Also known as: pettier · pettiest · minor · small
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A descriptor applied to offenses or matters that are relatively insignificant or minor in scale or seriousness.
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Pedro Pacheco sued Precision Tools for an unpaid invoice of $4,800. Precision Tools failed to appear after proper service. The clerk reviewed the affidavit showing the exact amount due and entered judgment because the claim qualified as a sum certain.
After Pilar Pena's death, her surviving spouse received the family home under a constitutional homestead right valued at $18,000. The probate court charged that amount against the spouse's statutory homestead allowance because the home formed part of the estate.
Pierce Patterson sought to rezone a single corner lot from residential to commercial use while surrounding parcels remained residential. The city council rejected the application after finding it singled out one parcel without advancing public health or welfare.
Phoenix Technologies held a senior mortgage on an apartment building and requested a receiver after default. A junior mortgagee also sought appointment. The court granted the senior mortgagee's request because priority controlled when the parties had not agreed on a single receiver.
Phuong Pham, age seventeen, signed a one-year employment agreement with Peak Performance. After three months she disaffirmed the contract and returned the wages received. The employer could not enforce the agreement because of the common-law infancy defense.
Paula Pierce faced an attacker wielding a knife and responded with a single punch that broke the attacker's jaw. The court held the response privileged because the threatened harm qualified as serious bodily harm under the self-defense standard.
Petty describes offenses or matters that are relatively insignificant or minor. In contrast, grand marks more serious offenses. The distinction appears in offense grading and procedural consequences.
…C. Gen. Stat. § 14-45.1 (Supp. 1971), requires written permission for the abortion from the husband when the woman is a married minor, that is, when she is less than 18 years of age, 41 N. C. A. G. 489 (1971); if the woman is an unmarried minor, written permission from the parents is required. We need not now decide…