Also known as: on pain of · pain of · under pain of · under penalty of
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A phrase denoting that a specified penalty or sanction will follow upon failure to perform a required act or satisfy a stated condition.
Yasmine testified at trial that the press safety guard had always functioned properly. Preston Pratt introduced her earlier deposition in which she admitted under oath that the guard had been removed. The court received the deposition as substantive evidence because the statement contradicted her testimony and had been made on pain of perjury during a formal proceeding.
Paige Porter submitted a laboratory report stating that genetic testing established her as the child's mother. The report appeared in a signed record from the testing facility. The court treated the document as self-authenticating because it had been executed on pain of perjury by a laboratory designee.
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Patricia Patel operated a ferry service across a state line and challenged a state license requirement. The Court held that the federal government possesses exclusive power to regulate interstate navigation. State interference was therefore invalid on pain of violating the constitutional allocation of authority.
Pavel Petrov represented absent class members in a securities suit against an out-of-state corporation. The Court required that absent plaintiffs receive notice and an opportunity to opt out. Without those protections, a judgment would bind them on pain of violating due process.
Paula Pierce, a hotel employee, sued for wages below the state minimum. The Court sustained the statute against a due process challenge. Employers who paid subminimum wages acted on pain of liability for the statutory difference plus penalties.
Pablo Perez challenged an EPA air-quality standard as an unlawful delegation of legislative power. The Court held that the statute supplied an intelligible principle. Agency action exceeding that principle would be invalid on pain of violating separation of powers.
The phrase signals that noncompliance with a stated condition will trigger a specific penalty or loss of right. Courts treat the warning as creating a binding obligation enforceable through the threatened consequence.
Supporting sources
Yes. A deposition or other proceeding taken under penalty of perjury meets the formal requirement of Rule 801(d)(1)(A) when the statement is inconsistent with trial testimony and the declarant is subject to cross-examination.
Supporting sources
A report is self-authenticating when it is in a record and signed under penalty of perjury by a laboratory designee. The signature supplies the necessary assurance of reliability without further testimony.
…153-154.) A rule compelling the critic of official conduct to guarantee the truth of all his factual assertionsand to do so on pain of libel judgments virtually unlimited in amount leads to a comparable "self-censorship." Allowance of the defense of truth, with the burden of proving it on the defendant, does not mean that…