Terms Used In U.S. Code > Title 43 > Chapter 12 - Reclamation and Irrigation of Lands by Federal Government

• Administration: means the Social Security Administration, except where the context requires otherwise. See 42 USC 1301
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• 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
• Balanced budget: A budget in which receipts equal outlays.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• 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}
• 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.
• construction: shall include rehabilitation and betterment. See 43 USC 422b
• construction charges: shall mean the amounts of principal obligations payable to the United States under water-right applications, repayment contracts, orders of the Secretary, or other forms of obligation entered into pursuant to the Federal reclamation laws, excepting amounts payable for water rental or power charges, operation and maintenance and other yearly service charges, and excepting also any other operation and maintenance, interest, or other charges which are not covered into the principal sums of the construction accounts of the Bureau of Reclamation. See 43 USC 485a
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• contract: means any repayment or water service contract between the United States and a district providing for the payment of construction charges to the United States including normal operation, maintenance, and replacement costs pursuant to Federal reclamation law. See 43 USC 390bb
• 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.
• 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.
• development unit: shall mean a part of a project which, for purposes of orderly engineering or reclamation development, is designated as a development unit by order of the Secretary. See 43 USC 485a
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• district: means any individual or any legal entity established under State law which has entered into a contract or is eligible to contract with the Secretary for irrigation water. See 43 USC 390bb
• division of a project: shall mean any part of a project designated as a division by order of the Secretary or any phase or feature of project operations given a separate designation as a division by order of the Secretary for the purposes of orderly and efficient administration. See 43 USC 485a
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• 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.
• 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.
• Federal irrigation project: means any irrigation project subject to the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902, 32 Stat. See 43 USC 451i
• Federal reclamation laws: shall mean the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. See 43 USC 422b
• Federal reclamation laws: shall mean the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. See 43 USC 485a
• 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.
• full cost: means an annual rate as determined by the Secretary that shall amortize the expenditures for construction properly allocable to irrigation facilities in service, including all operation and maintenance deficits funded, less payments, over such periods as may be required under Federal reclamation law or applicable contract provisions, with interest on both accruing from October 12, 1982, on costs outstanding at that date, or from the date incurred in the case of costs arising subsequent to October 12, 1982: Provided, That operation, maintenance, and replacement charges required under Federal reclamation law, including this subchapter, shall be collected in addition to the full cost charge. See 43 USC 390bb
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• hospitalization: include osteopathic practitioners or the services of osteopathic practitioners and hospitals within the scope of their practice as defined by State law. See 42 USC 1301
• including: when used in a definition contained in this chapter shall not be deemed to exclude other things otherwise within the meaning of the term defined. See 42 USC 1301
• individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
• individual: means any natural person, including his or her spouse, and including other dependents thereof within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U. See 43 USC 390bb
• 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}
• irrigation block: shall mean an area of arid or semiarid lands in a project in which, in the judgment of the Secretary, the irrigable lands should be reclaimed and put under irrigation at substantially the same time, and which is designated as an irrigation block by order of the Secretary. See 43 USC 485a
• irrigation water: means water made available for agricultural purposes from the operation of reclamation project facilities pursuant to a contract with the Secretary. See 43 USC 390bb
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
• 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.
• landholding: means total irrigable acreage of one or more tracts of land situated in one or more districts owned or operated under a lease which is served with irrigation water pursuant to a contract with the Secretary. See 43 USC 390bb
• 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.
• limited recipient: means any legal entity established under State or Federal law benefiting more than twenty-five natural persons. See 43 USC 390bb
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Markup: The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned 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
• organization: shall mean a State or a department, agency, or political subdivision thereof or a conservancy district, irrigation district, water users' association, an agency created by interstate compact, or similar organization which has capacity to contract with the United States under the Federal reclamation laws. See 43 USC 422b
• organization: shall mean any conservancy district, irrigation district, water users' association, or other organization, which is organized under State law and which has capacity to enter into contracts with the United States pursuant to the Federal reclamation laws. See 43 USC 485a
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• person: means an individual, a trust or estate, a partnership, or a corporation. See 42 USC 1301
• 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.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• project: means any reclamation or irrigation project, including incidental features thereof, authorized by Federal reclamation law, or constructed by the United States pursuant to such law, or in connection with which there is a repayment or water service contract executed by the United States pursuant to such law, or any project constructed by the Secretary through the Bureau of Reclamation for the reclamation of lands. See 43 USC 390bb
• project: shall mean (i) any complete irrigation project, or (ii) any multiple-purpose water resource project that is authorized or is eligible for authorization under the Federal reclamation laws, or (iii) any distinct unit of a project described in clause (i) and (ii) or (iv) any project for the drainage of irrigated lands, without regard to whether such lands are irrigated with water supplies developed pursuant to the Federal reclamation laws, or (v) any project for the rehabilitation and betterment of a project or distinct unit described in clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv): Provided, That the estimated total cost of the project described in clause (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) does not exceed the maximum allowable estimated total project cost as determined by subsection (f) hereof: Provided further, That a project described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) may consist of existing facilities as distinct from newly constructed facilities, and funds made available pursuant to this subchapter may be utilized to acquire such facilities subject to a determination by the Secretary that such facilities meet standards of design and construction which he shall promulgate and that the cost of such existing facilities represent less than fifty per centum of the cost of the project. See 43 USC 422b
• project: shall mean any reclamation or irrigation project, including incidental features thereof, authorized by the Federal reclamation laws, or constructed by the United States pursuant to said laws, or in connection with which there is a repayment contract executed by the United States, pursuant to said laws, or any project constructed or operated and maintained by the Secretary through the Bureau of Reclamation for the reclamation of arid lands or other purposes. See 43 USC 485a
• project contract unit: shall mean a project or any substantial area of a project which is covered or is proposed to be covered by a repayment contract. See 43 USC 485a
• 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 law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• qualified recipient: means an individual who is a citizen of the United States or a resident alien thereof or any legal entity established under State or Federal law which benefits twenty-five natural persons or less. See 43 USC 390bb
• Ranking minority member: The highest ranking (and usually longest serving) minority member of a committee or subcommittee.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• recordable contract: means a contract between the Secretary and a landowner in writing capable of being recorded under State law providing for the sale or disposition of lands held in excess of the ownership limitations of Federal reclamation law including this subchapter. See 43 USC 390bb
• regulations: means , unless the context otherwise requires, regulations prescribed by the Secretary. See 42 USC 1395hh
• 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.
• repayment contract: shall mean any contract providing for payment of construction charges to the United States. See 43 USC 485a
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Revocable trust: A trust agreement that can be canceled, rescinded, revoked, or repealed by the grantor (person who establishes the trust).
• Secretary: means the Secretary of the Interior. See 43 USC 390bb
• Secretary: shall mean the Secretary of the Interior. See 43 USC 422b
• Secretary: shall mean the Secretary of the Interior. See 43 USC 485a
• 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.
• 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: when used in such subchapters (but not in subchapter XVI as in effect pursuant to such amendment after December 31, 1973) includes Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. See 42 USC 1301
• 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
• 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.
• 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.
• United States: means (but only for purposes of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this paragraph) the fifty States and the District of Columbia. See 42 USC 1301
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• writing: includes printing and typewriting and reproductions of visual symbols by photographing, multigraphing, mimeographing, manifolding, or otherwise. See 1 USC 1