Terms Used In California Codes > Health and Safety Code > Division 104 > Part 13

• Action: means an action for partition under this title. See California Code of Civil Procedure 872.010
• Action: includes a civil action and a special proceeding of a civil nature. See California Code of Civil Procedure 2016.020
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• area median income: means the median family income of a geographic area of the state, as annually estimated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937. See California Health and Safety Code 50093
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Bird: means a wild bird or part of a wild bird. See California Fish and Game Code 22
• City: includes city and county and "incorporated town" but does not include "unincorporated town" or "village. See California Public Utilities Code 19
• Closed season: means that period of time during which the taking of birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, or reptiles is prohibited. See California Fish and Game Code 29
• Commission: means the Fish and Game Commission, and "commissioner" means a member of the Fish and Game Commission. See California Fish and Game Code 30
• Commission: means the Public Utilities Commission created by Section 1 of Article XII of the California Constitution, and "commissioner" means a member of the commission. See California Public Utilities Code 20
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• 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 city and county. See California Fish and Game Code 32
• County: includes city and county. See California Health and Safety Code 14
• County: includes city and county. See California Public Utilities Code 18
• Court: means the trial court in which the action is pending, unless otherwise specified. See California Code of Civil Procedure 2016.020
• 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.
• Department: means the Department of Fish and Wildlife. See California Fish and Game Code 37
• department: means State Department of Health Services. See California Health and Safety Code 20
• department: means the Department of Transportation. See California Public Resources Code 33910
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means "State Director of Health Services. See California Health and Safety Code 21
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Educational institution: means a school district, a community college district, a state university, the University of California, and the State Department of Education special schools. See California Education Code 32220
• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See California Code of Civil Procedure 2016.020
• Electronically stored information: means information that is stored in an electronic medium. See California Code of Civil Procedure 2016.020
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Fish: means a wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals. See California Fish and Game Code 45
• 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}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing board: means the governing board of a school district or community college district, the Trustees of the California State University, and the Regents of the University of California. See California Education Code 32220
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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}
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Mammal: means a wild or feral mammal or part of a wild or feral animal, but not a wild, feral, or undomesticated burro. See California Fish and Game Code 54
• Member of an athletic team: means member of any extramural athletic team engaged in athletic events on or outside the school grounds, maintained or sponsored by the educational institution or a student body organization thereof. See California Education Code 32220
• Misdemeanor: Usually a petty offense, a less serious crime than a felony, punishable by less than a year of confinement.
• 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}
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Navigable waters: means all public waters of the state in any river, stream, lake, reservoir, or other body of water, including all salt water bays, inlets, and estuaries within the jurisdiction of the state. See California Health and Safety Code 117510
• Net: means any gear made of any kind of twine, thread, string, rope, wire, wood, or other materials used for the gilling, entangling, trapping, or impounding of fish. See California Fish and Game Code 56
• Nonresident: means a person who is not a resident as defined in Section 70. See California Fish and Game Code 57
• 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 any natural person or any partnership, corporation, limited liability company, trust, or other type of association. See California Fish and Game Code 67
• Person: means any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or company. See California Health and Safety Code 19
• 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.
• 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 real and personal property. See California Code of Civil Procedure 872.010
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Purchase: means "buy" as defined in Section 24. See California Fish and Game Code 68
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• region: means the region described in this section. See California Government Code 66502
• Resident: means any person who has resided continuously in the State of California for six months or more immediately prior to the date of his application for a license or permit, any person on active military duty with the Armed Forces of the United States or auxiliary branch thereof, or any person enrolled in the Job Corps established pursuant to Section 2883 of Title 29 of the United States Code. See California Fish and Game Code 70
• Sell: includes offer or possess for sale, barter, exchange, or trade. See California Fish and Game Code 75
• Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by Section 297. 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 Fish and Game Code 83
• State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Health and Safety Code 23
• 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 Public Utilities Code 17
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Student body organization: means any student organization under supervision of the educational institution or its officers. See California Education Code 32220
• Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Fish and Game Code 73
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Take: means hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill, or attempt to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill. See California Fish and Game Code 86
• 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.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• Vessel: means every description of craft or other contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation in or on water. See California Health and Safety Code 117510
• Wildlife: means and includes all wild animals, birds, plants, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and related ecological communities, including the habitat upon which the wildlife depends for its continued viability. See California Fish and Game Code 89.5
• Will: includes codicil. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writ: means an order or precept in writing, issued in the name of the people, or of a court or judicial officer. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17