Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 32 > Chapter 1 > Part IV > Subpart E-1 - Open Roads Law

• 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: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• business of insurance: means the writing of insurance or the reinsuring of risks by an insurance consultant or insurer, including all acts necessary or incidental to such writing or reinsuring, and the activities of persons who act as, or are, officers, directors, agents, or employees of consultants or insurers, or who are other persons authorized to act on behalf of such persons. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1808.8
• Cargo: means the items or freight to be moved, including items placed on or in a vehicle, towed by a vehicle, or a vehicle itself. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Transportation and Development. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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.
• Freight-carrying vehicle: means every motor vehicle designed for and used primarily as a carrier of freight transported for commercial purposes, which vehicle is licensed for six thousand pounds or more. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place of whatever nature publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for the purpose of vehicular travel, including bridges, causeways, tunnels and ferries; synonymous with the word "street". See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Interstate highway: means a fully controlled access highway which is a part of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• 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.
• Motor vehicle: means every vehicle which is self-propelled, and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon rails, but excluding a motorized bicycle and an electric-assisted bicycle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Office: means each principal operational unit within a department, except the executive office of the secretary. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 36:3
• Owner: means a person who holds a legal title to a vehicle or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale, lease, or transfer of possession thereof with the right of purchase upon the performance of the conditions stated in the agreement, with the right of immediate possession in the vendee, lessee, possessor, or in the event such similar transaction is had by means of mortgage and the mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee, lessee, possessor, or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purposes of this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• 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.
• person: includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:10
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Police officer: means every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• 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.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Railroad: means a carrier of persons or property upon cars, other than streetcars, operated upon stationary rails. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Secretary: means the officer appointed by the governor as the executive head and chief administrative officer of certain departments created and provided for by this Title. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 36:3
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Shoulder: means the portion of the highway contiguous with the roadway for accommodation of stopped vehicles, for emergency use, pedestrian use, mobility aid use, bicycle use, and for lateral support of base and surface. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Vehicle: means every device by which persons or things may be transported upon a public highway or bridge, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1