Terms Used In California Codes > Evidence Code > Division 6 > Chapter 6 - Credibility of Witnesses

• Act: means the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 2001 established pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 8010) of Part 2 of Division 7 of . See California Education Code 92618
• Action: includes a civil action and a criminal action. See California Evidence Code 105
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• assessed value: means 25 percent of full value to, and including, the 1980-81 fiscal year, and 100 percent of full value for the 1981-82 fiscal year and fiscal years thereafter. See California Government Code 25
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• board: means any entity listed in Section 101, the entities referred to in Sections 1000 and 3600, the State Bar, the Department of Real Estate, and any other state agency that issues a license, certificate, or registration authorizing a person to engage in a business or profession. See California Business and Professions Code 31
• Board: means the Board of Supervisors of the County of Riverside. See California Elections Code 21540
• candidate: includes any officeholder who is subject to a recall election. See California Elections Code 305
• Charitable purpose: means the relief of poverty, the advancement of education or religion, the promotion of health, the promotion of a governmental purpose, or any other purpose the achievement of which is beneficial to the community. See California Probate Code 18502
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Commission: means the Citizens Redistricting Commission in the County of Riverside established pursuant to Section 21542. See California Elections Code 21540
• 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.
• Conduct: includes all active and passive behavior, both verbal and nonverbal. See California Evidence Code 125
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• County: includes city and county. See California Business and Professions Code 17
• Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
• 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.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Election: means any election including a primary that is provided for under this code. See California Elections Code 318
• Elections official: means any of the following:

  California Elections Code 320

• Endowment fund: means an institutional fund or part thereof that, under the terms of a gift instrument, is not wholly expendable by the institution on a current basis. See California Probate Code 18502
• Evidence: means testimony, writings, material objects, or other things presented to the senses that are offered to prove the existence or nonexistence of a fact. See California Evidence Code 140
• 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.
• Gift instrument: means a record or records, including an institutional solicitation, under which property is granted to, transferred to, or held by an institution as an institutional fund. See California Probate Code 18502
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• hearing: means the hearing at which a question under this code arises, and not some earlier or later hearing. See California Evidence Code 145
• Immediate family member: means a spouse, child, in-law, parent, or sibling. See California Elections Code 21540
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Institution: means any of the following:

  California Probate Code 18502

• Institution: means a campus of the University of California. See California Education Code 92618
• Institutional fund: means a fund held by an institution exclusively for charitable purposes. See California Probate Code 18502
• Instrument: means a will, a document establishing or modifying a trust, a deed, or any other writing that designates a beneficiary or makes a donative transfer of property. See California Probate Code 45
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• 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.
• license: means license, certificate, registration, or other means to engage in a business or profession regulated by this code or referred to in Section 1000 or 3600. See California Business and Professions Code 23.7
• Licensee: means any person authorized by a license, certificate, registration, or other means to engage in a business or profession regulated by this code or referred to in Sections 1000 and 3600. See California Business and Professions Code 23.8
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See California Penal Code 7
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Party: means a political party or organization that has qualified for participation in any primary or presidential general election. See California Elections Code 338
• Perceive: means to acquire knowledge through one's senses. See California Evidence Code 170
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See California Probate Code 18502
• Person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Process: signifies a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
• Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership and includes both real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Probate Code 62
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See California Probate Code 18502
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• seal: includes an impression of such seal upon the paper alone, or upon any substance attached to the paper capable of receiving a visible impression. See California Penal Code 7
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. See California Food and Agricultural Code 35
• 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 any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession subject to the legislative authority of the United States. See California Probate Code 74
• State: includes the District of Columbia and the territories when applied to the different parts of the United States, and the words "United States" may include the district and territories. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
• State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Evidence Code 220
• state agency: includes every state office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, and commission. See California Government Code 11000
• Statement: means (a) oral or written verbal expression or (b) nonverbal conduct of a person intended by him as a substitute for oral or written verbal expression. See California Evidence Code 225
• Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs, unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Business and Professions Code 15
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• subscription: includes mark when the signer or subscriber cannot write, such signer's or subscriber's name being written near the mark by a witness who writes his own name near the signer's or subscriber's name. See California Military and Veterans Code 17
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• Trust: includes the following:

  California Probate Code 82

• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• vessel: means a vessel as defined in subdivision (c) of §. See California Penal Code 7
• Voter: means any elector who is registered under this code. See California Elections Code 359
• war: shall mean : (a) whenever Congress has declared war and peace has not been formally restored. See California Military and Veterans Code 18
• Will: includes codicil and any testamentary instrument which merely appoints an executor or revokes or revises another will. See California Probate Code 88
• Will: includes codicil. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17