Terms Used In Illinois Compiled Statutes > Chapter 5 > Statutes

• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Air rifle: means and includes any air gun, air pistol, spring gun, spring pistol, B-B gun, paint ball gun, pellet gun or any implement that is not a firearm which impels a breakable paint ball containing washable marking colors or, a pellet constructed of hard plastic, steel, lead or other hard materials with a force that reasonably is expected to cause bodily harm. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 720 ILCS 5/24.8-0.1
• Annual percentage rate: The cost of credit at a yearly rate. It is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan so borrowers can compare loans. Lenders are required by law to disclose a card account's APR. ^{Source: FDIC}
• artificially made or reclaimed land: as used in this Division 123, includes all land which formerly was submerged under the public waters of the state, the title to which is in the state, and which has been artificially made or reclaimed in whole or in part contrary to law. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-123-1
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• 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.
• Bailiff: a court officer who enforces the rules of behavior in courtrooms.
• 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.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: includes a board, commission, authority, task force, or other similar body to which one or more members are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, but does not include any subcommittee thereof, and where the member receives any form of compensation on a per meeting basis; this does not include reimbursement for actual travel or other expenses necessarily incurred in discharging the duties of the office. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 420/3B-5
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Caucus: From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of members of the legislature that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• 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
• Circumstantial evidence: All evidence except eyewitness testimony.
• Conference committee: A temporary, ad hoc panel composed of conferees from both chamber of a legislature which is formed for the purpose of reconciling differences in legislation that has passed both chambers. Conference committees are usually convened to resolve bicameral differences on major and controversial legislation.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Dealer: means any person, copartnership, association or corporation engaged in the business of selling at retail or renting any of the articles included in the definition of "air rifle". See Illinois Compiled Statutes 720 ILCS 5/24.8-0.1
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Electronic communication: includes transmissions through an electronic device including, but not limited to, a telephone, cellular phone, computer, or pager, which communication includes, but is not limited to, e-mail, instant message, text message, or voice mail. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 720 ILCS 5/26.5-0.1
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• 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}
• Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a set of United States statutes added as Title VIII of the Consumer Credit Protection Act. Its purpose is to ensure ethical practices in the collection of consumer debts and to provide consumers with an avenue for disputing and obtaining validation of debt information in order to ensure the information's accuracy. It is often used in conjunction with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. ^{Source: OCC}
• Family or household member: includes spouses, former spouses, parents, children, stepchildren and other persons related by blood or by present or prior marriage, persons who share or formerly shared a common dwelling, persons who have or allegedly share a blood relationship through a child, persons who have or have had a dating or engagement relationship, and persons with disabilities and their personal assistants. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 720 ILCS 5/26.5-0.1
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• 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}
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• harassing: means knowing conduct which is not necessary to accomplish a purpose that is reasonable under the circumstances, that would cause a reasonable person emotional distress and does cause emotional distress to another. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 720 ILCS 5/26.5-0.1
• 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.
• Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
• 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.
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
• Late term appointee: means a person who is appointed to an office by a Governor who does not succeed himself or herself as Governor, whose appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate, and whose appointment is confirmed by the Senate 90 or fewer days before the end of the appointing Governor's term. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 420/3A-5
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• 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.
• Paralegal: means a person who is qualified through education, training, or work experience and is employed by a lawyer, law office, governmental agency, or other entity to work under the direction of an attorney in a capacity that involves the performance of substantive legal work that usually requires a sufficient knowledge of legal concepts and would be performed by the attorney in the absence of the paralegal. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.35
• Petit jury: A group of citizens who hear the evidence presented by both sides at trial and determine the facts in dispute. Federal criminal juries consist of 12 persons. Federal civil juries consist of six persons.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• 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}
• Preauthorized electronic fund transfers: An EFT authorized in advance to recur at substantially regular intervals. ^{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.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• public utility: when used in this Division 117, means and includes any plant, equipment, or property, and any franchise, license, or permit, used or to be used (1) for or in connection with the transportation of persons or property, or the conveyance of telegraph or telephone messages; or (2) for the production, storage, transmission, sale, delivery, or furnishing of cold, heat, light, power, water, or for the conveyance of oil or gas by pipe lines; or (3) for the storage or warehousing of goods; or (4) for the conduct of the business of a wharfinger. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-117-2
• 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}
• Revolving credit: A credit agreement (typically a credit card) that allows a customer to borrow against a preapproved credit line when purchasing goods and services. The borrower is only billed for the amount that is actually borrowed plus any interest due. (Also called a charge account or open-end credit.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Sequester: To separate. Sometimes juries are sequestered from outside influences during their deliberations.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• subways: as used in this Division 121, includes all tunnels, entrances, exits, passageways, connections, approaches, inclines, elevators, stations, and other structures, equipment, appliances, or appurtenant property, appropriate to a system of such subways. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-121-1
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
• Truth in Lending Act: The Truth in Lending Act is a federal law that requires lenders to provide standardized information so that borrowers can compare loan terms. In general, lenders must provide information on ^{Source: OCC}
• Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. ^{Source: OCC}
• utility: as used in this Division 123 means and includes: (1) harbors, canals, slips, wharves, docks, levees, piers, quay walls, breakwaters, and all appropriate harbor structures, facilities, connections, and improvements; and (2) such elevators, vaults, warehouses, including cold storage warehouses which may be acquired, owned, maintained, or operated in connection therewith, as necessary adjuncts or incidental to transportation or railroad terminals; and (3) all other necessary or appropriate terminal facilities. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5/11-123-1
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• 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.