Also known as: persons · persona · personae · personam · personal · personally · personalty · personality · personable · personaliter · PERS. · in personam · persona ficta · legal person
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
An individual human being recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties.
A legal entity such as a corporation that is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
An individual human being recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties.
Pilar Pena left her infant alone in a running car on a hot day while she ran an errand. The child died from heat exposure. Prosecutors charged her with involuntary manslaughter because her conduct deviated substantially from that of a reasonable person.
Pedro Pacheco was stopped at an airport checkpoint. Officers patted down his clothing and found a concealed package. The court upheld the search because the Fourth Amendment protects persons against unreasonable intrusions on their bodies.
A legal entity such as a corporation that is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties.
Yes. Several statutes and rules define person to encompass both individuals and entities such as corporations, partnerships, and trusts when the provision addresses legal rights or obligations.
Piper Patel was on trial for theft. The prosecution sought to introduce testimony that she had a reputation for dishonesty to prove she stole the funds. The court excluded the evidence because it was offered only to show she acted in accordance with that trait on this occasion.
Pearl Porter was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. She had been rendered unconscious by the collision and could not form any intent to flee. The court dismissed the charge because liability requires conduct that includes a voluntary act by the person.
Paula Pierce presided over a contract dispute involving a major donor to her former law firm. She repeatedly mentioned the donor's influence during hearings. The judicial conduct commission found she had conveyed the impression that a person could affect her rulings.
Portia Price left government service after investigating a company's environmental violations. She later sought to represent a competitor in related litigation using details she had learned. The ethics board disqualified her because the information concerned a person and could disadvantage that person.
A person becomes subject to criminal liability only when liability rests on conduct that includes a voluntary act or an omission the person is physically capable of performing.
The Fourth Amendment protects the right of the people to be secure in their persons against unreasonable searches and seizures, requiring warrants to describe the persons or things to be seized with particularity.
…they were recorded though sometimes they were. He believed none of those commissions were ever sent out or delivered to the persons for whom they were intended and did not know what became of them nor whether they were then in the Secretary's office. Mr. Lincoln, Attorney General, having been summoned and called,…