Terms Used In Louisiana Codes > Civil Code > PRELIMINARY TITLE > Title XXIV > Chapter 1 - General Principles

• 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.
• 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.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Birth certificate: means official documentation of the child's record of birth acceptable to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and, if the document is not in English, a certified translation of the document. See Louisiana Children's Code 1281.3
• Child: means a person under eighteen years of age and not emancipated by marriage. See Louisiana Children's Code 1169
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
• Cross examine: Questioning of a witness by the attorney for the other side.
• Dangerous to others: means the condition of a person whose behavior or significant threats support a reasonable expectation that there is a substantial risk that he will inflict physical harm upon another person in the near future. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
• Dangerous to self: means the condition of a person whose behavior, significant threats, or inaction supports a reasonable expectation that there is a substantial risk that he will inflict physical or severe emotional harm upon his own person. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
• Department: means the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. See Louisiana Children's Code 1169
• Department: means the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. See Louisiana Children's Code 1281.3
• Department: means the Louisiana Department of Health. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
• Discharge: means the full or conditional release from a treatment facility of any minor admitted or otherwise detained under this Title. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
• 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.
• Foreign orphan: means a child living in a Non-Hague Convention country (a) who is under the age of sixteen at the time a Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, is filed on his behalf and who is found by the Department of State or United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to meet the definition of "orphan" under Section 101(b)(1)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 USC 1101(b)(1)(F)); or (b) who is under the age of eighteen and is a biological sibling of a child previously adopted by the same applicant(s) who is petitioning on his behalf. See Louisiana Children's Code 1281.3
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• 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}
• MHAS: means Mental Health Advocacy Service, as established by La. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• 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.
• Patient: means any person detained and taken care of as a person with mental illness or person suffering from substance abuse. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
• 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.
• 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.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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).
• Respondent: means a person alleged to be mentally ill or suffering from substance abuse and for whom an application for commitment to a treatment facility has been filed. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
• Substance abuse: means the condition of a person who uses narcotic, stimulant, depressant, soporific, tranquilizing, or hallucinogenic drugs or alcohol to the extent that it renders the person dangerous to himself or others or renders the person gravely disabled. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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: means an active effort to accomplish an improvement in the mental condition or behavior of a patient or to prevent deterioration in his condition or behavior. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
• Treatment facility: means any public or private hospital, retreat, institution, mental health center, or facility licensed by the state of Louisiana in which any mentally ill minor or minor suffering from substance abuse is received or detained as a patient except a facility under the control or supervision of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections unless otherwise provided in Title VIII of this Code. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.