Terms Used In New York Laws > Civil Service > Article 9 - Merit Awards For State Employees

• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• 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.