Terms Used In California Codes > Government Code > Title 3 > Division 2 > Part 3 > Chapter 11 > Article 3 - Expenses and Fees

• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• 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}
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• Person: includes any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, limited liability company, syndicate, estate, trust, business trust, or organization of any kind. See California Financial Code 18
• Person: means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, or any organized group of persons whether incorporated or not. See California Food and Agricultural Code 38
• 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.
• 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: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Business and Professions Code 21
• 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
• Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Food and Agricultural Code 49
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Writing: includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. See California Financial Code 8