Terms Used In California Codes > Vehicle Code > Division 6 > Chapter 1 - Issuance of Licenses, Expiration, and Renewal

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• automobile driver training: shall be deemed to refer to the laboratory phase of driver education described by §. See California Vehicle Code 223
• axle: is a structure or portion of a structure consisting of one or more shafts, spindles, or bearings in the same vertical transverse plane by means of which, in conjunction with wheels mounted on said shafts, spindles, or bearings, a portion of the weight of a vehicle and its load, if any, is continuously transmitted to the roadway when the vehicle is in motion. See California Vehicle Code 230
• board: means the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 20
• bus: is a ny vehicle, including a trailer bus, designed, used, or maintained for carrying more than 15 persons including the driver. See California Vehicle Code 233
• business: includes a proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and any other form of commercial enterprise. See California Vehicle Code 234
• City: includes every city and city and county within this State. See California Vehicle Code 255
• commercial vehicle: is a motor vehicle of a type required to be registered under this code used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit or designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See California Vehicle Code 260
• Controller: means the State Controller. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 21
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• County: includes city and county. See California Water Code 14
• County: includes every county and city and county within this State. See California Vehicle Code 270
• County: includes city and county. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 15
• Darkness: is a ny time from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise and any other time when visibility is not sufficient to render clearly discernible any person or vehicle on the highway at a distance of 1,000 feet. See California Vehicle Code 280
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• 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.
• Department: means the Department of Motor Vehicles except, when used in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 2100) of Division 2 and in Divisions 11 (commencing with Section 21000), 12 (commencing with Section 24000), 13 (commencing with Section 29000), 14 (commencing with Section 31600), 14. See California Vehicle Code 290
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• driver: is a person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 305
• driving school: is a business which, for compensation, conducts or offers to conduct instruction in the operation of motor vehicles. See California Vehicle Code 310.6
• driving school owner: is a ny person licensed by the department to engage in the business of giving instruction for compensation in the driving of motor vehicles or in the preparation of an applicant for examination for a driver's license issued by the department. See California Vehicle Code 311
• drug: means any substance or combination of substances, other than alcohol, which could so affect the nervous system, brain, or muscles of a person as to impair, to an appreciable degree, his ability to drive a vehicle in the manner that an ordinarily prudent and cautious man, in full possession of his faculties, using reasonable care, would drive a similar vehicle under like conditions. See California Vehicle Code 312
• electric bicycle: is a bicycle equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than 750 watts. See California Vehicle Code 312.5
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• 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.
• farm labor vehicle: is a ny motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained for the transportation of nine or more farmworkers, in addition to the driver, to or from a place of employment or employment-related activities. See California Vehicle Code 322
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• fifth-wheel travel trailer: is a vehicle designed for recreational purposes to carry persons or property on its own structure and so constructed as to be drawn by a motor vehicle by means of a kingpin connecting device. See California Vehicle Code 324
• for hire: means that the entity providing transportation services is compensated for the transportation under contract or agreement. See California Vehicle Code 462
• 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}
• foreign jurisdiction: is a ny other state, the District of Columbia, territories or possessions of the United States, and foreign states, provinces, or countries. See California Vehicle Code 325
• foreign vehicle: is a vehicle of a type required to be registered under this code brought into this State from a foreign jurisdiction other than in the ordinary course of business, by or through a manufacturer or dealer and not registered in this State. See California Vehicle Code 330
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• General public paratransit vehicle: means any motor vehicle designed for carrying no more than 24 persons and the driver, that provides local transportation to the general public, including transportation of pupils at or below the 12th-grade level to or from a public or private school or school activity, under the exclusive jurisdiction of a publicly owned and operated transit system through one of the following modes: dial-a-ride, subscription service, or route-deviated bus service. See California Vehicle Code 336
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Hazardous material: includes explosives and hazardous wastes or substances as defined by regulations adopted pursuant to §. See California Vehicle Code 353
• Highway: is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See California Vehicle Code 360
• house car: is a motor vehicle originally designed, or permanently altered, and equipped for human habitation, or to which a camper has been permanently attached. See California Vehicle Code 362
• instruction: includes classroom driver education, in-vehicle driver training, and correspondence study. See California Vehicle Code 310.6
• 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}
• 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.
• 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}
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• moped: is a two-wheeled or three-wheeled device having fully operative pedals for propulsion by human power, or having no pedals if powered solely by electrical energy, and an automatic transmission and a motor that produces less than 4 gross brake horsepower and is capable of propelling the device at a maximum speed of not more than 30 miles per hour on level ground. See California Vehicle Code 406
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• motor vehicle: includes a recreational vehicle as that term is defined in subdivision (a) of §. See California Vehicle Code 415
• motor-driven cycle: is a ny motorcycle with a motor that displaces less than 150 cubic centimeters. See California Vehicle Code 405
• motorcycle: is a motor vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the rider, designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground. See California Vehicle Code 400
• motorized scooter: is a ny two-wheeled device that has handlebars, has either a floorboard that is designed to be stood upon when riding or a seat and footrests in place of the floorboard, and is powered by an electric motor. See California Vehicle Code 407.5
• motortruck: is a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See California Vehicle Code 410
• Nonresident: is a person who is not a resident of this State. See California Vehicle Code 435
• owner: is a person having all the incidents of ownership, including the legal title of a vehicle whether or not such person lends, rents, or creates a security interest in the vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 460
• paratransit vehicle: is a passenger vehicle, other than a bus, schoolbus, school pupil activity bus, youth bus, general public paratransit vehicle, or taxicab that is both of the following:

  California Vehicle Code 462

• passenger vehicle: is a ny motor vehicle, other than a motortruck, truck tractor, or a bus, as defined in Section 233, and used or maintained for the transportation of persons. See California Vehicle Code 465
• Person: means any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or company. See California Water Code 19
• Person: includes a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, limited liability company, or corporation. See California Vehicle Code 470
• Person: includes any person, firm, partnership, general partner of a partnership, limited liability company, registered limited liability partnership, foreign limited liability partnership, association, corporation, company, syndicate, estate, trust, business trust, or organization of any kind. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 19
• private school: is a ny school, whether conducted for profit or not, giving a course of training similar to that given in a public school at or below the twelfth grade, including but not limited to schools owned or operated by any church. See California Vehicle Code 492
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• representative: is a ny person regularly employed by a manufacturer or distributor for the purpose of negotiating or promoting the sale of the manufacturer's or distributer's vehicles to their franchisees or for regularly supervising or contacting franchisees or prospective franchisees in this state for any purpose. See California Vehicle Code 512
• Resident: means any person who manifests an intent to live or be located in this state on more than a temporary or transient basis. See California Vehicle Code 516
• school pupil activity bus: is a ny motor vehicle, other than a schoolbus, operated by a common carrier, or by and under the exclusive jurisdiction of a publicly owned or operated transit system, or by a passenger charter-party carrier, used under a contractual agreement between a school and carrier to transport school pupils at or below the 12th-grade level to or from a public or private school activity, or used to transport pupils to or from residential schools, when the pupils are received and discharged at off-highway locations where a parent or adult designated by the parent is present to accept the pupil or place the pupil on the bus. See California Vehicle Code 546
• schoolbus: is a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained for the transportation of any school pupil at or below the 12th grade level to or from a public or private school or to or from public or private school activities, except the following:

  California Vehicle Code 545

• semitrailer: is a vehicle designed for carrying persons or property, used in conjunction with a motor vehicle, and so constructed that some part of its weight and that of its load rests upon, or is carried by, another vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 550
• Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 12.2
• State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Water Code 18
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Tenancy by the entirety: A type of joint tenancy between husband and wife that is recognized in some States. Neither party can sever the joint tenancy relationship; when a spouse dies, the survivor acquires full title to the property.
• Tour bus: includes a bus described in subdivision (a) that has had its roof substantially structurally modified or removed. See California Vehicle Code 612
• tow dolly: is a vehicle towed by a motor vehicle and designed and used exclusively to transport another motor vehicle and upon which the front or rear wheels of the towed motor vehicle are mounted, while the other wheels of the towed motor vehicle remain in contact with the ground. See California Vehicle Code 617
• tow truck: is a motor vehicle which has been altered or designed and equipped for, and primarily used in the business of, transporting vehicles by means of a crane, hoist, tow bar, tow line, or dolly or is otherwise primarily used to render assistance to other vehicles. See California Vehicle Code 615
• traffic: includes pedestrians, ridden animals, vehicles, street cars, and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using any highway for purposes of travel. See California Vehicle Code 620
• trailer: includes a semitrailer when used in conjunction with an auxiliary dolly, if the auxiliary dolly is of a type constructed to replace the function of the drawbar and the front axle or axles of a trailer. See California Vehicle Code 630
• trailer bus: is a trailer or semitrailer designed, used, or maintained for the transportation of more than 15 persons, including the driver, and includes a connected towing motor vehicle that is a motor truck, truck tractor, or bus. See California Vehicle Code 636
• trailer coach: is a vehicle, other than a motor vehicle, designed for human habitation or human occupancy for industrial, professional, or commercial purposes, for carrying property on its own structure, and for being drawn by a motor vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 635
• 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.
• transit bus: is a ny bus owned or operated by a publicly owned or operated transit system, or operated under contract with a publicly owned or operated transit system, and used to provide to the general public, regularly scheduled transportation for which a fare is charged. See California Vehicle Code 642
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• vanpool vehicle: is a ny motor vehicle, other than a motortruck or truck tractor, designed for carrying more than 10 but not more than 15 persons including the driver, which is maintained and used primarily for the nonprofit work-related transportation of adults for the purposes of ridesharing. See California Vehicle Code 668
• vehicle: is a device by which any person or property may be propelled, moved, or drawn upon a highway, excepting a device moved exclusively by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See California Vehicle Code 670
• youth bus: is a ny bus, other than a schoolbus, designed for and when actually carrying not more than 16 persons and the driver, used to transport children at or below the 12th-grade level directly from a public or private school to an organized nonschool-related youth activity within 25 miles of the school or directly from a location which provides the organized nonschool-related youth activity to a public or private school within 25 miles of that location. See California Vehicle Code 680