Terms Used In Illinois Compiled Statutes > Chapter 225 > Design And Construction

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• 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.
• Appraised value: means the fair market value of a home determined in accordance with generally accepted procedures and standards applicable to the appraisal of real property. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• 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.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• 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.
• board: means the board of trustees of a museum district. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-31003
• Bonds: means any revenue bonds authorized under this Division and payable as provided hereunder. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Circuit clerk: means clerk of the circuit court. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.26
• 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.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contractual services: shall include all purchases, leases, and contracts for impersonal services, necessary for the operation of any Office, department, institution or agency of the county government which are not encompassed in the above definition of "supplies, material and equipment". See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-36004
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporate authorities: means the corporate authorities as defined in this Illinois Municipal Code. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• County board: means the board of county commissioners in counties not under township organization, and the board of supervisors in counties under township organization, and the board of commissioners of Cook County. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.07
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Cross examine: Questioning of a witness by the attorney for the other side.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• decree: is synonymous with the word "judgment". See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.24
• 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.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• development of real property: means the construction, installation, planting or creation of any permanent improvement of real property in which a museum district has or has taken steps to acquire an interest. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-31003
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• En banc: In the bench or "full bench." Refers to court sessions with the entire membership of a court participating rather than the usual quorum. U.S. courts of appeals usually sit in panels of three judges, but may expand to a larger number in certain cases. They are then said to be sitting en banc.
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Expressways: means streets, avenues, roads and drives constituting limited access roadways, with all auxiliary streets, avenues, roads, drives, bridges, viaducts, underpasses, and approaches for ingress and egress to and from the main thoroughfares of such streets, avenues, roads and drives, and other necessary or appropriate appurtenances thereto, to facilitate the movement of through traffic, to be constructed in accordance with the resolutions of the Board of Commissioners heretofore or hereafter approved by the Department of Public Works and Buildings or the Department of Transportation of the State of Illinois and in accordance with the provisions of Section 15d of "An Act to revise the law in relation to roads and bridges" approved June 27, 1913, as amended or Section 5-403 of the "Illinois Highway Code" as the same may from time to time be amended. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-34008
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• 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}
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• General Revenue Law of Illinois: or any equivalent expression, when used with reference to revenue, shall be deemed to refer to the Property Tax Code and all existing and future amendments thereto and modifications thereof, and all rules now or hereafter adopted pursuant thereto. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.23
• 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}
• 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.
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Heretofore: means any time previous to the day on which the statute takes effect; and the word "hereafter" at any time after such day. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.17
• Home: means real property and improvements thereon located within the municipality consisting of not more than 4 dwelling units, including but not limited to, condominium units owned by one mortgagor who occupies or intends to occupy one of such units. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• Home mortgage loan: means an interest bearing loan to a mortgagor evidenced by a promissory note and secured by a mortgage on a home, purchased or originated in accordance with this Division made for the purpose of acquiring a home having an appraised value or a purchase price, whichever is less, of not less than the minimum home value and less than the maximum home value. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• 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}
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• 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.
• Jurisprudence: The study of law and the structure of the legal system.
• 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}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Lending institution: means any bank, bank holding company, credit union, trust company, savings bank, national banking association, savings and loan association, building and loan association, mortgage banker or other financial institution which customarily provides service or otherwise aids in the financing of home mortgages, or any holding company for any of the foregoing. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• 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.
• Maximum home value: means the amount determined by the corporate authorities. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• Minimum home value: means the amount determined by the corporate authorities. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• 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}
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Mortgagor: means a person of low or moderate income and who has received or qualifies to receive a home mortgage loan on a home. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• Municipalities: has the meaning established in Section 1 of Article VII of the Constitution of the State of Illinois of 1970. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.27
• Municipality: means a municipality as defined in this Illinois Municipal Code. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• museum district: means a museum district organized under this Division. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-31003
• 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.
• oath: shall be deemed to include an affirmation, and the word "sworn" shall be construed to include the word "affirmed. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.12
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Ordinance: means an ordinance adopted and approved by the corporate authorities of a municipality. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Participating unit of local government: means a unit of local government which has entered into an intergovernmental agreement or contract with a county for the administrative adjudication of violations of its ordinances by the county pursuant to this Division. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-43010
• Person: means a natural person or persons or a trust, provided that such trust is for the benefit of a natural person or members of such person's immediate family. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Persons of low or moderate income: means a person or family (consisting of one or more persons all of whom occupy or will occupy the home) whose aggregate gross income including the gross income of any co-signer or guarantor of the promissory note made in connection with the making of a home mortgage loan does not exceed a maximum amount to be established by the corporate authorities and determined in accordance with appropriate criteria, rules and regulations, approved by the corporate authorities in connection with the implementation of a residential housing finance plan. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• Petty offense: A federal misdemeanor punishable by six months or less in prison. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• 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.
• police force: shall be construed to include such persons in the employ of a municipality as members of the department of police, who are or shall hereafter be appointed and sworn as policemen. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.20
• political party: means a political party as defined in Section 7-2 of The Election Code. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-31003
• 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}
• 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.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• 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 price: means the actual consideration paid to the seller of a home. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• 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.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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).
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Residential housing finance plan: means a program implemented under this Division by a municipality to assist persons of low or moderate income in acquiring safe, decent and sanitary housing which they can afford. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-74.5-2
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• 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.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• superhighways: means streets, avenues, roads and drives constituting limited access roadways, with all auxiliary streets, avenues, roads, drives, bridges, viaducts, underpasses, and approaches for ingress and egress to and from the main thoroughfares of such streets, avenues, roads, and drives, and other necessary or appropriate appurtenances thereto, to facilitate the movement of through traffic, to be constructed in accordance with the resolutions of the County Board heretofore or hereafter approved by the Department of Public Works and Buildings or the Department of Transportation of the State of Illinois. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-33007
• sworn: shall be construed to include the word "affirmed. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.12
• System of administrative adjudication: means the adjudication of any violation of a county ordinance or of a participating unit of local government's ordinance, except for (i) proceedings not within the statutory or the home rule authority of counties or a participating unit of local government; and (ii) any offense under the Illinois Vehicle Code (or a similar offense that is a traffic regulation governing the movement of vehicles and except for any reportable offense under Section 6-204 of the Illinois Vehicle Code). See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-43010
• 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.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• trustee: means a trustee of a museum district. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-31003
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• 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}
• Unit of local government: has the meaning as defined in the Illinois Constitution of 1970 and also includes a not-for-profit corporation organized for the purpose of conducting public business including, but not limited to, the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/5-43010
• Units of local government: has the meaning established in Section 1 of Article VII of the Constitution of the State of Illinois of 1970. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.28
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.