

po. se abbr. PONIT SE SUPER PATRIAM.

poaching The illegal taking or killing of fish or on another land. - poach, vb.

pocket immunity See IMMUNITY (3).

pocket immunity Immunity that results from the prosecutor's decision not to prosecute, instead of from a formal grant of immunity. Also termed informal immunity.

pocket judgment See STATUTE MERCHANT (1).

pocket money See HAT MONEY.

pocket part A supplemental pamphlet inserted usu. into the back inside cover of a lawbook, esp. a treatise or code, to update the material in the main text until the publisher issues a new edition of the entire work. Legal publishers frequently leave a little extra room inside their hardcover books so that pocket parts may later be added. Also termed cumulative supplement.

pocket veto See VETO.

POD account See pay-an-death account under ACCOUNT.

poena (pee-na). [Latin]. Punishment; penalty.

poena arbitraria (pee-na ahr-bi-trair-ee-a). [Law Latin]. Arbitrary punishment; punishment left to a judge s discretion.

poena corporalis (pee-na kor-pa-ray-lis). [Latin]. Corporal punishment.

poena lis (pi-nay-lis), adj. [Latin] Roman law. Imposing a penalty; penal.

poena ordinaria (pee-na or-di-nair-ee-a). [Law Latin]. Ordinary punishment; punishment fixed by law.

poena pecuniary A fine.

poena pilloralis (pee-na pil-a-ray-lis). (Latin]. Punishment of the pillory.

poenae secundarum nuptiarum (pee-nee sek-an¬dair-am nap-shee-air-am). [Latin "penalties of second marriages"] Roman law. Disabilities that, for the protection of children of a first marriage, are imposed on a parent who remarries. If either parent re-married, the interests of the children of the first marriage were protected (in the later Roman Empire) by a number of legal rules the effect of which was to confer certain benefits on the children and to impose certain disabilities the so•called poenae secundarum nuptiarum on the parens binubus. The most important of these rules was that which declared that all the property which the parens binubus had acquired gratuitously from his or her deceased spouse, whether by way of gift, dos, donatio propter nuptias, or testamentary disposition the so called lucra nuptialia should become ipso jure the property of the children of the first marriage at the moment of the conclusion of the second marriage, and that onlya usufruct should be reserved for the parens binubus." Rudolph Sohm, The Institutes; A Textbook of the History and System of Roman Private Law 477 Uames Crawford Ledlie trans., 3d ed. 1907).

poenitentia (pee-na-ten-shee-a or pen-a), n. [Latin "repentance"] Roman law. Reconsideration; changing one s mind.

poinding (pin-ding), A judgment creditor s seizing of a debtor s corporeal movable property to satisfy the debt. poind, vb.

point 1. A pertinent and distinct legal proposition, issue, or argument <point of error>. 2. Parlia¬mentary law. Any of several kinds of requests made in a deliberative body. See REQUEST.

point of attachment A connection with a copyright-convention member nation sufficient to make a work eligible for protection under that convention. For example, a work is eligible for Berne Convention protection if the author is a citizen of a Berne member nation or if the work originated in a Berne member nation. Also termed cormectingfactor.

point of clarification A question about procedure or substance.

point of error An alleged mistake by a lower court asserted as a ground for appeal. See ERROR (2); WRIT OF ERROR.

point of fact A discrete factual proposition at issue in a case.

point of information An inquiry asking a question about a motion s merits or effect. A point of information can be made only to seek information, not to volunteer information. It may request an objective fact or an expert opinion, but may not request anyone including the chair or the mover to speculate about how he or she expects or intends that the present or future leadership will interpret or apply a motion. See INQUIRY (2). Also termed question of information.

point of law A discrete legal proposition at issue in a case.

point of order A request suggesting that the meeting or a member is not following the applicable rules and asking the chair enforce the rules. Some organizations use the term "point of order" as a generic term that also includes a parliamentary inquiry and a question of privilege. Also termed question of order. See parliamentary inquiry under INQUIRY; question ofprivilege under QUESTION (3).

point of privilege A motion that raises a question of privilege. See question of privilege under QUESTION (3); RAISE A QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE.

point reserved See reserved point of law under POINT OF LAW.

point source Environmental law. The discernible and identifiable source from which pollutants are discharged.

point system A system that assigns incremental units to traffic violations, the accumulation of a certain number within a year resulting in the automatic suspension of a person s driving privileges.

point-and-click agreement See POINT-AND-CLICK AGREEMENT.

point-and-dickagreement An electronic version of a shrink-wrap license in which a computer user agrees to the terms of an electronically displayed agreement by pointing the cursor to a particular location on the screen and then clicking. Point-and-click agreements usu. require express acceptance only once but may include a clause providing for a user s ongoing-acceptance of any changes to the agreement s terms, whether or not the user is notified of the changes. See shrink-wrap license under LICENSE. Also termed e-contract; click-wrap license; click-wrap agreement; user agreement; website-user agreement; web-wrap agreement. Cf. E-CONTRACT.

points-and-authorities brief See brief on the merits.

points-and-authorities brief See brief on the merits under BRIEF (1).

poison pill A corporation defense against an unwanted takeover bid whereby shareholders are granted the right to acquire equity or debt securities at a favorable price to increase the bidder s acquisition costs. Often shortened to pill. See TAKEOVER DEFENSE; SHARK REPELLANT. Cf. PORCUPINE PROVISION. "Another recent tactic is the poison pill which is a conditional stock right that is triggered by a hostile takeover and makes the takeover prohibitively expensive. The poison pill is a variation of the scorched earth defense. Thomas Lee Hazen, The Law of Securities Regulation § 11.20, at 575 (2d ed. 1990).

poisonous-tree doctrine See FRUIT-OF-THE-POISONOUS-TREE DOCTRINE.

Polaroid test A judicial test for trademark infringement, analyzing eight factors: (1) strength of the mark, (2) similarity between the marks, (3) proximity of the products markets, (4) effects on market expansion (ability to "bridge the gap"), (5) actual confusion, (6) the defendant s good or bad faith, (7) quality of the products, and (8) sophistication of the buyer. Polaroid Corp. v. Polarad Electronics Corp., 287 F.2d 492, 495 (2d Cir. 1961).

police 1. The governmental department charged with the preservation of public order, the promotion of public safety, and the prevention and detection of crime. 2. The officers or members of this department.

police action See ARMED CONFLICT.

police blotter See ARREST RECORD.

police chief The head of a police department.

police court See magistrate s court (1) under COURT.

police court See magistrate's court (1).

police jury Louisiana law. The governing body of a parish.

police jury See POLICE JURY.

police justice See police magistrate under MAGISTRATE.

police magistrate See MAGISTRATE.

police officer See POLICE OFFICER.

police officer A peace officer responsible for preserving public order, promoting public safety, and prevent ing and detecting crime. Cf. PEACE OFFICER.

police power 1. The inherent and plenary power of a sovereign to make all laws necessary and proper to preserve the public security, order, health, morality, and justice. It is a fundamental power essential to government, and it cannot be surrendered by the legislature or irrevocably transferred away from government. "[I]t is possible to evolve at least two main attributes or characteristics which differentiate the police power: it aims directly to secure and promote the public welfare, and it does so by restraint or compulsion." Ernst Freund, The Police Power § 3, at 3 (1904). 2. A state s Tenth Amendment right, subject to dueprocess and other limitations, to establish and enforce laws protecting the public s health, safety, and general welfare, or to delegate this right to local governments. 3. Loosely, the power of the government to intervene in the use of privately owned property, as by subjecting it to eminent domain. See EMINENT DOMAIN.

police power See POLlCE POWER.

police science See CRIMINAL JUSTICE (2).

police state A state in which the political, economic, and social life of its citizens is subject to repressive governmental control and arbitrary uses of power by the ruling elite, which uses the police as the instrument of control; a totalitarian state.

police state See STATE.

police-assisted snicide See suicide-by-cop under SUICIDE.

police-assisted suicide See suicide-by-cop.

policy 1. The general principles by which a government is guided in its management of public affairs. See PUBLIC POLICY. 2, A document containing a contract of insurance; INSURANCE POLICY. 3. A type oflottery in which bettors select numbers to bet on and place the bet with a "policy writer.

policy cour An appellate court, usu. a court of last resort, that must consider a decision's effects not only on the litigants but also on public policy.

policy court See COURT.

policy holder One who owns an insurance policy, regardless of whether that person is the insured party. Also termed policyowner.

policy limits See LIABILITY LIMIT.

policy loan See LOAN.

policy of insurance See INSURANCE POLICY.

policy of the law See PUBLIC POLICY (1).

policy proof of interest Insurance. Evidence - shown by possession of a policy - that a person making a claim has an insurable interest in the loss. Abbr. PPI.

policy reserve See RESERVE.

policy reserve An insurance company s reserve that represents the difference between net premiums and expected claims for a given year. This type of reserve is kept by life-insurance companies.

policy stacking Stacking that is permitted by the express terms of an insurance policy. 2. A gerrymandering technique in which a large politicalor racial group is combined in the same district with a larger opposition group. Cf. CRACKING; PACKING.

policy stacking See STACKING.

policy value Insurance.lhe amount of cash available to a policyholder on the surrender or cancellation of the insurance policy.

policy year Insurance. The year beginning on the date that a policy becomes effective. Cf. ANNIVERSARY DATE.

policyowner See POLICYHOLDER.

political adj. Pertaining to politics; of or relating to the conduct of government.

political assessment See ASSESSMENT.

political assessment A charge levied on officeholders and political candidates by a political party to defray the expenses for a political canvass.

political asylum See ASYLUM (2).

political corporation See public corporation (2).

political corporation See public corporation (2) under CORPORATION.

political correctness 1. The inclination to avoid language and practices that might offend anyone s political sensibilities, esp. in racial or sexual matters. 2. An instance in which a person conforms to this inclination. - Abbr. P.e. politically correct, adj.

political corruption See official misconduct under MISCONDUCT.

political crime See POLITICAL OFFENSE.