in personam

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adverb & adjective With respect to a person rather than to a piece of property.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Against the person: used in law of a right resting in a purely personal obligation of another, and of proceedings to enforce a right by judgment binding only on the party proceeded against, such as a suit to recover a debt: in contradistinction to a right or a proceeding in rem, which binds all the world, such as a proceeding to condemn a ship or to dissolve a marriage. See action, 8 .

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective law In a lawsuit against a specific individual, a summons and complaint to give the court jurisdiction that is served to a person to try a case. In personam means that a judgment can be enforceable against the person wherever he/she is.