in personamadv.adj.
/ˌɪn pəˈsəʊnam/, U.S. /ˌɪn pərˈsoʊˌnæm/ chiefly Law.
A. adv.
With reference to a judicial action, claim, or right: against or so as to deal with a specific person (or group of persons) only; so as to impose personal liability. Cf. in rem adv. and adj. See also note at personal adj. 7.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > [adverb] > type of proceedings
in rem1583
in personam1614
quasi in rem1826
1614 Bp. W. Cowper Dikaiologie To. Rdr. sig. A4 His whole Admonitorie Treatise is full of Inuectiues in personam, without regard of modestie.
1662 H. Hibbert Syntagma Theologicum 200 Aquinus notes it [sc. sacrilege] may be committed..1. In personam, when an Ecclesiastical man is abused. 2. In locum, when the Church is abused or profaned. 3. In rem, when things dedicated to holy uses, are otherwise imployed.
1771 F. Vesey Cases High Court Chancery 1 455 I could inforce it by process of contempt in personam and sequestration.
1810 T. Bee Rep. District Court S. Carolina (Bee's Rep.) 186 It is contended that the court can proceed in rem, or in personam, but that an attachment against property is a different proceeding, and cannot issue from hence.
1880 J. Muirhead tr. Gaius Institutes iv. 318 In certain cases..the defender in an action in personam [L. in personam] must give security even when conducting his own defence.
1927 N.Y. Suppl. 219 335 On the part of the defendant, it is urged, first, that no money judgment against him is valid, in personam, because no personal service was ever effected.
1991 Banking & Finance Law Rev. 113 Where the court of one province had assumed jurisdiction in circumstances in which, mutatis mutandis, the court of the enforcing province would have assumed jurisdiction, the extra-provincial judgment in personam could not be set aside for having been rendered by a court that lacked ‘international’ jurisdiction.
B. adj.
Designating a judicial action, claim, or right that operates against or deals with a specific person (or group of persons) only; that imposes personal liability.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > [adjective] > type of proceedings
in rem1872
quasi in rem1888
in personam1893
1893 Law Times Rep. 68 41/1 That Act of Parliament did not give the court a greater jurisdiction than it had before, but merely allowed it to exercise in personam jurisdiction it already had.
1986 Law Soc. Gaz. 11 June (Business & Finance) 1804/3 While not doubting the court's jurisdiction to make in personam orders in any case the court thought right, the decision in the end must always be one of discretion.
2015 E. F. Ferraro Investigative Interviewing vii. 197 In order to preside over a case, a court must have both subject matter and in personam jurisdictions.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adv.adj.1614