Personal Application
A Personal Application is an application made to the Court without legal representation.
Personal Injury Claim
A civil claim relating to physical or mental harm suffered by a claimant, due to the defendant’s alleged negligence.
Personal Service
Personal Service is the personal delivery (i.e. not by mail) of a claim, summons or notice.
Pervert the Course of Justice
To Pervert the Course of Justice is when a person prevents justice from being served on him/herself or on another party. It is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Petition
Petition is a method of commencing proceedings whereby the order required by the petitioner from the Court is expressed as a prayer, e.g. the petitioner therefore prays that the marriage be dissolved.
Petitioner
Petitioner is the name of someone who issues divorce proceedings.
Physical boundary
A physical feature that we can see such as a fence, wall or a hedge, which may, coincidentally, also follow the line of a legal boundary. Living boundary structures such as hedges can be prone to a certain degree of movement making its original line hard to discern.
Plaint Number
Plaint Number is an old-fashioned term for Claim Number.
Plaintiff
The party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an action) before a court. See Accuser.
Plea
A Plea is a defendant’s reply to a charge put to him by a court; i.e. guilty or not guilty.