Terms Used In U.S. Code > Title 39 > Part IV > Chapter 36 - Postal Rates, Classes, and Services

• 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.
• 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.
• 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: 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
• Chairman: means the Chairman of the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Policies. See 22 USC 262r
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• 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
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• development: means any or all undertakings necessary for planning, land acquisition, demolition, construction, or equipment, in connection with a low-income housing project. See 42 USC 1437a
• 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.
• families: includes families consisting of a single person in the case of (i) an elderly person, (ii) a disabled person, (iii) a displaced person, (iv) the remaining member of a tenant family, (v) a youth described in section 1437f(x)(2)(B) of this title, and (vi) any other single persons. See 42 USC 1437a
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• 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}
• Governors: means the 9 members of the Board of Governors appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, under section 202(a) of this title. See 39 USC 102
• individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
• Inspector General: means the Inspector General appointed under section 202(e) of this title. See 39 USC 102
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• 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.
• Postal Service: means the United States Postal Service established by section 201 of this title. See 39 USC 102
• product: means a postal service with a distinct cost or market characteristic for which a rate or rates are, or may reasonably be, applied. See 39 USC 102
• project: means (A) housing developed, acquired, or assisted by a public housing agency under this chapter, and (B) the improvement of any such housing. See 42 USC 1437a
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• public housing: includes dwelling units in a mixed finance project that are assisted by a public housing agency with capital or operating assistance. See 42 USC 1437a
• public housing agency: means any State, county, municipality, or other governmental entity or public body (or agency or instrumentality thereof) which is authorized to engage in or assist in the development or operation of public housing, or a consortium of such entities or bodies as approved by the Secretary. See 42 USC 1437a
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. See 42 USC 1437a
• 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: includes the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories and possessions of the United States, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. See 42 USC 1437a
• 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
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• subscription: includes a mark when the person making the same intended it as such. See 1 USC 1
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• vessel: includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water. See 1 USC 3
• writing: includes printing and typewriting and reproductions of visual symbols by photographing, multigraphing, mimeographing, manifolding, or otherwise. See 1 USC 1