Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 479 - Outdoor Advertising

• Allowable uses: means the intended uses identified in a local government's land development regulations which are authorized within a zoning category as a use by right, without the requirement to obtain a variance or waiver. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• 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.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Articles of incorporation: includes original, amended, and restated articles of incorporation, articles of share exchange, and articles of merger, and all amendments thereto. See Florida Statutes 607.01401
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• attraction: means an establishment, site, facility, or landmark that is open a minimum of 5 days a week for 52 weeks a year; that has as its principal focus family-oriented entertainment, cultural, educational, recreational, scientific, or historical activities; and that is publicly recognized as a bona fide tourist attraction. See Florida Statutes 479.261
• Automatic changeable facing: means a facing that is capable of delivering two or more advertising messages through an automated or remotely controlled process. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Burial-transit permit: means a permit issued by the department that authorizes the final disposition of a dead body. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Business of outdoor advertising: means the business of operating, maintaining, leasing, or selling outdoor advertising structures, outdoor advertising signs, or outdoor advertisements. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth: means a certificate issued to record and memorialize the birth of a stillborn child. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• certified: means a document containing all or a part of the exact information contained on the original vital record, and which, when issued by the State Registrar, has the full force and effect of the original vital record. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Commercial use: means activities associated with the sale, rental, or distribution of products or the performance of services. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Controlled area: means 660 feet or less from the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any portion of the State Highway System, interstate, or federal-aid primary highway system and beyond 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any portion of the State Highway System, interstate highway system, or federal-aid primary system outside an urban area. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dead body: means a human body or such parts of a human body from the condition of which it reasonably may be concluded that death recently occurred. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• 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 Transportation. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Department: means the Department of Health. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Dissolution of marriage: includes an annulment of marriage. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• 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}
• Erect: means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw, or in any other way bring into being or establish. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• 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.
• Federal-aid primary highway system: means the federal-aid primary highway system in existence on June 1, 1991, and any highway that was not a part of such system as of that date but that is, or became after June 1, 1991, a part of the National Highway System, including portions that have been accepted as part of the National Highway System but are unbuilt or unopened. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Fetal death: means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction of a product of human conception from its mother if the 20th week of gestation has been reached and the death is indicated by the fact that after such expulsion or extraction the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Final disposition: means the burial, interment, entombment, cremation, removal from the state, anatomical donation, or other authorized disposition of a dead body or a fetus as described in subsection (8). See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Funeral director: means a licensed funeral director or direct disposer licensed pursuant to chapter 497 who first assumes custody of or effects the final disposition of a dead body or a fetus as described in subsection (8). See Florida Statutes 382.002
• 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.
• Highway: means any road, street, or other way open or intended to be opened to the public for travel by motor vehicles. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Industrial use: means activities associated with the manufacture, assembly, processing, or storage of products or the performance of related services. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interstate highway system: means the existing, unbuilt, or unopened system of highways or portions thereof designated as the national system of interstate and defense highways by the department. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• 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}
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Live birth: means the complete expulsion or extraction of a product of human conception from its mother, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such expulsion, breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, and definite movement of the voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Main-traveled way: means the traveled way of a highway on which through traffic is carried. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Maintain: means to allow to exist. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Medical examiner: means a person appointed pursuant to chapter 406. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• minor: includes any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• New highway: means the construction of any road, paved or unpaved, where no road previously existed or the act of paving any previously unpaved road. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Nonconforming sign: means a sign which was lawfully erected but which does not comply with the land use, setback, size, spacing, and lighting provisions of state or local law, rule, regulation, or ordinance passed at a later date or a sign which was lawfully erected but which later fails to comply with state or local law, rule, regulation, or ordinance due to changed conditions. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Nonviable birth: means an unintentional, spontaneous fetal demise occurring after the completion of the 9th week of gestation but prior to the 20th week of gestation of a pregnancy that has been verified by a health care practitioner. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Physician: means a person authorized to practice medicine, osteopathic medicine, or chiropractic medicine pursuant to chapter 458, chapter 459, or chapter 460. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• 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.
• Premises: means all the land areas under ownership or lease arrangement to the sign owner which are contiguous to the business conducted on the land except for instances where such land is a narrow strip contiguous to the advertised activity or is connected by such narrow strip, the only viable use of such land is to erect or maintain an advertising sign. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• records: means certificates or reports of birth, death, fetal death, marriage, dissolution of marriage, name change filed pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Remove: means to disassemble all sign materials above ground level and transport such materials from the site. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Sign: means any combination of structure and message in the form of an outdoor sign, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard, poster, billboard, advertising structure, advertisement, logo, symbol, or other form, whether placed individually or on a V-type, back-to-back, side-to-side, stacked, or double-faced display or automatic changeable facing, designed, intended, or used to advertise or inform, any part of the advertising message or informative contents of which is visible from any place on the main-traveled way. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Sign face: means the part of a sign, including trim and background, which contains the message or informative contents, including an automatic changeable face. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Sign facing: includes all sign faces and automatic changeable faces displayed at the same location and facing the same direction. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Sign structure: means all the interrelated parts and material, such as beams, poles, and stringers, which are constructed for the purpose of supporting or displaying a message or informative contents. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Stillbirth: means an unintended, intrauterine fetal death after a gestational age of not less than 20 completed weeks. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• veteran: means a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released under honorable conditions only or who later received an upgraded discharge under honorable conditions, notwithstanding any action by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs on individuals discharged or released with other than honorable discharges. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Vital statistics: means a system of registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital records, the collection of other reports required by this act, and activities related thereto, including the tabulation, analysis, and publication of data obtained from vital records. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Voting group: means all shares of one or more classes or series that under the articles of incorporation or this chapter are entitled to vote and be counted together collectively on a matter at a meeting of shareholders. See Florida Statutes 607.01401
• Wall mural: means a sign that is a painting or an artistic work composed of photographs or arrangements of color and that displays a commercial or noncommercial message, relies solely on the side of the building for rigid structural support, and is painted on the building or depicted on vinyl, fabric, or other similarly flexible material that is held in place flush or flat against the surface of the building. See Florida Statutes 479.01
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Zoning category: means the designation under the land development regulations or other similar ordinance enacted to regulate the use of land as provided in…. See Florida Statutes 479.01