Free Legal Encyclopedia: Prerogative orders to Prohibition
Presentence Investigation
The presentence investigation generally consists of an interview with the defendant, a review of his or her criminal record, and a review of the specific facts of the crime. The probation or court services department prepares a report that contains all of this information and makes a recommendation to the court about the type and severity of the sentence. The court always makes the final decision …
President of the United States - Further Readings, Cross-references
The official seal of the office of the president of the United States. ARCHIVE PHOTOS, INC. can end a war through a treaty or a presidential proclamation. The power to declare war, however, is vested exclusively in Congress and not the president. In a situation of an undeclared war, under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (50 U.S.C.A. §§ 1541 et seq.) the president must consu…
Presidential Powers - Veto Power, Executive Orders, Powers Of Appointment, Pardon Power, Power Of Impoundment, Foreign Policy Powers
The executive authority given to the president of the United States by Article II of the Constitution to carry out the duties of the office. Article II gives the president authority to recommend measures for congressional consideration. Pursuant to this authority, presidents submit budgets, propose bills, and recommend other action to be taken by Congress. …
Presumption
If certain facts are established, a judge or jury must assume another fact that the law recognizes as a logical conclusion from the proof that has been introduced. A presumption differs from an inference, which is a conclusion that a judge or jury may draw from the proof of certain facts if such facts would lead a reasonable person of average intelligence to reach the same conclusion. A conclusive…
Presumption of Innocence
A principle that requires the government to prove the guilt of a criminal defendant and relieves the defendant of any burden to prove his or her innocence. The Supreme Court has ruled that, under some circumstances, a court should issue jury instructions on the presumption of innocence in addition to instructions on the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt (Taylor v. Kentucky). A presump…
Pretermitted Heir
A child or other descendent omitted from the will of a testator. Modern laws concerning the inheritance of property attempt to protect the rightful heirs. A pretermitted heir is a child or descendant of the testator—the maker of a will—who has unintentionally been omitted from the will. States have enacted "pretermitted heir statutes" that protect these heirs. A preterm…
Pretrial Conference - Further Readings
A meeting of the parties to an action and their attorneys held before the court prior to the commencement of actual courtroom proceedings. A pretrial conference is a meeting of the parties to a case conducted prior to trial. The conference is held before the trial judge or a magistrate, a judicial officer who possesses fewer judicial powers than a judge. A pretrial conference may be held prior to …
Pretrial Publicity - Further Readings
The U.S. Supreme Court has grappled with the issue of pretrial publicity since the 1960s. In Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 81 S. Ct. 1639, 6 L. Ed. 2d 751 (1961), the defendant, Leslie Irvin, was convicted of committing six murders in a rural area of Indiana. The crimes generated extensive media coverage. Irvin argued that the pretrial publicity prevented him from receiving a fair trial by an impar…
Preventive Detention - Further Readings
The confinement in a secure facility of a person who has not been found guilty of a crime. Preventive detention is a special form of imprisonment. Most persons held in preventive detention are criminal defendants, but state and federal laws also authorize the preventive detention of persons who have not been accused of crimes, such as certain mentally ill persons. Preventive detention is a relativ…
Prigg v. Pennsylvania
A pre–Civil War case, Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 539, 10 L. Ed. 1060 (1842), declared unconstitutional all fugitive slave laws enacted by the states on the ground that the federal law provided the exclusive remedy for the return of runaway slaves. Story claimed that the clause was a "fundamental article, without the adoption of which the Union could not have been formed…
Prima Facie
[Latin, On the first appearance.] A fact presumed to be true unless it is disproved. In common parlance the term prima facie is used to describe the apparent nature of something upon initial observation. In legal practice the term generally is used to describe two things: the presentation of sufficient evidence by a civil claimant to support the legal claim (a prima facie case), or a piece of evid…
Principal and Surety
A contractual relationship whereby one party—the surety—agrees to pay the principal's debt or perform his or her obligation in case of the principal's default. The principal is the debtor—the person who is obligated to a creditor. The surety is the accommodation party—a third person who becomes responsible for the payment of the obligation if the principal…
Prior Restraint
Government prohibition of speech in advance of publication. Though Hughes agreed that a rule against prior restraint was needed, he acknowledged that this restriction was not absolute. The rule would not, for example, prevent government in time of war from prohibiting publication of "the sailing dates of transports or the number and location of troops." Threats to national security i…
Prison - 1971 Attica Prison Riot, Prison Life, New Hampshire State Prison, Prisoners' Rights, Further Readings
A public building used for the confinement of people convicted of serious crimes. Confinement in prison, also known as a penitentiary or correctional facility, is the punishment that courts most commonly impose for serious crimes, such as felonies. For lesser crimes, courts usually impose short-term incarceration in a jail, detention center, or similar facility. Confining criminals for long period…
Prisoners' Rights - Prisoners And Detainees, Historical Background, Rights Of Detainees, Rights Of Citizenship, Personal Property - Work, Food
The nature and extent of the privileges afforded to individuals kept in custody or confinement against their will because they have been convicted of performing an unlawful act. For most of U.S. history, the treatment of prisoners was left entirely to the discretion of prison administrators. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the federal courts began to oversee state prison systems and develop a b…
Privacy Act of (1974)
The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C.A. 552a) is a federal law that places restrictions on the federal government's collection, use, and dissemination of personal information. As with most comprehensive federal statutes, the act provides general and specific exemptions as well as an administrative appeals process. The genesis of the Privacy Act can be traced back to 1965, when a congressional s…
Private Bill
Legislation that benefits an individual or a locality. Also called special legislation or a private act. Many state constitutions prohibit the enactment of private bills or acts when a general law could apply. The prohibition of private bills, now more commonly known as special laws, applies to legislation that affects local governments or private individuals. Despite this constitutional language,…
Private Roads
A street or route that is designated by a public authority to accommodate a person or a group of people. A private road is often established because an individual needs to gain access to land; such a road can cross another person's property. A private road can be used by the general public and is open to all who wish to use it, but it primarily benefits those at whose request it was establi…
Privateer
A privately owned vessel that is commissioned by one power to attack merchant ships from a hostile power. The term also refers to the commander or a crew member of such a vessel. Privateering was abolished on an international scale with the ratification of the Declaration of Paris in 1856, which was signed by Great Britain, France, Turkey, Sardinia, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. The United States,…
Privilege against Self-Incrimination - Witness Privilege, Criminal Defendant Privilege
The privilege against self-incrimination forbids the government from compelling any person to give testimonial evidence that would likely incriminate him or her during a subsequent criminal case. This right enables a defendant to refuse to testify at a criminal trial and, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, "privileges him not to answer official questions put to him in any other proceeding…
Privileged Communication - Further Readings
An exchange of information between two individuals in a confidential relationship. A privileged communication is a private statement that must be kept in confidence by the recipient for the benefit of the communicator. Even if it is relevant to a case, a privileged communication cannot be used as evidence in court. Privileged communications are controversial because they exclude relevant facts fro…
Privileges and Immunities
Concepts contained in the U.S. Constitution that place the citizens of each state on an equal basis with citizens of other states in respect to advantages resulting from citizenship in those states and citizenship in the United States. Article IV provides that "The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities in the several states." The purpose of the cla…
Privy Council
The Privy Council is the British Crown's private council. It is composed of more than three hundred members, including cabinet members, distinguished scholars, judges, and legislators. Once a powerful body, it has lost most of the judicial and political functions it exercised since the middle of the seventeenth century and has largely been replaced by the Cabinet. The Privy Council derived …
Prize Law
Prize law has not been completely consistent in its development because the tribunals that rule on the seizure of the vessel are national tribunals and may reflect the interests of the belligerent state in interdicting the enemy war effort. The expanding scope of warfare and the concept of total war have also blurred the distinction between vessels subject to capture as a prize of war and those th…
Pro Bono
Short for pro bono publico [Latin, For the public good]. The designation given to the free legal work done by an attorney for indigent clients and religious, charitable, and other nonprofit entities. As members of a profession, lawyers are bound by their ethical rules to charge reasonable rates for their services and to serve the public interest by providing free legal service to indigent persons …
Probable Cause
Probable cause is a level of reasonable belief, based on facts that can be articulated, that is required to sue a person in civil court or to arrest and prosecute a person in criminal court. Before a person can be sued or arrested and prosecuted, the civil plaintiff or police and prosecutor must possess enough facts that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the claim or charge is true. I…
Probate - Probate Of A Will, Proceedings, Contested Probate Proceedings, Agreement Not To Contest, Further Readings - Guardianship of Minor Children, Right of Review
Wills often contain instructions on who should be appointed legal guardian of the decedent's minor children. The probate court may investigate the qualifications of the proposed guardian before granting an order of appointment. When a will does not contain a guardianship provision, the court itself must determine, based on the best interests of the children, who should be appointed guardian…
Probation - Further Readings
A sentence whereby a convict is released from confinement but is still under court supervision; a testing or a trial period. Probation can be given in lieu of a prison term or can suspend a prison sentence if the convict has consistently demonstrated good behavior. The status of a convicted person who is given some freedom on the condition that for a specified period he or she act in a manner appr…
Probative
Having the effect of proof, tending to prove, or actually proving. Probative facts are data that have the effect of proving an issue or other information. Probative facts establish the existence of other facts. They are matters of evidence that make the existence of something more probable or less probable than it would be without them. They are admissible as evidence and aid the court in the fina…
Proceeding
Supplementary proceedings are separate from the original action. They help a successful party collect what is owed on a judgment by summoning the defendant-debtor, requiring that individual to disclose what he or she owns, and ordering that it be delivered in order to satisfy the judgment. …
Proctor
A person appointed to manage the affairs of another or to represent another in a judgment. In old English law, a proctor was an attorney who practiced in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts. Proctors, also known as procurators, served a similar function as solicitors in the ordinary courts of England. The title of proctor was merged with that of solicitor in 1873, but it is sometimes used in t…
Product Liability - Theories Of Liability, Historical Development, Negligence, Breach Of Warranty, Strict Liability, Defects
The responsibility of a manufacturer or vendor of goods to compensate for injury caused by defective merchandise that it has provided for sale. …
Professional Responsibility - History, Areas Of Professional Responsibility, Enforcement Of Professional Responsibility, Cross-references
The obligation of lawyers to adhere to rules of professional conduct. …
Progressive Party
Beginning in the 1900s, the political history of the United States has been the story of the two mainstream political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, and the third party movements that have grown and receded in their wake. Between 1912 and 1948, progressivism, a broadly based reform movement, had three national incarnations as the Progressive Party. Progressivism began as a response to…
Prohibition
The popular name for the period in U.S. history from 1920 to 1933 when the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages—except for medicinal or religious purposes—were illegal. The impetus for the Eighteenth Amendment can be traced to the Anti-Saloon League, which was established in 1893. The league worked to enact state prohibition laws and had great success between 1906 and 1913. By…