Article 23 Obedience to and Effect of Traffic Laws
Article 24 Traffic Signs, Signals and Markings
Article 25 Driving On Right Side of Roadway, Overtaking and Passing, Etc
Article 26 Right of Way
Article 27 Pedestrians’ Rights and Duties
Article 28 Turning and Starting and Signals On Stopping and Turning
Article 29 Special Stops Required
Article 30 Speed Restrictions
Article 31 Alcohol and Drug-Related Offenses and Procedures Applicable Thereto
Article 32 Stopping, Standing, and Parking
Article 33 Miscellaneous Rules
Article 34 Operation of Bicycles and Play Devices
Article 34-A Operation of Motorcycles
Article 34-B Riding Horses
Article 34-C Operation of Electric Personal Assistive Mobility Devices
Article 34-D Operation of Electric Scooters

Terms Used In New York Laws > Vehicle and Traffic > Title 7 - Rules of the Road

  • 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.
  • Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
  • agency: shall mean any officer, board, commission, department, or other agency of the municipality, or the authority or any other public authority, designated by the local legislative body to carry out the functions vested in the agency under this article or delegated to the agency by the local legislative body in order to carry out the purposes and provisions of this article. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 401
  • 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.
  • Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
  • 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
  • Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the 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.
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Bequest: Property gifted by will.
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • 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.
  • Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
  • Cross examine: Questioning of a witness by the attorney for the other side.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • existing multiple dwelling: shall mean any dwelling classified as a multiple dwelling pursuant to the multiple dwelling law including class A and class B multiple dwellings, and in existence on the date upon which an application for a loan pursuant to this article is received by the agency. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 401
  • Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • 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.
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • 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.
  • housing accommodation: as used in this article , shall mean any building or structure which is used or occupied, or is intended to be used or occupied, wholly or partly, as the home or residence of one or more human beings. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 302
  • 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.
  • Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. Source: OCC
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. Source: OCC
  • 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.
  • Municipality: shall mean the city, town or village in which a community development corporation conducts or proposes to conduct its activities. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 252
  • mutual: when applied to a redevelopment company shall mean a redevelopment company which is a corporation operated exclusively for the benefit of the persons or families who are entitled to occupancy in a project of such redevelopment company by reason of ownership of shares in such redevelopment company. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 102
  • Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
  • 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.
  • occupancy date: shall mean the date defined in the contract for a loan pursuant to this article between the owner of an existing multiple dwelling and a municipality as the date upon which such multiple dwelling is to be deemed ready for occupancy, or if such term is not defined in such contract, the date of issuance of the temporary certificate of occupancy. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 401
  • Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • owner: shall mean a person having record title in fee simple to real property or the lessee thereof under a lease having an unexpired term of at least thirty years. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 401
  • 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.
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • persons or families of low income: shall mean "persons of low income" or "families of low income" as defined in section two of this chapter, whose probable aggregate annual income during the period of occupancy does not exceed six times the rental (including the value or cost to them of heat, light, water and cooking fuel) of dwelling units occupied by such persons or families in existing multiple dwellings aided by a loan pursuant to this article, except that in the case of persons or families with three or more dependents, such ratio shall not exceed seven to one, and except further that the income limitations prescribed by this paragraph shall be subject to the provisions of subdivision two of section four hundred three of this article. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 401
  • Petty offense: A federal misdemeanor punishable by six months or less in prison. Source: U.S. Courts
  • plan: shall mean agency, urban renewal area and urban renewal plan, respectively, as defined in article fifteen of the general municipal law. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 252
  • 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.
  • 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 aggregate annual income: means the annual income of the chief wage earner of the family, plus all other income of other members of the family over the age of twenty-one years, plus a proportion of income of gainfully employed members under the age of twenty-one years, the proportion to be determined by the agency. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 401
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Project: shall mean a non-profit capital development project invested with a public interest, including facilities incidental or appurtenant thereto and all lands, buildings and improvements acquired, owned, constructed, maintained or operated pursuant to this article, or any combination thereof. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 252
  • Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • 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.
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
  • 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.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • unencumbered: as used in this article , shall have the same meaning as in paragraph six of subsection (a) of section one thousand four hundred four of the insurance law. See N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law 302