Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 61 > Chapter 8 > Part 7 - Enforcement -- Penalties

• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Controlled-access highway: means a highway, street, or roadway in respect to which owners or occupants of abutting lands and other persons have no legal right of access to or from the highway, street, or roadway except at the points and in the manner as determined by the public authority having jurisdiction over the highway, street, or roadway. See Montana Code 61-8-102
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of justice acting directly or through its duly authorized officers or agents. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Driver: means a person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• 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.
• Highway: has the meaning provided in 61-1-101, but includes ways that have been or are later dedicated to public use. See Montana Code 61-8-102
• Highway patrol officer: means a state officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• 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.
• Local authorities: means every county, municipal, and other local board or body having authority to enact laws relating to traffic under the constitution and laws of this state. See Montana Code 61-8-102
• Motor vehicle: means :

  (i)a vehicle propelled by its own power and designed or used to transport persons or property on the highways of the state;

  (ii)a quadricycle if it is equipped for use on the highways as prescribed in chapter 9; or

  (iii)a golf cart only if it is equipped for use on the highways as prescribed in chapter 9 and is operated pursuant to 61-8-391 or by a person with a low-speed restricted driver's license. See Montana Code 61-1-101

• Operator: means a person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, state agency, local government unit, another state government, the United States, a political subdivision of this or another state, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Police officer: means an officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Railroad: means a carrier of persons or property on cars, other than streetcars, operated on stationary rails. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Right-of-way: means the privilege of the immediate use of the roadway. See Montana Code 61-8-102
• Roadway: means the portion of a highway that is improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, including the paved shoulder. See Montana Code 61-8-102
• School zone: means an area near a school beginning at the school's front door, encompassing the campus and school property, and including the streets directly adjacent to the school property and for as many blocks surrounding the school as determined by the local authority establishing a special speed limit under 61-8-310(1)(d). See Montana Code 61-1-101
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Street: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every publicly maintained way when any part of the publicly maintained way is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Suspension: means the temporary withdrawal by action of the department of a person's driver's license, privilege to drive a motor vehicle on the public highways, and privilege to apply for or be issued a driver's license for a period of time designated by law. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highways for purposes of travel. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• train: means a steam engine or electric or other motor, with or without cars coupled to the engine, that is operated on rails. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Vehicle: means a device in, on, or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn on a public highway, except devices moved by animal power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Montana Code 61-1-101