Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 12 > Chapter 1 > Part 1 - General Provisions

• Acquiring person: means either of the following:

  (a)  A person acquiring tax sale title to a tax sale property. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122

• 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.
• Agricultural use: means farming in all of its branches, including but not limited to the cultivation and the tillage of the soil; the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any products from agricultural, horticulture, aquaponic, hydroponic, or aquaculture practices; the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, dairy-producing animals, and poultry; agricultural education; agricultural tourism; or any practices performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with farming operations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:4751
• 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.
• Annuity reserve fund: means the fund in which shall be held the reserves for liabilities or retirees and beneficiaries. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1902
• 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
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Association: means a savings association, thrift institution, homestead, building and loan association, savings and loan association, or society, including both capital stock and mutual associations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• Capital stock association: means an association, not in the mutual form, having capital stock ownership. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of agriculture and forestry or his duly authorized representative acting at his direction. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:3112
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of financial institutions, of the state of Louisiana, in his capacity as supervisor of associations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• 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.
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Demand account: means an account payable on demand which is not a savings account. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• Department: means the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:3112
• Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Forestry. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:1
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Depositor: means a holder of a savings, demand, or other type of deposit account of an association. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Disparagement: means dissemination to the public in any manner of any false information that the disseminator knows or should have known to be false, and which states or implies that a perishable agricultural or aquacultural food product is not safe for consumption by the consuming public. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:4502
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Enrolled bill: The final copy of a bill or joint resolution which has passed both chambers in identical form. It is printed on parchment paper, signed by appropriate officials, and submitted to the President/Governor for signature.
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Federal Meat Inspection Act: means the act so entitled approved March 4, 1907, as amended by the Wholesome Meat Act (21 U. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:4201
• Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act: means the act so entitled, approved August 28, 1957 (21 U. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:4201
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• final compensation: means the average monthly earnings during the sixty highest consecutive months of employment or the sixty highest successive joined months of employment if interruption of service occurred. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1902
• Final salary: means the average monthly earnings of a member during the twelve-month period immediately preceding his death or retirement. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1902
• 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.
• 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.
• immovable property: means and includes not only land, city, town and village lots, but all things thereunto pertaining, and all structures and other appurtenances thereto, as pass to the vendee by the conveyance of the land or lot. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:1702
• Impaired condition: means a condition in which the assets of an association in the aggregate do not have a fair value equal to the aggregate amount of liabilities of the association. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• In forma pauperis: In the manner of a pauper. Permission given to a person to sue without payment of court fees on claim of indigence or poverty.
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Member: means a person or entity holding a savings or demand account of or shares of a mutual association, and may include a person borrowing from or assuming or obligated upon a loan or interest therein held by such association if such is authorized by the charter or the bylaws of the association. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• Minor child: means an unmarried child under the age of eighteen years who is: the issue of a marriage; the legally adopted child of a member of this system; the natural child of a female member of this system; the child of a male member of this system if a court of competent jurisdiction has made an order of filiation declaring the paternity of such a member for the child or if the father has formally acknowledged the child; or, who had a disability at the time of the member's death and who remains in such disability status. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1902
• Mutual association: means an association, not having capital stock ownership and operating in the mutual form. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• 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.
• Perishable agricultural or aquacultural food product: means any food product of agriculture or aquaculture which is sold or distributed in a form that will perish or decay beyond marketability within a period of time. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:4502
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Political subdivision: means any of the following to the extent it has the power to levy ad valorem taxes and conduct tax sales for failure to pay ad valorem taxes:

  (a)  The state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122

• Political subdivision: means any unit of local government including a municipality, parish, or special district authorized by law to perform governmental functions. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:4751
• Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
• 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 defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Ratite: means a flightless bird with a flat chestbone of the order Ratitae including but not limited to ostrich (Struthio camelus), rhea (Rhea americana), emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), and cassowary (Casuarius). See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:3112
• 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.
• Savings account: means an account to which earnings, including interest, is paid or accrued. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• Share: means any share, certificate, security, account, or other evidence of funds invested in a mutual association by a member thereof, other than a savings or demand account. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• Signed: includes using any symbol executed or adopted with present intention to adopt or accept a writing in tangible form. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Stock: means capital stock of a capital stock association. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• Stockholder: means the owner of one or more shares of any class of capital stock of a capital stock association. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• Surviving spouse: means a legal spouse who was married to a member at the time of the member's death and for at least twelve months immediately prior thereto. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:1902
• Tax sale party: means the tax notice party, the owner of property, including the owner of record at the time of a tax sale, as shown in the conveyance records of the appropriate parish, and any other person holding an interest, such as a mortgage, privilege, or other encumbrance on the property, including a tax sale purchaser, as shown in the mortgage and conveyance records of the appropriate parish. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• 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.
• Unsafe and unsound condition: means the inability of an association to meet its withdrawal requests or the association having violated its charter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 6:703
• Urban: means an area within the boundaries of an urbanized area, as that term is used by the United States Census Bureau, that includes at least forty-five thousand people. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:4751
• Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone: means an area within a political subdivision that is comprised of individual properties designated as urban agriculture preserves by the political subdivision for farming purposes. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 3:4751
• 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.