Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes > Title 11 > Article 1-A > Part 2 - General Definitions and Principles of Interpretation

• Any election: means primary and general elections and referenda, whether regular or special. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• 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.
• Ballot label: means that portion of the cardboard, paper or other material to be placed within the ballot frames of a voting machine containing the items required of a paper ballot. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• 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.
• Business day: means any day of the calendar year other than a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Candidate: means any person who has filed a petition under either sections 335 and 336 or sections 354 and 355 and has qualified as a candidate by either procedure, or any person who has received contributions or made expenditures or has given consent for any other person to receive contributions or make expenditures with the intent of qualifying as a candidate. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Central voter registration system: means a single electronic information system and database for voter registration information maintained by the Secretary of State and used by all municipal jurisdictions in the State. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• County office: means the office of judge of probate, register of probate, county treasurer, register of deeds, sheriff, district attorney or county commissioner. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Declared write-in candidate: means a write-in candidate who has filed a declaration to be a write-in candidate pursuant to section 722?A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Disputed ballot: means a ballot whose validity has been questioned during the recount process. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Election official: means a warden, ward clerk, deputy warden or election clerk. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• 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.
• 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}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Incoming voting list: means the printed list of all of the voters in a municipality that is used by election officials at a voting place to record which voters have been issued a ballot at an election. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• 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}
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• may: when used in this Title, is used in a permissive sense to grant authority or permission, but not to create duty, to act in the manner specified by the context. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 7
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• municipal clerk: means the clerk, deputy clerk or assistant clerk, where directed by the clerk to carry out duties under this Title, of a municipality. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Municipal officers: means the mayor and aldermen or councillors of a city, the members of the select board or councillors of a town and the assessors of a plantation. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Municipality: means a city, town or plantation. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• 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.
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Primary election: means the regular election for the election of nominees of a party for the general election. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Public official: means a person elected or appointed to serve the people, including but not limited to an election official, municipal clerk or registrar. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Question: means any proposition submitted to the voters. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Referendum: means an election for the determination of a question. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Registrar: means the registrar or deputy registrar of voters of a municipality. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Residence: means that place where the person has established a fixed and principal home to which the person, whenever temporarily absent, intends to return. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Responsible electoral official: means a public official who is responsible for accepting a nomination or nomination petition for an elected office and also means a public official who is responsible for placing the name of a person nominated for public office on a ballot, ballot label, calendar or other similar instrument. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 552
• Special election: means an election other than a regular election. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Term: means a full term of office or any portion of a term that began before the 3rd Wednesday in June in an odd?numbered year served by an elected official in an office subject to the provisions of this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 552
• Treasurer: means a person appointed by a candidate or a political committee to accept or disburse money to promote or defeat a candidate, party or principle. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Undeclared write-in candidate: means a write-in candidate who has not filed a declaration pursuant to section 722?A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• 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}
• United States: includes territories and the District of Columbia. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
• 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.
• Voter: means a person registered to vote. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Warden: means the presiding officer at a voting place. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Write-in candidate: means a person whose name does not appear on the ballot under the office designation to which a voter may wish to elect the candidate. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72