Terms Used In U.S. Code > Title 22 > Chapter 18 - United States Information and Educational Exchange Programs

• adjusted age of housing: means the arithmetic product of the age of housing in the metropolitan city or urban county multiplied times the adjustment factor. See 42 USC 5302
• adjustment factor: means the ratio between the age of housing in the metropolitan city or urban county and the predicted age of housing in such city or county. See 42 USC 5302
• administering organization: means the recognized, voluntary, private sector, consensus standards body with specific experience in developing model residential building codes and standards involving all disciplines regarding construction and safety that administers the consensus standards through a development process. See 42 USC 5402
• 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.
• age of housing: means the number of existing housing units constructed in 1939 or earlier based on data compiled by the United States Bureau of the Census and referable to the same point or period in time. See 42 USC 5302
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• appropriate committees of Congress: includes the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. See 22 USC 1465ff
• 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
• 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.
• association: when used in reference to a corporation, shall be deemed to embrace the words "successors and assigns of such company or association" in like manner as if these last-named words, or words of similar import, were expressed. See 1 USC 5
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Bureau: means the Bureau of the Census. See 13 USC 1
• Chief Executive: means the person who is the Chief, Chairman, Governor, President, or similar executive official of an Indian tribal government. See 42 USC 5122
• city: means (A) any unit of general local government which is classified as a municipality by the United States Bureau of the Census or (B) any other unit of general local government which is a town or township and which, in the determination of the Secretary, (i) possesses powers and performs functions comparable to these associated with municipalities, (ii) is closely settled, and (iii) contains within its boundaries no incorporated places as defined by the United States Bureau of the Census which have not entered into cooperation agreements with such town or township to undertake or to assist in the undertaking of essential community development and housing assistance activities. See 42 USC 5302
• clinical research: means patient oriented clinical research conducted with human subjects, or research on the causes and consequences of disease in human populations involving material of human origin (such as tissue specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator or colleague directly interacts with human subjects in an outpatient or inpatient setting to clarify a problem in human physiology, pathophysiology or disease, or epidemiologic or behavioral studies, outcomes research or health services research, or developing new technologies, therapeutic interventions, or clinical trials. See 42 USC 284d
• 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.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• consensus committee: means the committee established under section 5403(a)(3) of this title. See 42 USC 5402
• consensus standards development process: means the process by which additions, revisions, and interpretations to the Federal manufactured home construction and safety standards and enforcement regulations shall be developed and recommended to the Secretary by the consensus committee. See 42 USC 5402
• consensus standards organization: means the American Society for Testing and Materials, the American National Standards Institute, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Automotive Engineers, the International Organization for Standardization, any other organization identified as a United States consensus standards organization or a foreign and international consensus standards organization in the Federal Register at 61 Fed. See 15 USC 5402
• 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.
• county: includes a parish, or any other equivalent subdivision of a State or Territory of the United States. See 1 USC 2
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• defect: includes any defect in the performance, construction, components, or material of a manufactured home that renders the home or any part thereof not fit for the ordinary use for which it was intended. See 42 USC 5402
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of State. See 22 USC 1433
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• design approval primary inspection agency: means a State agency or private organization that has been approved by the Secretary to evaluate and either approve or disapprove manufactured home designs and quality control procedures. See 42 USC 5402
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. See 15 USC 5402
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• distributor: means any person engaged in the sale and distribution of manufactured homes for resale. See 42 USC 5402
• distributor: means a person who purchases fasteners for the purpose of reselling them at wholesale to unaffiliated persons within the United States (an original equipment manufacturer and its dealers shall be considered affiliated persons for purposes of this chapter). See 15 USC 5402
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Emergency: means any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the President, Federal assistance is needed to supplement State and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States. See 42 USC 5122
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• 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}
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• extent of growth lag: means the number of persons who would have been residents in a metropolitan city or urban county, in excess of the current population of such metropolitan city or urban county, if such metropolitan city or urban county had had a population growth rate between 1960 and the date of the most recent population count referable to the same point or period in time equal to the population growth rate for such period of all metropolitan cities. See 42 USC 5302
• extent of housing overcrowding: means the number of housing units with 1. See 42 USC 5302
• extent of poverty: means the number of persons whose incomes are below the poverty level. See 42 USC 5302
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• fastener: means a metallic screw, nut, bolt, or stud having internal or external threads, with a nominal diameter of 6 millimeters or greater, in the case of such items described in metric terms, or ¼. See 15 USC 5402
• Federal agency: means any department, independent establishment, Government corporation, or other agency of the executive branch of the Federal Government, including the United States Postal Service, but shall not include the American National Red Cross. See 42 USC 5122
• Federal grant-in-aid program: means a program of Federal financial assistance other than loans and other than the assistance provided by this chapter. See 42 USC 5302
• Federal manufactured home construction and safety standard: means a reasonable standard for the construction, design, and performance of a manufactured home which meets the needs of the public including the need for quality, durability, and safety. See 42 USC 5402
• 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.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Government agency: means any executive department, board, bureau, commission, or other agency of the Federal Government, or independent establishment, or any corporation wholly owned (either directly or through one or more corporations) by the United States. See 22 USC 1433
• Governor: means the chief executive of any State. See 42 USC 5122
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Gross estate: The total fair market value of all property and property interests, real and personal, tangible and intangible, of which a decedent had beneficial ownership at the time of death before subtractions for deductions, debts, administrative expenses, and casualty losses suffered during estate administration.
• 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 stock: means the number of existing housing units based on data compiled by the United States Bureau of the Census and referable to the same point or period in time. See 42 USC 5302
• imminent safety hazard: means an imminent and unreasonable risk of death or severe personal injury. See 42 USC 5402
• including: when used in a definition contained in this title shall not be deemed to exclude other things otherwise within the meaning of the term defined. See 26 USC 7701
• incumbent domestic licensee: means a licensee as provided in section 153(c) ¹ of title 47 that was broadcasting a television signal as of January 1, 1989. See 22 USC 1465ff
• 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}
• Indian tribal government: means the governing body of any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community that the Secretary of the Interior acknowledges to exist as an Indian tribe under the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U. See 42 USC 5122
• Indian tribe: means any Indian tribe, band, group, and nation, including Alaska Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos, and any Alaskan Native Village, of the United States, which is considered an eligible recipient under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (Public Law 93-638) [25 U. See 42 USC 5302
• individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• installation standards: means reasonable specifications for the installation of a manufactured home, at the place of occupancy, to ensure proper siting, the joining of all sections of the home, and the installation of stabilization, support, or anchoring systems. See 42 USC 5402
• insular area: means each of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. See 42 USC 5302
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• 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}
• Internet: means the international computer network of both Federal and non-Federal interoperable data networks. See 15 USC 5503
• 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.
• licensee: has the meaning provided in section 153(c) ¹ of title 47. See 22 USC 1465ff
• Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• local government: means &mdash. See 42 USC 5122
• Major disaster: means any natural catastrophe (including any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, winddriven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought), or, regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, in any part of the United States, which in the determination of the President causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance under this chapter to supplement the efforts and available resources of States, local governments, and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering caused thereby. See 42 USC 5122
• manufactured home: means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or forty body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein. See 42 USC 5402
• manufactured home construction: means all activities relating to the assembly and manufacture of a manufactured home including but not limited to those relating to durability, quality, and safety. See 42 USC 5402
• manufactured home safety: means the performance of a manufactured home in such a manner that the public is protected against any unreasonable risk of the occurrence of accidents due to the design or construction of such manufactured home, or any unreasonable risk of death or injury to the user or to the public if such accidents do occur. See 42 USC 5402
• manufacturer: means any person engaged in manufacturing or assembling manufactured homes, including any person engaged in importing manufactured homes for resale. See 42 USC 5402
• manufacturer: means a person who fabricates fasteners for sale in commerce. See 15 USC 5402
• metropolitan area: means a standard metropolitan statistical area as established by the Office of Management and Budget. See 42 USC 5302
• metropolitan city: means (A) a city within a metropolitan area which is the central city of such area, as defined and used by the Office of Management and Budget, or (B) any other city, within a metropolitan area, which has a population of fifty thousand or more. See 42 USC 5302
• microenterprise: means a commercial enterprise that has 5 or fewer employees, 1 or more of whom owns the enterprise. See 42 USC 5302
• monitoring: means the process of periodic review of the primary inspection agencies, by the Secretary or by a State agency under an approved State plan pursuant to section 5422 of this title, in accordance with regulations promulgated under this chapter, giving due consideration to the recommendations of the consensus committee under section 5403(b) of this title, which process shall be for the purpose of ensuring that the primary inspection agencies are discharging their duties under this chapter. See 42 USC 5402
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• networking and information technology: means high-end computing, communications, and information technologies, high-capacity and high-speed networks, special purpose and experimental systems, high-end computing systems software and applications software, and the management of large data sets. See 15 USC 5503
• nonentitlement area: means an area which is not a metropolitan city or part of an urban county and does not include Indian tribes. See 42 USC 5302
• 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.
• officer: includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office. See 1 USC 1
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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: shall be construed to mean and include an individual, a trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation. See 26 USC 7701
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• persons of moderate income: means families and individuals whose incomes exceed 50 percent, but do not exceed 80 percent, of the median income of the area involved, as determined by the Secretary with adjustments for smaller and larger families. See 42 USC 5302
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• population: means total resident population based on data compiled by the United States Bureau of the Census and referable to the same point or period in time. See 42 USC 5302
• predicted age of housing: means the arithmetic product of the housing stock in the metropolitan city or urban county multiplied times the ratio between the age of housing in all metropolitan areas and the housing stock in all metropolitan areas. See 42 USC 5302
• primary inspection agency: means a State agency or private organization that has been approved by the Secretary to act as a design approval primary inspection agency or a production inspection primary inspection agency, or both. See 42 USC 5402
• private nonprofit facility: includes any private nonprofit facility that provides essential social services to the general public (including museums, zoos, performing arts facilities, community arts centers, community centers, libraries, homeless shelters, senior citizen centers, rehabilitation facilities, shelter workshops, food banks, broadcasting facilities, houses of worship, and facilities that provide health and safety services of a governmental nature), as defined by the President. See 42 USC 5122
• production inspection primary inspection agency: means a State agency or private organization that has been approved by the Secretary to evaluate the ability of manufactured home manufacturing plants to comply with approved quality control procedures and with the Federal manufactured home construction and safety standards promulgated hereunder, including the inspection of homes in the plant. See 42 USC 5402
• Program: means the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program described in section 5511 of this title. See 15 USC 5503
• Public debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
• Public facility: means the following facilities owned by a State or local government:

  (A) Any flood control, navigation, irrigation, reclamation, public power, sewage treatment and collection, water supply and distribution, watershed development, or airport facility. See 42 USC 5122

• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• purchaser: means the first person purchasing a manufactured home in good faith for purposes other than resale. See 42 USC 5402
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• record of conformance: means a record or records for each lot of fasteners sold or offered for sale that contains&mdash. See 15 USC 5402
• 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.
• retailer: means any person engaged in the sale, leasing, or distribution of new manufactured homes primarily to persons who in good faith purchase or lease a manufactured home for purposes other than resale. See 42 USC 5402
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. See 42 USC 5302
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Commerce. See 13 USC 1
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. See 42 USC 5402
• Secretary: means the Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate. See 26 USC 7701
• Secretary: means the Secretary of State. See 22 USC 1433
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Health and Human Services. See 42 USC 201
• Service: means the Public Health Service. See 42 USC 201
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• small business: means a business that meets the criteria set forth in section 632(a) of title 15. See 42 USC 5302
• specifications: means the required characteristics identified in the contractual agreement with the manufacturer or to which a fastener is otherwise produced, except that the term does not include proprietary standards. See 15 USC 5402
• State: means any State of the United States, or any instrumentality thereof approved by the Governor. See 42 USC 5302
• State: includes each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American Samoa. See 42 USC 5402
• State: means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. See 42 USC 5122
• State: shall be construed to include the District of Columbia, where such construction is necessary to carry out provisions of this title. See 26 USC 7701
• State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7
• State: includes , in addition to the several States, only the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. See 42 USC 201
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• 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.
• unit of general local government: means any city, county, town, township, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State. See 42 USC 5302
• United States: means the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. See 42 USC 5122
• United States district courts: means the Federal district courts of the United States and the United States courts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American Samoa. See 42 USC 5402
• urban county: means any county within a metropolitan area which&mdash. See 42 USC 5302
• vehicle: includes every description of carriage or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on land. See 1 USC 4
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• whoever: include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals. See 1 USC 1
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writ of certiorari: An order issued by the Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case for which it will hear on appeal.
• writing: includes printing and typewriting and reproductions of visual symbols by photographing, multigraphing, mimeographing, manifolding, or otherwise. See 1 USC 1