Article 57 Divisions of History and Public Records
Article 57-A Local Government Records Law
Article 57-B The Amistad Commission

Terms Used In New York Laws > Arts and Cultural Affairs > Title U - Divisions of History and Public Records

  • Allegation: something that someone says happened.
  • Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • chancellor: shall mean the chancellor of the city district. See N.Y. Education Law 2590-A
  • city board: shall mean the board of education of the city district. See N.Y. Education Law 2590-A
  • Commercial unit: means such a unit of goods as by commercial usage is a single whole for purposes of lease and division of which materially impairs its character or value on the market or in use. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • community board: shall mean the board of education of a community district. See N.Y. Education Law 2590-A
  • community district: shall mean a community school district created or to be created within the city district under the provisions of this article. See N.Y. Education Law 2590-A
  • community superintendent: shall mean the superintendent of schools of a community district. See N.Y. Education Law 2590-A
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Consumer lease: means a lease that a lessor regularly engaged in the business of leasing or selling makes to a lessee who is an individual and who takes under the lease primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Disposition: means the disposal of a record by destruction, sale, gift, transfer to the local government archives, or by other authorized means. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
  • Finance lease: means a lease with respect to which:
    (i) the lessor does not select, manufacture, or supply the goods;
    (ii) the lessor acquires the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods in connection with the lease; and (iii) one of the following occurs: (A) the lessee receives a copy of the contract by which the lessor acquired the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods before signing the lease contract; (B) the lessee's approval of the contract by which the lessor acquired the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods is a condition to effectiveness of the lease contract; (C) the lessee, before signing the lease contract, receives an accurate and complete statement designating the promises and warranties, and any disclaimers of warranties, limitations or modifications of remedies, or liquidated damages, including those of any third party, such as the manufacturer of the goods, provided to the lessor by the person supplying the goods in connection with or as part of the contract by which the lessor acquired the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods; or (D) if the lease is not a consumer lease, the lessor, before the lessee signs the lease contract, informs the lessee in writing (a) of the identity of the person supplying the goods to the lessor, unless the lessee has selected that person and directed the lessor to acquire the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods from that person, (b) that the lessee is entitled under this Article to the promises and warranties, including those of any third party, provided to the lessor by the person supplying the goods in connection with or as part of the contract by which the lessor acquired the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods, and (c) that the lessee may communicate with the person supplying the goods to the lessor and receive an accurate and complete statement of those promises and warranties, including any disclaimers and limitations of them or of remedies. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • 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.
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Goods: means all things that are movable at the time of identification to the lease contract, or are fixtures (Section 2-A-309), but the term does not include money, documents, instruments, accounts, chattel paper, general intangibles, or minerals or the like, including oil and gas, before extraction. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • Governing body: means the town board, village board of trustees, city council, county legislature or board of supervisors, board of education or board of trustees of a school district or board of cooperative educational services, board of fire commissioners or other body authorized by law to govern the affairs of a local government. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
  • Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
  • Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Juror: A person who is on the jury.
  • Lease: means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a term in return for consideration, but a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or retention or creation of a security interest is not a lease. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • 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
  • Lease agreement: means the bargain, with respect to the lease, of the lessor and the lessee in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances including course of dealing or usage of trade or course of performance as provided in this Article. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • Lease contract: means the total legal obligation that results from the lease agreement as affected by this Article and any other applicable rules of law. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • Leasehold interest: means the interest of the lessor or the lessee under a lease contract. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
  • Lessee: means a person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • Lessor: means a person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Local government: means any county, city, town, village, school district, board of cooperative educational services, district corporation, public benefit corporation, public corporation, or other government created under state law that is not a state department, division, board, bureau, commission or other agency, heretofore or hereafter established by law. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
  • Local officer: shall mean and include a local officer as defined in section two of the public officers law and any officer of a public benefit corporation. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
  • Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • 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.
  • parent: shall mean a person in parental relation to a child, as that phrase is defined in subdivision ten of section two of this chapter. See N.Y. Education Law 2590-A
  • 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.
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Record: means any book, paper, map, photograph, or other information-recording device, regardless of physical form or characteristic, that is made, produced, executed, or received by any local government or officer thereof pursuant to law or in connection with the transaction of public business. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
  • Records retention and disposition schedule: means a list or other instrument describing records and their retention periods which is issued by the commissioner of education. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
  • registered voter: shall mean an elector of the city of New York under the election law. See N.Y. Education Law 2590-A
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Retention period: means the minimum length of time that must elapse before a record is eligible for disposition. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
  • 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.
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Sublease: means a lease of goods the right to possession and use of which was acquired by the lessor as a lessee under an existing lease. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Supplier: means a person from whom a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased under a finance lease. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • Supply contract: means a contract under which a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased. See N.Y. Uniform Commercial Code 2-A-103
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
  • Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.