Terms Used In Arizona Laws > Title 12 > Chapter 21 > Article 1 - General Provisions

• Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Arbitration organization: means an association, agency, board, commission or other entity that is neutral and that initiates, sponsors or administers an arbitration proceeding or is involved in the appointment of an arbitrator. See Arizona Laws 12-3001
• Arbitrator: means an individual who is appointed to render an award, alone or with others, in a controversy that is subject to an agreement to arbitrate. See Arizona Laws 12-3001
• 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.
• Court: means a court of competent jurisdiction in this state. See Arizona Laws 12-3001
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• 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.
• Knowledge: means actual knowledge. See Arizona Laws 12-3001
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• 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.
• 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: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality or public corporation or any other legal or commercial entity. See Arizona Laws 12-3001
• 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.
• Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and that is retrievable in perceivable form. See Arizona Laws 12-3001
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testify: includes every manner of oral statement under oath or affirmation. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215