Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 48 > Article 2 - Marriages

• Advanced professional development training: means any academy, class, conference, course, program, seminar or training attended by an employee that:

  (1) Is not required by his or her current position. See West Virginia Code 6C-4-1

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• 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: means an administrative unit of state government, including, without limitation, any authority, board, bureau, commission, committee, council, division, section, or office within the executive branch of state government. See West Virginia Code 6C-4-1
• Agriculture: means the cultivation of the soil, including the planting and harvesting of crops and the breeding and management of livestock. See West Virginia Code 11-5-3
• Aircraft: means a weight-carrying structure for navigation of the air that is supported by the dynamic action of the air against its surfaces and includes, but is not limited to, an airplane or helicopter. See West Virginia Code 11-6H-2
• Airplane: means a fixed-wing aircraft heavier than air that is driven by a propeller or by jet, turbojet, turbofan, ram jet, pulse jet, scramjet or rocket engine and supported by the dynamic reaction of air against its wings. See West Virginia Code 11-6H-2
• alternative fuel: means and includes:

  (A) Compressed natural gas. See West Virginia Code 11-6D-2

• 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.
• 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.
• Appropriate authority: means a federal, state, county or municipal government body, agency or organization having jurisdiction over criminal law enforcement, regulatory violations, professional conduct or ethics, or waste. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2
• 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
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Association: means a partnership, limited partnership or any other form of unincorporated enterprise, owned or conducted by two or more persons. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Certified capital addition property: means all real property and personal property included within or to be included within a qualified capital addition to a manufacturing facility that has been certified by the State Tax Commissioner in accordance with §. See West Virginia Code 11-6F-2
• Commissioner: means the State Tax Commissioner. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuing professional education: means educational courses, seminars, lectures or programs necessary to maintain or renew an employee'. See West Virginia Code 6C-4-1
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: means a corporation or joint-stock association, organized under the laws of this state, the United States or any other state, territory or foreign country or dependency including, but not limited to, banking institutions. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
• 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.
• County court: includes any existing tribunal created in lieu of a county commission. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• 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.
• Die: means a device for shaping, forming or stamping material by pressure or by a blow, or for impressing a figure or design on material by pressure or by a blow, and other devices as set forth in this subdivision. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Document: means any deed, or instrument or writing by which any real property within this state or any interest in real property is granted, conveyed or otherwise transferred to the grantee, purchaser or any other person. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
• Employee: means a person who performs a full or part-time service for wages, salary, or other remuneration under a contract of hire, written or oral, express or implied, for a public body. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2
• Employee: means any person who performs a full or part-time service for wages, salary, or other remuneration under a contract for hire, written or oral, express or implied, for an agency and receives advanced professional development training after the effective date of this article. See West Virginia Code 6C-4-1
• Employer: means a person supervising one or more employees, including the employee in question, a superior of that supervisor, or an agent of a public body. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2
• 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
• 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.
• Form: means a mold, as defined in this section, or a frame, shape, body or implement around which or on which a manufactured product is shaped or made, and which is designed to cause the manufactured product to take on a specific particular shape. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: shall mean the mayor and council together, the council, the board of directors, the commission, or other board or body of any municipality, by whatever name called, as the case may be, charged with the responsibility of enacting ordinances and determining the public policy of such municipality. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Helicopter: means an aircraft whose support in the air is derived chiefly from the aerodynamic forces acting on one or more rotors turning about on substantially vertical axes. See West Virginia Code 11-6H-2
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• jig: includes a checking fixture, which is a jig built to test manufactured parts produced from a set of dies or other manufactured parts, for conformity to specifications. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• 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}
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Limited liability company: means a limited liability company organized under the laws of this state, the United States or by any other state, territory or the District of Columbia. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
• Liquefied petroleum gas: means fuel commonly known and designated as "liquefied petroleum gas" or "LP gas". See West Virginia Code 11-6D-2
• Manufacturer: means a person engaged in the activity of manufacturing in this state. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• manufacturing: include the activities of building construction, construction of other structures or facilities affixed to or on realty, retailing or agriculture, food processing or food manufacturing, the operation of any restaurant or retail food preparation or sales operation, the production of any natural resource, contract mining or any other activity of severing, producing, processing or extracting any natural resource. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• Manufacturing: means any business activity classified as having a sector identifier, consisting of the first two digits of the six-digit North American Industry Classification System code number of 31, 32, or 33. See West Virginia Code 11-6F-2
• Manufacturing facility: means any factory, mill, chemical plant, refinery, warehouse, building or complex of buildings, including land on which it is located, and all machinery, equipment, improvements, and other real property and personal property located at or within the facility used in connection with the operation of the facility in a manufacturing business. See West Virginia Code 11-6F-2
• Manufacturing service provider: means a person engaged in a manufacturing activity who does not have legal title to or any economic interest in the tangible personal property transformed or converted by the manufacturing process, and who engages in the manufacturing activity as a service to another person. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• model: means a shape or figure made of wood, metal or other material having the basic shape of the manufactured product, with such appropriate sprues, runners and other necessary additional features as may be needed for efficient casting or production of the manufactured product. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• mold: includes molds and mold cavities used in compression molding, transfer molding, injection molding, blow molding or blowing, and vacuum forming. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Ordinance: shall mean the ordinances and laws enacted by the governing body of a municipality in the exercise of its legislative power, and in one or more articles of this chapter, ordinances enacted by a county commission. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• 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.
• pattern: includes a model for making a sand casting mold into which molten metal is poured to form a casting. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• Person: means every natural person, association or corporation. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
• Person: shall mean any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, or any other entity or organization of whatever character or description. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Person: means and includes any state, or its political subdivisions or an agency of the State of West Virginia or its political subdivisions, or any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, joint stock company, the government of the United States or its agencies, any public or private corporation, municipal corporation, cooperative, estate, trust, business trust, receiver, executor, administrator, any other fiduciary, any representative appointed by order of any court or otherwise acting on behalf of others, or any other group or combination acting as a unit. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• Personal property: means all property specified in §. See West Virginia Code 11-6F-2
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• personal property: includes goods, chattels, real and personal, money, credits, investments, and the evidences thereof. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle: means :

  (1) A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle manufactured by an established motor vehicle manufacturer of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that can operate solely on electric power and that is capable of recharging its battery from an on-board generation source and an off-board electricity source. See West Virginia Code 11-6D-2

• pollution control facility: means any personal property designed, constructed or installed primarily for the purpose of abating or reducing water or air pollution or contamination by removing, altering, disposing, treating, storing or dispersing the concentration of pollutants, contaminants, wastes or heat in compliance with air or water quality or effluent standards prescribed by or promulgated under the laws of this state or the United States, the design, construction and installation of which personal property was approved as a pollution control facility by either the office of water resources or the office of air quality, both of the Division of Environmental Protection, as the case may be. See West Virginia Code 11-6A-2
• Professional accreditation: means any certification, degree, advanced degree, endorsement or occupational license. See West Virginia Code 6C-4-1
• Public body: means any of the following:

  (1) A department, division, officer, agency, bureau, board, commission, court in its nonjudicial functions only, council, institution, spending unit, authority or other instrumentality of the State of West Virginia. See West Virginia Code 6C-1-2

• Qualified alternative-fuel vehicle home refueling infrastructure: means property owned by the applicant for the tax credit located on a private residence or private home and used for storing alternative fuels and for dispensing such alternative fuels into fuel tanks of motor vehicles, including, but not limited to, compression equipment, storage tanks and dispensing units for alternative fuel at the point where the fuel is delivered or for providing electricity to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles or electric vehicles: Provided, That the property is installed and located in this state. See West Virginia Code 11-6D-2
• Qualified alternative-fuel vehicle refueling infrastructure: means property owned by the applicant for the tax credit and used for storing alternative fuels and for dispensing such alternative fuels into fuel tanks of motor vehicles, including, but not limited to, natural gas supply lines, compression equipment, storage tanks and dispensing units for alternative fuel at the point where the fuel is delivered into a motor vehicle for consumption: Provided, That the property is installed and located in this state and is not located in or on a private residence or private home. See West Virginia Code 11-6D-2
• Qualified capital addition to a manufacturing facility: means either:

  (1) All real property and personal property, the combined original cost of which exceeds $50 million to be constructed, located, or installed at or within two miles of a manufacturing facility owned or operated by the person making the capital addition that has a total original cost before the capital addition of at least $100 million. See West Virginia Code 11-6F-2

• qualified motor vehicle: means a motor vehicle that as a new or retrofitted or converted fuel vehicle:

  (1) Operates solely on one alternative fuel. See West Virginia Code 11-6D-2

• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: means all property specified in §. See West Virginia Code 11-6F-2
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Salvage value: means the lower of fair market salvage value or five percent of the original cost of the property. See West Virginia Code 11-6H-2
• Salvage value: means the lower of fair market salvage value or five percent of the original cost of the property. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• 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.
• Special aircraft property: means all aircraft owned or leased by commercial airlines or private carriers, or any parts, materials or items used in the construction, maintenance or repair of aircraft which are, or are intended to become, affixed to or a part of an aircraft or of an aircraft&rsquo. See West Virginia Code 11-6H-2
• Specialized manufacturing production property: means molds, jigs, dies, forms, patterns or templates, as defined in this section, directly used in manufacturing. See West Virginia Code 11-6E-2
• State: means a state of the United States, or the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See West Virginia Code 48-14-601
• State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Tax year: means the calendar year following the July first assessment day or, in the case of a public service business assessed pursuant to article six of this chapter, the calendar year beginning on the January first assessment day. See West Virginia Code 11-5-3
• Taxpayer: means any natural person, corporation, limited liability company or partnership subject to the tax imposed under article twenty-one, article twenty-three or article twenty-four of this chapter or any combination thereof. See West Virginia Code 11-6D-2
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Town: includes a city, village or town, and the word "council" any body or board, whether composed of one or more branches, which is authorized to make ordinances for the government of a city, town, or village. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Training compensation: means tuition and expenses, paid to an or on the behalf of an employee for advanced professional development training. See West Virginia Code 6C-4-1
• 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.
• Value: means in the case of any document not a gift, the amount of the full actual consideration for the document, paid or to be paid, including the amount of any lien or liens assumed. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
• whoever: includes corporations, societies, associations and partnerships, and other similar legal business organizations. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.