Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

The commandment of eating the meat of the Pesach sacrifice: To eat the meat of the Pesach sacrifice on the fifteenth night of Nissan, according to the specifications of the verse, as it is stated (Exodus 12:8), “And they shall eat the meat on this night.”

That which we wrote about its slaughtering (Sefer HaChinukh 5) is from the roots of this commandment — so as to remember the great miracles which God did for us when He took us out of slavery.

The laws of this commandment — what is the minimum amount required to be eaten by each person (Pesachim 69a); how he should act before he eats it; that he should not leave his assemblage (Pesachim 66b in the Mishnah); that he should not sleep (Pesachim 120a); and the rest of its details — are [all] explained in Pesachim. (See Mishneh Torah, Laws of Paschal Offering 1.)

And [it] is practiced by males and females. One who transgresses it has negated a positive commandment. An important principle in the entire Torah about anyone who says that he will negate a positive commandment is that he is coerced by the court (a beit din) — if they have the power in their hands — until he fulfills it (Ketuvot 86a, Chullin 132b).