Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 13 > Chapter 17 - Witnesses and Evidence

• Administrator: means any person whose employment requires professional certification issued under the rules of the board. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3882
• Affiliate: as used in this Chapter , means a specific person who is directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controlled by, or controls, or is under common control with the person specified. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3516
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• 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.
• association: means a corporation, or unincorporated association, owned by or composed of the unit owners and through which the unit owners manage and regulate the condominium. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1121.103
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• 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.
• Bailiff: a court officer who enforces the rules of behavior in courtrooms.
• Board: means the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3873
• Board: means the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3882
• Buyer: means an individual who is solicited to purchase or who purchases the services of a credit repair services organization. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3573.2
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Check: means any check, draft, item, orders or requests for payment of money, negotiable orders, withdrawal or any other instrument used to pay a debt or transfer money from one to another. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3516
• 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.
• Commission: means the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:663
• Commission: means the Louisiana Workforce Commission. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of financial institutions. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3516
• Common elements: means all portions of timeshare property other than units. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Common elements: means the portion of the condominium property not a part of the individual units. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1121.103
• Communication: means the acquiring, recording or transmittal, of any information, in any manner whatsoever, concerning any facts, opinions or statements necessary to enable the health care provider to diagnose, treat, prescribe or to act for the patients; said communications may include, but are not limited to any and all medical records, office records, hospital records, charts, correspondence, memoranda, laboratory tests and results, x-rays, photographs, financial statements, diagnoses and prognoses. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 13:3734
• Components of effective teaching: means the elements of teaching performance defined by the board, in formal, recognized collaboration with educators and other stakeholders involved in education, to be critical to providing effective classroom instruction. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3882
• Condominium parcel: means a unit together with the undivided interest in the common elements which is an inseparable component part of the unit. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1121.103
• Condominium property: means all interests in land, improvements thereon, and all servitudes and rights attaching to the condominium. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1121.103
• Consumer: means a natural person who purchases goods, services, or movable or immovable property or rights therein, for a personal, family, or household purpose and includes a purchaser or buyer in a consumer credit sale or transaction made with the use of a seller credit card or otherwise, or a borrower or debtor in a consumer loan, revolving loan account, or a lender credit card. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3516
• Consumer: means a natural person who is a resident of this state and whose nonpublic information is in a licensee's possession, custody, or control. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Credit repair services organization: means a person who, with respect to a buyer, in return for the payment of money or other valuable consideration, directly or indirectly, provides or represents that he can or will, directly or indirectly, provide any of the following services:

  (a)  Improving a buyer's credit record, history, or rating. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3573.2

• Cybersecurity event: means an event resulting in unauthorized access to or disruption or misuse of an information system or nonpublic information stored on an information system. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• declaration: means the instrument by which the timeshare property is made subject to a timeshare plan. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Delivered by electronic means: means either of the following:

              (a) Delivery to an electronic mail address at which a party has consented to receive notices or documents. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2461

• Department: means the state Department of Education. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3873
• Department: means the state Department of Education. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3882
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• Developer: means the person, or any successor or assignee of such person, who creates the timeshare plan or who is in the business of making sales of timeshare interests which it owns or purports to own. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Economic disadvantage: means any one of the following characteristics of a student:

              (a) Is eligible for Louisiana's food assistance program for low-income families. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3882

• Employee: means any female individual who is employed to work forty or more hours a week and who is employed by the employer. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:663
• Employer: means any department, office, division, agency, commission, board, committee or other organizational unit of the state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:663
• En banc: In the bench or "full bench." Refers to court sessions with the entire membership of a court participating rather than the usual quorum. U.S. courts of appeals usually sit in panels of three judges, but may expand to a larger number in certain cases. They are then said to be sitting en banc.
• Encrypted: means the transformation of data into a form that has a low probability of assigning meaning without the use of a protective process or key. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503
• 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.
• Episode: shall mean a singular instance in which a youth is placed under the supervision, care, or custody of the office of juvenile justice. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:932
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evaluation: means the process by which a local board monitors the continuing performance of its teachers and administrators. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3882
• Exchange company: means the person operating a program providing any opportunity or procedure for the assignment or exchange of timeshare interests among owners and purchasers in the same or other timeshare plans. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• 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.
• 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.
• Health care provider: means a hospital, as defined in this Subsection, and means a person, corporation, facility, or institution licensed by the state to provide health care or professional services as a physician, hospital, dentist, registered or licensed practical nurse, pharmacist, optometrist, podiatrist, chiropractor, physical therapist, psychologist, social worker, or licensed professional counselor and an officer, employee, or agent thereof acting in the course and scope of his employment. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 13:3734
• 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.
• Hospital: means any hospital as defined in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 13:3734
• 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.
• Information security program: means the administrative, technical, and physical safeguards that a licensee uses to access, collect, distribute, process, protect, store, use, transmit, dispose of, or otherwise handle nonpublic information. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503
• Information system: means a discrete set of electronic information resources organized for the collection, processing, maintenance, use, sharing, dissemination, or disposition of electronic nonpublic information. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503
• 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.
• 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.
• Jurisprudence: The study of law and the structure of the legal system.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• Law clerk: Assist judges with research and drafting of opinions.
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Licensed lender: means a person licensed by the commissioner to make consumer loans pursuant to this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3516
• Licensee: means any person licensed, authorized to operate, or registered or required to be licensed, authorized, or registered pursuant to the insurance laws of this state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local board: means a city or parish school board and, as it relates to educators employed by it, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3873
• Local board: means a city, parish, or other local public school board. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3882
• Managing entity: means an entity with the duty to manage and operate the timeshare plan and/or the timeshare property. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Member: means any person included in the membership of the system. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Minor child: means an unmarried child under the age of eighteen years or an unmarried student under the age of twenty-three years who is the issue of a marriage of a member of this system, the legally adopted child of a member of this system, a child born outside of marriage of a female member of this system, or the child of a male member of this system if acknowledged or filiated pursuant to the provisions of the Civil Code. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Nonpublic information: means electronic information that is not publicly available information and is any of the following:

              (a) Any information concerning a consumer which because of name, number, personal mark, or other identifier can be used to identify a consumer, in combination with any one or more of the following data elements:

              (i) Social Security number. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503

• office: shall mean the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, youth services, office of juvenile justice. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:932
• Organization: means corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, trust, estate, partnership, cooperative, or association. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3516
• Original bill: A bill which is drafted by a committee. It is introduced by the committee or subcommittee chairman after the committee votes to report it.
• Owner: means any person who owns or is a co-owner of a timeshare interest. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Party: means any recipient of any notice or document required as part of an insurance transaction, including but not limited to an applicant, an insured, a policyholder, or an annuity contract holder. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2461
• Patient: means a natural person who receives health care from a licensed health care provider. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 13:3734
• Performance expectations: means the elements of effective leadership approved by the board that shall be included as evaluation criteria for all building-level administrators. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3882
• Person: means any natural person or any nongovernmental juridical person. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503
• Person: means an individual, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Person: as used in this Chapter means an individual or corporation, partnership, trust, association, joint venture pool, syndicate, sole proprietorship, unincorporated organization, or any other form of entity not specifically listed herein. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3516
• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association, joint venture pool, syndicate, sole proprietorship, unincorporated organization, or any other form of entity not specifically listed herein. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3573.2
• Petit jury: A group of citizens who hear the evidence presented by both sides at trial and determine the facts in dispute. Federal criminal juries consist of 12 persons. Federal civil juries consist of six persons.
• PIPS: means units by which the effort and quality of improvement activities are measured. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3602
• 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.
• 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 a parish, municipality, and any other unit of local government, including a school board and a special district, authorized by law to perform governmental functions. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:581
• 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}
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Principal: means the amount financed or amount deferred under a consumer credit transaction. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:3516
• 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 officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• Program: means a completed five-year professional improvement program, or refers to the subject of this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3602
• Project: includes but is not limited to condominiums and cooperative housing corporations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Publicly available information: means any information that a licensee reasonably believes is lawfully made available to the general public when all of the following occur:

              (a) The information is available to the general public from any of the following sources:

              (i) Federal, state, or local government records. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503

• 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.
• 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).
• Representative: means the spouse, parent, tutor, curator, trustee, attorney or other legal agent of the patient. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 13:3734
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Risk assessment: means the risk assessment that each licensee is required to conduct pursuant to La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503
• Secretary: means the secretary of the commission. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1
• Spouse: means a person who is legally married to a member of this system. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:403
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Teacher: means any public school classroom teacher, librarian, school counselor, secondary vocational instructor, principal, assistant principal, or other personnel for whom a valid Louisiana teaching certificate is required for employment; any teacher in an institution which offers thirteenth and fourteenth grade instruction; any speech therapist who possesses a valid Louisiana ancillary certificate issued by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education; and any instructor seeking to continue in the program who has been transferred from the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to vocational-technical schools under the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:3602
• 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.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Third-party service provider: means a person, not otherwise defined as a licensee, who contracts with a licensee to maintain, process, store, or otherwise have access to nonpublic information through its provision of services to the licensee. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:2503
• Timeshare association: means a corporation owned by the timeshare interest owners and through which the timeshare interest owners manage and regulate the timeshare property. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Timeshare documents: means all of the documents, by whatever names denominated, and any amendments thereto, which establish the timeshare plan, create and govern the rights and relationships of owners, and govern the use and operation of the timeshare property. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Timeshare expenses: means any expenditures, fees, charges, or other liabilities for which an owner of a timeshare interest is liable as a result of the ownership of the timeshare interest. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Timeshare interest: means an ownership "timeshare interest" a lease timeshare interest, a timeshare estate, and a timeshare use unless expressly provided otherwise and includes any of the following:

  (a)  A "timeshare estate" which is the right to occupy a timeshare property, coupled with present ownership or some right to future ownership in a timeshare property or a specified portion thereof. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2

• Timeshare property: means one or more timeshare units subject to the same timeshare plan, together with any common elements or any other immovable property, or rights therein, appurtenant to those units. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Timeshare unit: means a unit which is the subject of a timeshare plan. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• 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.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Unit: means immovable property, or a portion thereof, designated for separate occupancy. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
• Unit: means a part of the condominium property subject to individual ownership. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1121.103
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Voir dire: The process by which judges and lawyers select a petit jury from among those eligible to serve, by questioning them to determine knowledge of the facts of the case and a willingness to decide the case only on the evidence presented in court. "Voir dire" is a phrase meaning "to speak the truth."
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.