Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 10 > Chapter 5 - Superior Court

• Actual address: shall mean a residential address, school address or work address of an individual. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 9611
• 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.
• Bequeath: To gift property by will.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Bureau: shall mean the Bureau of Prisons. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 6702
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Child: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Commission: means the Delaware Harness Racing Commission. See Delaware Code Title 3 Sec. 10001
• 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.
• Conservation easement: means a nonpossessory interest of a holder in real property imposing limitations or affirmative obligations, the purposes of which include retaining or protecting natural, scenic or open-space values of real property, assuring its availability for agricultural, forest, recreational or open-space use, protecting natural resources, fish and wildlife habitat, rare species and natural communities maintaining or enhancing air or water quality or preserving the historical, architectural, archaeological or cultural aspects of real property. See Delaware Code Title 7 Sec. 6901
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Correctional institution: means any entity under the authority of any state, county, or municipal law-enforcement division that has the power to detain or restrain a person under the laws of the State. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 6602
• Corrections official: means the official responsible for oversight of a correctional institution, or his or her designee. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 6602
• Court: means the Court of Chancery. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• 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: shall mean the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. See Delaware Code Title 7 Sec. 6602A
• Department: shall mean the Department of Correction. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 6702
• 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.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Extraordinary circumstances: means an immediate and serious threat of harm to themselves, staff, or others, or a substantial flight risk that cannot reasonably be contained by any other means. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 6602
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• harness horse races: means and includes only any racing of horses in which the horses competing or participating are harnessed to a sulky, carriage or similar vehicle and are not mounted by a jockey. See Delaware Code Title 3 Sec. 10001
• Holder: means :

  a. See Delaware Code Title 7 Sec. 6901

• Image: includes , but is not limited to, any photograph, video, sketch, or computer-generated image that provides a means to visually identify the person depicted. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 9611
• Immediate postpartum period: means the 13-week period following childbirth. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 6602
• 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.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Internet: has the meaning used in § 931 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 9611
• Labor: means the period of time before a birth during which contractions are of sufficient frequency, intensity, and duration to bring about effacement and progressive dilation of the cervix. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 6602
• Law-enforcement agency: means the police department of any political subdivision of this State, the Delaware State Police, the Capitol Police, and the Delaware Department of Justice. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 9611
• 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.
• Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Oath: includes affirmation in all cases where an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and "sworn" includes affirmed; and the forms shall be varied accordingly. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Post or display publicly: means to communicate, transmit, or otherwise make available to any other person. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 9611
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• Prisoner: means any person incarcerated or detained in any facility who is accused of, convicted of, sentenced for, or adjudicated delinquent for, violations of a criminal law or the terms and conditions of parole, probation, pretrial release, or diversionary program. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 6602
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Program: means the Address Confidentiality Program of the Department of Justice. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 9611
• Program participant: means any person certified by the Department of Justice as eligible to participate in the address confidentiality program established by this subchapter. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 9611
• real property: is synonymous with the phrase "lands, tenements and hereditaments. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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).
• Restraints: means any physical restraint or mechanical device used to control the movement of a prisoner's body and/or limbs, including, but not limited to, flex cuffs, soft restraints, hard metal handcuffs, a black box, Chubb cuffs, leg irons, belly chains, a security (tether) chain, or a convex shield. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 6602
• Secretary: shall mean the Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. See Delaware Code Title 7 Sec. 6602A
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Substitute address: means the official address or confidential address designated by the Attorney General. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 9611
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testate: To die leaving a will.
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Third-party right of enforcement: shall mean a right provided in a conservation easement to enforce any of its terms and which is granted to a governmental body, charitable corporation, charitable association or charitable trust which, although eligible to be a holder, is not a holder. See Delaware Code Title 7 Sec. 6901
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustor: The person who makes or creates a trust. Also known as the grantor or settlor.
• Victim of domestic violence: means a person who is a victim of domestic violence as that term is defined by § 1041 of Title 10, or any equivalent provision in the laws of any other state, the United States, or any territory, District or subdivision thereof or any other foreign jurisdiction. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 9611