Terms Used In U.S. Code > Title 15 > Chapter 15 > Subchapter I - Generally

• Administration: means the Social Security Administration, except where the context requires otherwise. See 42 USC 1301
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• agency or instrumentality of the Government of Cuba: means an agency or instrumentality of a foreign state as defined in section 1603(b) of title 28, with each reference in such section to "a foreign state" deemed to be a reference to "Cuba". See 22 USC 2295b
• Agriculture: includes aquaculture and fisheries. See 22 USC 2403
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• applicable program: means any program for which the Secretary or the Department has administrative responsibility as provided by law or by delegation of authority pursuant to law. See 20 USC 1221
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• appropriate congressional committees: means the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. See 22 USC 2295b
• appropriate map: means a map identified as "Boundary Map&mdash. See 16 USC 460u-3
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Asset forfeiture: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• association: when used in reference to a corporation, shall be deemed to embrace the words "successors and assigns of such company or association" in like manner as if these last-named words, or words of similar import, were expressed. See 1 USC 5
• Balanced budget: A budget in which receipts equal outlays.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the Board of Trustees of the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation. See 20 USC 2002
• Board: means the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation. See 20 USC 4514
• Chairman: means the Chairman of the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Policies. See 22 USC 262r
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Concurrent resolution: A legislative measure, designated "S. Con. Res." and numbered consecutively upon introduction, generally employed to address the sentiments of both chambers, to deal with issues or matters affecting both houses, such as a concurrent budget resolution, or to create a temporary joint committee. Concurrent resolutions are not submitted to the President/Governor and thus do not have the force of law.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• county: includes a parish, or any other equivalent subdivision of a State or Territory of the United States. See 1 USC 2
• Cuban Government: includes the government of any political subdivision of Cuba, and any agency or instrumentality of the Government of Cuba. See 22 USC 2295b
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defense article: includes &mdash. See 22 USC 2403
• Defense service: includes any service, test, inspection, repair, publication, or technical or other assistance or defense information used for the purposes of furnishing military assistance, but does not include military educational and training activities under part V of subchapter II of this chapter. See 22 USC 2403
• Department: means the Department of Education. See 20 USC 1221
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Descendent: One who is directly descended from another such as a child, grandchild, or great grandchild.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• drug: has the meaning given that term by section 321(g)(1) of this title. See 21 USC 802
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Excess defense articles: means the quantity of defense articles (other than construction equipment, including tractors, scrapers, loaders, graders, bulldozers, dump trucks, generators, and compressors) owned by the United States Government, and not procured in anticipation of military assistance or sales requirements, or pursuant to a military assistance or sales order, which is in excess of the Approved Force Acquisition Objective and Approved Force Retention Stock of all Department of Defense Components at the time such articles are dropped from inventory by the supplying agency for delivery to countries or international organizations under this chapter. See 22 USC 2403
• Extradition: The formal process of delivering an accused or convicted person from authorities in one state to authorities in another state.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Farmers: includes fishermen and other persons employed in cultivating and harvesting food resources from salt and fresh waters. See 22 USC 2403
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foundation: means the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation. See 20 USC 2002
• Foundation: means the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation. See 20 USC 4514
• Function: includes any duty, obligation, power, authority, responsibility, right, privilege, discretion, or activity. See 22 USC 2403
• fund: means the Harry S Truman Memorial Scholarship Fund. See 20 USC 2002
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• improved property: as used in this subchapter shall mean any building or group of related buildings the actual construction of which was begun before February 7, 1963, together with not more than three acres of the land in the same ownership on which the building or group of buildings is situated: Provided, That the respective Secretary may exclude from improved property any shore or waters, together with so much of the land adjoining such shore or waters as he deems necessary for public access thereto. See 16 USC 460q-1
• improved property: shall mean any one-family dwelling on which construction was begun before December 31, 1964, together with so much of the land on which the dwelling is situated (such land being in the same ownership as the dwelling) as shall be reasonably necessary for the enjoyment of the dwelling. See 16 USC 460s-9
• improved property: means a detached, one-family dwelling which meets each of the following criteria:

  (1) The construction of the dwelling began before the date (shown in the table contained in this section) corresponding to the appropriate map. See 16 USC 460u-3

• improved residential property: means a single-family year-round dwelling, the construction of which was begun before January 21, 1963, which dwelling serves as the owner's permanent place of abode at the time of its acquisition by the United States, together with not more than three acres of land on which the dwelling and appurtenant buildings are located which land the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of the Army, as the case may be, finds is reasonably necessary for the owner's continued use and occupancy of the dwelling: Provided, further, That whenever an owner of property elects to retain a right of use and occupancy pursuant to this subchapter, such owner shall be deemed to have waived any benefits or rights under the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 [42 U. See 16 USC 460o-1
• including: when used in a definition contained in this chapter shall not be deemed to exclude other things otherwise within the meaning of the term defined. See 42 USC 1301
• individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
• inland buffer zone: means that part of the lakeshore delineated as such on the map identified as "Proposed Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Boundary Map, NL-PR-7100A, July, 1966". See 16 USC 460s-8
• institution of higher education: means any such institution as defined by section 1001 of this title. See 20 USC 2002
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Magistrate judges: Judicial officers who assist U.S. district judges in getting cases ready for trial, who may decide some criminal and civil trials when both parties agree to have the case heard by a magistrate judge instead of a judge.
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• Military education and training: includes formal or informal instruction of foreign students in the United States or overseas by officers or employees of the United States, contract technicians, contractors (including instruction at civilian institutions), or by correspondence courses, technical, educational, or information publications and media of all kinds, training aids, orientation, and military advice to foreign military units and forces. See 22 USC 2403
• Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• multilateral development banks: means the multilateral development institutions other than the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. See 22 USC 262r
• multilateral development institutions: means the international financial institutions other than the International Monetary Fund. See 22 USC 262r
• nonmarket based trade: includes exports, imports, exchanges, or other arrangements that are provided for goods and services (including oil and other petroleum products) on terms more favorable than those generally available in applicable markets or for comparable commodities, including&mdash. See 22 USC 2295b
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• officer: includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office. See 1 USC 1
• Officer or employee: means civilian personnel and members of the Armed Forces of the United States Government. See 22 USC 2403
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Education. See 20 USC 1221
• Secretary: means the Secretary of the Treasury. See 20 USC 2002
• Services: include any service, repair, training of personnel, or technical or other assistance or information used for the purposes of furnishing nonmilitary assistance. See 22 USC 2403
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• State: means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States. See 21 USC 802
• State: means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and, considered as a single entity, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. See 20 USC 2002
• State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7
• State: when used in such subchapters (but not in subchapter XVI as in effect pursuant to such amendment after December 31, 1973) includes Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. See 42 USC 1301
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: means (but only for purposes of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this paragraph) the fifty States and the District of Columbia. See 42 USC 1301
• Value: means &mdash. See 22 USC 2403
• vehicle: includes every description of carriage or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on land. See 1 USC 4
• vessel: includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water. See 1 USC 3
• writing: includes printing and typewriting and reproductions of visual symbols by photographing, multigraphing, mimeographing, manifolding, or otherwise. See 1 USC 1