in personam

American  

[in per-soh-nam] / ɪn pərˈsoʊ næm /

adverb

Law.

1. (of a legal proceeding or judgment) directed against a party or parties, rather than against property.

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in personam British  

/ ɪn pɜːˈsəʊnæm /

adjective

1. law (of a judicial act) directed against a specific person or persons Compare in rem

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Etymology

Origin of in personam

Borrowed into English from Latin around 1880–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

in personam

The Court thereupon proceeded to hold that admiralty had jurisdiction in personam as well as in rem, over controversies arising out of contracts of affreightment between New York and Providence.

From The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952 by Edward Samuel Corwin

Historically the jurisdiction of courts to render judgments in personam is grounded on their de facto power over the defendant's person.

From The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952 by Edward Samuel Corwin

Such a proceeding is, either in form or substance, one not in personam but in rem.

From The American Judiciary by Simeon E. Baldwin, LLD

But in 1906 the Court discovered, by a vote of five-to-four, a situation in which a divorce proceeding is one in personam.

From The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952 by Edward Samuel Corwin

The phrase "right in personam" and its co-phrase "right in rem" are so misleading in their implications, as any teacher soon learns, that we may leave them to the textbooks of analytical jurisprudence.

From An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law by Roscoe Pound