Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 52 > Chapter 5 - Investigators and Special State Police Officers

• Adequate space: means sufficient space to allow each animal to (i) easily stand, sit, lie, turn about, and make all other normal body movements in a comfortable, normal position for the animal and (ii) interact safely with other animals in the enclosure. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Adoption: means the transfer of ownership of a dog or a cat, or any other companion animal, from a releasing agency to an individual. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Animal: means any nonhuman vertebrate species except fish. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Animal control officer: means a person appointed as an animal control officer or deputy animal control officer as provided in § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Annual percentage rate: The cost of credit at a yearly rate. It is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan so borrowers can compare loans. Lenders are required by law to disclose a card account's APR. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• Bailiff: a court officer who enforces the rules of behavior in courtrooms.
• Board: means the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Boarding establishment: means a place or establishment other than a public or private animal shelter where companion animals not owned by the proprietor are sheltered, fed, and watered in exchange for a fee. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Bond: includes any form of financial instrument that provides security equivalent to that provided by a bond, such as an irrevocable letter of credit, if its use in lieu of a bond is authorized pursuant to regulations adopted by the Commission. See Virginia Code 6.2-2200
• care: means the responsible practice of good animal husbandry, handling, production, management, confinement, feeding, watering, protection, shelter, transportation, treatment, and, when necessary, euthanasia, appropriate for the age, species, condition, size and type of the animal and the provision of veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering or impairment of health. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Check casher: means a person engaged in the business of cashing checks, drafts, or money orders for compensation. See Virginia Code 6.2-2100
• Chief: means the Chief of the Division of Mines of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-100
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Collar: means a well-fitted device, appropriate to the age and size of the animal, attached to the animal's neck in such a way as to prevent trauma or injury to the animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Commercial dog breeder: means any person who, during any 12-month period, maintains 30 or more adult female dogs for the primary purpose of the sale of their offspring provided that a person who breeds an animal regulated under federal law as a research animal shall not be deemed to be a commercial dog breeder. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Companion animal: means any domestic or feral dog, domestic or feral cat, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit not raised for human food or fiber, exotic or native animal, reptile, exotic or native bird, or any feral animal or any animal under the care, custody, or ownership of a person or any animal that is bought, sold, traded, or bartered by any person. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• company: shall mean all corporations created by acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, or under the general incorporation laws of this Commonwealth, or doing business therein, and shall exclude all municipal corporations, other political subdivisions, and public institutions owned or controlled by the Commonwealth; and the term "the Commission" shall mean the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 12.1-1
• Consumer: means an individual residing in the Commonwealth who owes money to one or more creditors, for personal, family, or household purposes, including an individual who owes money jointly with one or more other individuals. See Virginia Code 6.2-2026
• Consumer: means any natural person purchasing an animal from a dealer or pet shop or hiring the services of a boarding establishment. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Corporation: means a private or public corporation, association, or trust issuing a security. See Virginia Code 13.1-434
• Courts of record: means the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the circuit courts. See Virginia Code 1-212
• Creditor: includes persons that extend credit to, or persons that service loans made to, consumers. See Virginia Code 6.2-2026
• Dealer: means any person who in the regular course of business for compensation or profit buys, sells, transfers, exchanges, or barters companion animals. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Debt settlement services: means any action or negotiation initiated or taken on behalf of any consumer with any creditor of the consumer for the purpose of obtaining debt forgiveness of all or a portion of the credit extended by the creditor to the consumer or a reduction of payments, charges, or fees payable by the consumer. See Virginia Code 6.2-2026
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Duplicate original: means an exact copy with signatures created by the same impression as the original, an exact copy bearing an original signature, or, in the case of an electronic transaction, an electronic version with electronic signatures. See Virginia Code 6.2-2026
• Electronic signature: means an electronic signature as defined in § 59. See Virginia Code 6.2-2026
• Eligible employee stock ownership plan: means an employee stock ownership plan as such term is defined in § 4975(e)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, sponsored by a professional corporation and with respect to which:

  1. See Virginia Code 13.1-543

• Emergency veterinary treatment: means veterinary treatment to stabilize a life-threatening condition, alleviate suffering, prevent further disease transmission, or prevent further disease progression. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Enclosure: means a structure used to house or restrict animals from running at large. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Euthanasia: means the humane destruction of an animal accomplished by a method that involves instantaneous unconsciousness and immediate death or by a method that involves anesthesia, produced by an agent that causes painless loss of consciousness, and death during such loss of consciousness. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• exercise: means the opportunity for the animal to move sufficiently to maintain normal muscle tone and mass for the age, species, size, and condition of the animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Facility: means a building or portion thereof as designated by the State Veterinarian, other than a private residential dwelling and its surrounding grounds, that is used to contain a primary enclosure or enclosures in which animals are housed or kept. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Groomer: means any person who, for a fee, cleans, trims, brushes, makes neat, manicures, or treats for external parasites any animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Humane: means any action taken in consideration of and with the intent to provide for the animal's health and well-being. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Humane investigator: means a person who has been appointed by a circuit court as a humane investigator as provided in § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inspector: means a State Animal Welfare Inspector employed pursuant to § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Interest: means all charges payable directly or indirectly by a borrower to a licensee as a condition to a loan, including fees, service charges, and renewal charges, and any ancillary product sold in connection with a loan, but does not include the monthly maintenance fees, deposit item return fees, late charges, or reasonable costs of repossession and sale authorized under § 6. See Virginia Code 6.2-2200
• Item: means a check, draft, or money order. See Virginia Code 6.2-2100
• Kennel: means any establishment in which five or more canines, felines, or hybrids of either are kept for the purpose of breeding, hunting, training, renting, buying, boarding, selling, or showing. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Law-enforcement officer: means any person who is a full-time or part-time employee of a police department or sheriff's office that is part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof and who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Licensee: means a person licensed under this chapter. See Virginia Code 6.2-2026
• Licensee: means a person to whom a license has been issued under this chapter. See Virginia Code 6.2-2200
• Livestock: includes all domestic or domesticated: bovine animals; equine animals; ovine animals; porcine animals; cervidae animals; capradae animals; animals of the genus Lama or Vicugna; ratites; fish or shellfish in aquaculture facilities, as defined in § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• loan agreement: means a written document that sets out the terms and conditions under which a licensee agrees to make a motor vehicle title loan to a borrower, and the borrower agrees to give to the licensee a security interest in a motor vehicle owned by the borrower to secure repayment of the motor vehicle title loan and performance of the other obligations under the loan agreement. See Virginia Code 6.2-2200
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Motor vehicle: means an automobile, motorcycle, mobile home, truck, van, or other vehicle operated on public highways and streets. See Virginia Code 6.2-2200
• New owner: means an individual who is legally competent to enter into a binding agreement pursuant to subdivision B 2 of § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Ordinance: means any law, rule, regulation, or ordinance adopted by the governing body of any locality. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Owner: means any person who: (i) has a right of property in an animal; (ii) keeps or harbors an animal; (iii) has an animal in his care; or (iv) acts as a custodian of an animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Person: means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, or other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-2200
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Pet shop: means a retail establishment where companion animals are bought, sold, exchanged, or offered for sale or exchange to the general public. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• 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}
• 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.
• Principal: means any person that, directly or indirectly, owns or controls (i) 10 percent or more of the outstanding stock of a stock corporation or (ii) a 10 percent or greater interest in a person. See Virginia Code 6.2-2026
• Principal: means any person who, directly or indirectly, owns or controls (i) 10 percent or more of the outstanding stock of a stock corporation or (ii) a 10 percent or greater interest in any other type of entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-2200
• Private animal shelter: means a facility operated for the purpose of finding permanent adoptive homes for animals that is used to house or contain animals and that is owned or operated by an incorporated, nonprofit, and nongovernmental entity, including a humane society, animal welfare organization, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or any other similar organization. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Professional business entity: means any entity as defined in § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-543
• Professional corporation: means a corporation whose articles of incorporation set forth a sole and specific purpose permitted by this chapter and that is either (i) organized under this chapter for the sole and specific purpose of rendering professional service other than that of architects, professional engineers, land surveyors, or landscape architects, or using a title other than that of certified interior designers and, except as expressly otherwise permitted by this chapter, that has as its shareholders or members only individuals or professional business entities that are duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to render the same professional service as the corporation, including the trustees of an eligible employee stock ownership plan or (ii) organized under this chapter for the sole and specific purpose of rendering the professional services of architects, professional engineers, land surveyors, or landscape architects, or using the title of certified interior designers, or any combination thereof, and at least two-thirds of whose shares are held by persons duly licensed within the Commonwealth to perform the services of an architect, professional engineer, land surveyor, or landscape architect, including the trustees of an eligible employee stock ownership plan, or by persons legally authorized within the Commonwealth to use the title of certified interior designer; or (iii) organized under this chapter or under Chapter 10 of Title 54. See Virginia Code 13.1-543
• Professional service: means any type of personal service to the public that requires as a condition precedent to the rendering of such service or use of such title the obtaining of a license, certification, or other legal authorization and shall be limited to the personal services rendered by pharmacists, optometrists, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants, practitioners of the healing arts, advanced practice registered nurses, practitioners of the behavioral science professions, veterinarians, surgeons, dentists, architects, professional engineers, land surveyors, landscape architects, certified interior designers, public accountants, certified public accountants, attorneys-at-law, insurance consultants, and audiologists or speech pathologists. See Virginia Code 13.1-543
• Public animal shelter: means a facility operated by the Commonwealth, or any locality, for the purpose of impounding or sheltering seized, stray, homeless, abandoned, unwanted, or surrendered animals or a facility operated for the same purpose under a contract with any locality. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Registrant: means a person registered under this chapter. See Virginia Code 6.2-2100
• Registration: means a registration filed under this chapter. See Virginia Code 6.2-2100
• Releasing agency: means (i) a public animal shelter or (ii) a private animal shelter, humane society, animal welfare organization, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or other similar entity or home-based rescue that releases companion animals for adoption. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
• Security: includes any share of stock, bond, debenture, note or other security issued by a corporation and registered as to ownership on the books of the corporation. See Virginia Code 13.1-434
• 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.
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 1-206
• State Veterinarian: means the veterinarian employed by the Commissioner as provided in § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-5900
• 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.
• title loan: means a loan secured by a non-purchase money security interest in a motor vehicle. See Virginia Code 6.2-2200
• Transfer agent: includes any person employed or authorized to transfer securities issued by a corporation, including a registrar. See Virginia Code 13.1-434
• Treasurer: includes the treasurer and his assistants of each county or city or other officer designated by law to collect taxes in such county or city. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Truth in Lending Act: The Truth in Lending Act is a federal law that requires lenders to provide standardized information so that borrowers can compare loan terms. In general, lenders must provide information on ^{Source: OCC}
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Veterinary treatment: means treatment by or on the order of a duly licensed veterinarian. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Weaned: means that an animal is capable of and physiologically accustomed to ingestion of solid food or food customary for the adult of the species and has ingested such food, without nursing, for a period of at least five days. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.