Terms Used In Arizona Laws > Title 13 > Chapter 38 - Miscellaneous

• Accused: means a person who has been arrested for a felony committed in the state of Arizona and either has been bound over for trial pursuant to a finding by a magistrate during a preliminary hearing of probable cause or has waived such a preliminary hearing or who has been lawfully indicted. See Arizona Laws 13-4201
• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Act: means a bodily movement. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• 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
• Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Authority: means the southern Arizona sports, tourism and film authority. See Arizona Laws 5-1401
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bank: means a corporation that holds a banking permit issued pursuant to chapter 2 of this title. See Arizona Laws 6-101
• Banking office: means any place of business of the bank at which deposits are received, checks are paid or money is loaned but does not include the premises used for computer operations, proofing, record keeping, accounting, storage, maintenance or other administrative or service functions. See Arizona Laws 6-101
• 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}
• Benefit: means anything of value or advantage, present or prospective. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Board: means the board of directors of the authority. See Arizona Laws 5-1401
• Bond: means any obligation authorized and issued pursuant to this article, including:

  (a) Bonds and notes. See Arizona Laws 5-1461

• Bond-related expenses: means any expenses incurred by the authority for issuing and administering its bonds, including underwriting fees and costs, trustee fees, financial consultant fees, printing and advertising costs, paying agent fees, transfer agent fees, legal fees, accounting fees, feasibility consultant and other professional fees and expenses, credit enhancement fees and expenses related to credit enhancement, bond insurance or liquidity enhancement, remarketing fees, rating agency fees and costs, travel and telephone expenses and all other fees considered necessary by the board in order to market and administer the bonds. See Arizona Laws 5-1461
• Branch: means any banking office other than the principal banking office. See Arizona Laws 6-101
• Calendar year: means three hundred sixty-five days' actual time served without release, suspension or commutation of sentence, probation, pardon or parole, work furlough or release from confinement on any other basis. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Capital offense: A crime punishable by death.
• Cell site simulator device: means a portable device that transmits or receives radio waves to identify, locate or track the movements of a communications device. See Arizona Laws 13-4291
• Cell site simulator device search warrant: means an order in writing issued in the name of the state of Arizona, signed by a magistrate, authorizing a peace officer to identify a communications device through the use of a cell site simulator device. See Arizona Laws 13-4291
• Commission: means the state industrial commission. See Arizona Laws 13-4201
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Communications device: means any device that allows the device's user to send or receive oral, wire or electronic communications or computer services. See Arizona Laws 13-4291
• Community supervision: means that portion of a felony sentence that is imposed by the court pursuant to section 13-603, subsection I and that is served in the community after completing a period of imprisonment or served in prison in accordance with Section 41-1604. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Conditional release: means release from a secure mental health facility under the specified written conditions. See Arizona Laws 13-3991
• Conduct: means an act or omission and its accompanying culpable mental state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• 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.
• Crime: means a misdemeanor or a felony. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• criminal offense: includes any of the following:

  (a) A felony or misdemeanor offense. See Arizona Laws 13-3841

• Criminal street gang: means an ongoing formal or informal association of persons in which members or associates individually or collectively engage in the commission, attempted commission, facilitation or solicitation of any felony act and that has at least one individual who is a criminal street gang member. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Criminal street gang member: means an individual to whom at least two of the following seven criteria that indicate criminal street gang membership apply:

  (a) Self-proclamation. See Arizona Laws 13-105

• Dangerous: means a danger of inflicting serious physical harm on oneself or others, including attempted suicide or the serious threat of suicide, if the threat is such that, when considered in the light of the threat's context and any previous acts, the threat is substantially supportive of an expectation that it will be carried out. See Arizona Laws 13-3991
• Dangerous instrument: means anything that under the circumstances in which it is used, attempted to be used or threatened to be used is readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Daytime: means the period between sunrise and sunset. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Deadly weapon: means anything designed for lethal use, including a firearm. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Defense attorney: Represent defendants in criminal matters.
• Department: means the department of insurance and financial institutions. See Arizona Laws 6-101
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Deputy director: means the deputy director of the financial institutions division of the department. See Arizona Laws 6-101
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Division: means the financial institutions division within the department. See Arizona Laws 6-101
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Enterprise: means any person under the jurisdiction of the department other than a financial institution. See Arizona Laws 6-101
• escape: means :

  (i) A departure from custody or from a juvenile secure care facility, a juvenile detention facility or an adult correctional facility in which the person is held or detained, with knowledge that the departure is not allowed, or the failure to return to custody or detention following a temporary leave granted for a specific purpose or for a limited period. See Arizona Laws 13-105

• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Executive authority: includes the governor, and any person performing the functions of governor in a state other than this state. See Arizona Laws 13-3841
• Extradition: The formal process of delivering an accused or convicted person from authorities in one state to authorities in another state.
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Felony: means an offense for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment in the custody of the state department of corrections is authorized by any law of this state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Financial institution: means banks, trust companies, savings and loan associations, credit unions, consumer lenders, international banking facilities and financial institution holding companies under the jurisdiction of the department. See Arizona Laws 6-101
• 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.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Government: means the state, any political subdivision of the state or any department, agency, board, commission, institution or governmental instrumentality of or within the state or political subdivision. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Governor: includes any person performing the functions of governor by authority of the law of this state. See Arizona Laws 13-3841
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• infrastructure: means improvements that will directly and principally benefit the multipurpose facility and includes:

  (i) Sanitary sewage systems. See Arizona Laws 5-1461

• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• International banking facility: means a facility that is represented by a set of asset and liability accounts segregated on the books and records of a commercial bank, the principal office of which is located in this state, and that is incorporated and doing business under the laws of the United States or of this state, a United States branch or agency of a foreign bank, an edge corporation organized under section 25(a) of the federal reserve act (12 United States Code §§ 611 through 631) or an agreement corporation having an agreement or undertaking with the board of governors of the federal reserve system under section 25 of the federal reserve act (12 United States Code §§ 601 through 604(a)) that includes only international banking facility time deposits and international banking facility extensions of credit as defined in Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 204. See Arizona Laws 6-101
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Knowingly: means , with respect to conduct or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense, that a person is aware or believes that the person's conduct is of that nature or that the circumstance exists. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• material witness: means a witness in a criminal matter who is called by either the state or the defendant and whose testimony is necessary for a fair determination of an issue in the case. See Arizona Laws 13-4081
• Mental disease or defect: means a condition that was the basis for a person being found guilty except insane pursuant to section 13-502 or that was subsequently diagnosed while the person was committed to the secure mental health facility and for which the person needs ongoing mental health treatment. See Arizona Laws 13-3991
• Mental health report: means a report that is written by a treatment supervisor or other qualified expert, that documents the condition of a person's mental health and that, at a minimum, includes all of the following:

  (a) The person's mental condition, symptoms and diagnosis on admission to a secure mental health facility. See Arizona Laws 13-3991

• mentally incompetent to be executed: means that due to a mental disease or defect a person who is sentenced to death is presently unaware that he is to be punished for the crime of murder or that he is unaware that the impending punishment for that crime is death. See Arizona Laws 13-4021
• Misdemeanor: means an offense for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment other than to the custody of the state department of corrections is authorized by any law of this state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Nontarget data: means information that is collected by a cell site simulator device pursuant to a search warrant that is issued under section 13-4293 or section 13-4294 and that identifies a communications device that is not related to the subject of the search warrant. See Arizona Laws 13-4291
• Oath: includes an affirmation or declaration. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Omission: means the failure to perform an act as to which a duty of performance is imposed by law. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Parties: includes the person under the court's jurisdiction, the secure mental health facility, the outpatient treatment supervisor and the county attorney or the attorney general who is representing the state. See Arizona Laws 13-3991
• Pass supervisor: means a person or agency representative who is approved by the court to accompany a person on approved conditional release for pass privileges. See Arizona Laws 13-3991
• Peace officer: means any person vested by law with a duty to maintain public order and make arrests and includes a constable. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Peace officers: means sheriffs of counties, constables, marshals, policemen of cities and towns, commissioned personnel of the department of public safety, personnel who are employed by the state department of corrections and the department of juvenile corrections and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, peace officers who are appointed by a multicounty water conservation district and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, police officers who are appointed by community college district governing boards and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, police officers who are appointed by the Arizona board of regents and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, police officers who are appointed by the governing body of a public airport pursuant to section 28-8426 and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board, peace officers who are appointed by a private postsecondary institution pursuant to section 15-1897 and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board and special agents from the office of the attorney general, or of a county attorney, and who have received a certificate from the Arizona peace officer standards and training board. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Person: means a human being and, as the context requires, an enterprise, a public or private corporation, an unincorporated association, a partnership, a firm, a society, a government, a governmental authority or an individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Person: means a person as defined in section 13-105 and includes a representative or assignee of such person. See Arizona Laws 13-4201
• Petty offense: means an offense for which a sentence of a fine only is authorized by law. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Petty offense: A federal misdemeanor punishable by six months or less in prison. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Physical injury: means the impairment of physical condition. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Plea agreement: An arrangement between the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the defendant in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for special considerations. ^Source:
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Possess: means knowingly to have physical possession or otherwise to exercise dominion or control over property. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Possession: means a voluntary act if the defendant knowingly exercised dominion or control over property. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Propensity to reoffend: means the likelihood that a person will violently reoffend based on the person's history of criminal behavior or involvement in the criminal justice system. See Arizona Laws 13-3991
• Property: means anything of value, tangible or intangible. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• public offense: means conduct for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment or of a fine is provided by any law of the state in which it occurred or by any law, regulation or ordinance of a political subdivision of that state and, if the act occurred in a state other than this state, it would be so punishable under the laws, regulations or ordinances of this state or of a political subdivision of this state if the act had occurred in this state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Qualified expert: means a psychologist or psychiatrist who:

  (a) Is familiar with inpatient and outpatient treatment services in this state. See Arizona Laws 13-3991

• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• 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.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Risk assessment: means a comprehensive assessment of a person's risk for violent behavior that is conducted by a qualified expert and that includes all of the following:

  (a) The person's identifying information. See Arizona Laws 13-3991

• Secure mental health facility: means a secure state mental health facility that is under the department of health services. See Arizona Laws 13-3991
• Serious physical injury: includes physical injury that creates a reasonable risk of death, or that causes serious and permanent disfigurement, serious impairment of health or loss or protracted impairment of the function of any bodily organ or limb. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Stable remission: means a clinical state in which there is an absence or marked attenuation in the signs and symptoms of major mental illness. See Arizona Laws 13-3991
• State: includes the District of Columbia. See Arizona Laws 13-3831
• State: includes any territory of the United States and the District of Columbia. See Arizona Laws 13-4091
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Sufficient cause: means a reasonable belief that the circumstance is true or necessary and is less than a preponderance. See Arizona Laws 13-3991
• Summons: includes a subpoena, order or other notice requiring the appearance of a witness. See Arizona Laws 13-4091
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testify: includes every manner of oral statement under oath or affirmation. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tracking device: means an electronic or mechanical device, including a communications device, that tracks the movement of a person or an object. See Arizona Laws 13-4291
• Tracking device search warrant: means an order in writing issued in the name of the state of Arizona, signed by a magistrate, authorizing a peace officer to track a person or an object through the use of a tracking device. See Arizona Laws 13-4291
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Treatment supervisor: means a qualified expert who is a person's supervising and treating clinician. See Arizona Laws 13-3991
• 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.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• Unlawful: means contrary to law or, where the context so requires, not allowed by law. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Vehicle: means a device in, upon or by which any person or property is, may be or could have been transported or drawn upon a highway, waterway or airway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Arizona Laws 13-105
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Victim: means any person, including the surviving dependent of a person, who has suffered physical injury or pecuniary loss resulting from the crime of the accused. See Arizona Laws 13-4201
• Wilfully: means , with respect to conduct or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense, that a person is aware or believes that the person's conduct is of that nature or that the circumstance exists. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Witness: includes a person whose testimony is desired in any proceeding or investigation by a grand jury or in a criminal action, prosecution or proceeding. See Arizona Laws 13-4091
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writ: means an order or precept in writing issued in the name of the state or by a court or judicial officer. See Arizona Laws 1-215