Terms Used In New York Laws > Criminal Procedure > Part 2 > Title I - Preliminary Proceedings In Superior Court

• 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.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amount: shall include , but is not limited to, any dividend, profit or other distribution, whether in cash or securities, and any interest or other payment on or of principal, including the cash value of any security which has matured or has been called for full or partial redemption or is payable to security owners or former security owners entitled to payments as the result of a merger, consolidation, acquisition or conversion of any type. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• 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.
• applicant: includes that person designated to act for him and perform his official function in and during his actual absence or disability. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• 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.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• communication: includes conversation and discussion. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• contents: when used with respect to a communication, includes any information concerning the identity of the parties to such communications, and the existence, substance, purport, or meaning of that communication. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• 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.
• Corporation: shall mean any corporation (other than a public corporation as defined in paragraph (b) of this subdivision), joint stock company, association of two or more individuals, committee, partnership, investment company (as defined by, and which is registered under, an act of Congress of the United States entitled the "Investment Company Act of 1940" as amended), unit investment trust or business trust, whether or not for profit. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• 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.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Designated offense: means any one or more of the following crimes:
  
  (a) A conspiracy to commit any offense enumerated in the following paragraphs of this subdivision, or an attempt to commit any felony enumerated in the following paragraphs of this subdivision which attempt would itself constitute a felony;
  
  * (b) Any of the following felonies: assault in the second degree as defined in § 120. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• 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
• Domestic corporation: shall mean any corporation organized under the laws of this state or under the laws of this state and one or more other states or foreign countries, but shall not mean a banking organization as defined in this chapter. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Eavesdropping: means "wiretapping" "mechanical overhearing of conversation" or the "intercepting or accessing of an electronic communication" as those terms are defined in § 250. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Eavesdropping warrant: means an order of a justice authorizing or approving eavesdropping. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• 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}
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Executive mansion: shall mean the lands and structures constituting the executive residence of the governor at 138 Eagle Street in Albany, New York. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 54.03
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Exigent circumstances: means conditions requiring the preservation of secrecy, and whereby there is a reasonable likelihood that a continuing investigation would be thwarted by alerting any of the persons subject to surveillance to the fact that such surveillance had occurred. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiduciary: shall mean any individual or any domestic or foreign corporation holding a security for a resident or receiving, as agent of a corporation or as holder of a security, any amount due or to become due a resident as the holder or owner of a security but shall not mean any individual or corporation so acting by direction of a court in any case where such court has not directed a distribution of such amount or security. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• 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.
• Foreign corporation: shall mean any corporation organized under the laws of a state other than New York or under the laws of a foreign country and doing business in this state or authorized to do business in this state, but shall not mean a banking organization as defined in this chapter. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• 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.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• 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.
• Illicit alcoholic beverage: means and includes any alcohol or distilled spirits owned, manufactured, distributed, bought, sold, bottled, rectified, blended, treated, fortified, mixed, processed, warehoused, possessed or transported on which any tax required to have been paid under any applicable federal law has not been paid. See N.Y. Alcoholic Beverage Control Law 150
• 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.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intercepted communication: means (a) a telephonic or telegraphic communication which was intentionally overheard or recorded by a person other than the sender or receiver thereof, without the consent of the sender or receiver, by means of any instrument, device or equipment, or (b) a conversation or discussion which was intentionally overheard or recorded, without the consent of at least one party thereto, by a person not present thereat, by means of any instrument, device or equipment; or (c) an electronic communication which was intentionally intercepted or accessed, as that term is defined in § 250. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• 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.
• Justice: except as otherwise provided herein, means any justice of an appellate division of the judicial department in which the eavesdropping warrant is to be executed, or any justice of the supreme court of the judicial district in which the eavesdropping warrant is to be executed, or any county court judge of the county in which the eavesdropping warrant is to be executed. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Law enforcement officer: means any public servant who is empowered by law to conduct an investigation of or to make an arrest for a designated offense, and any attorney authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of a designated offense. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• 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.
• 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 § 2 of the public officers law and any officer of a public benefit corporation. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 57.17
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Performing group: means any vocal or instrumental group seeking to use, using, advertising the use of, or promoting the name of a recording group that has previously released a commercial sound recording under the name of such recording group. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 34.03
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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.
• Plea agreement: An arrangement between the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the defendant in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for special considerations. ^Source:
• 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.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Public corporation: shall mean any state and a public corporation as defined in § 66 of the general construction law, but shall not mean an agency or political subdivision of the United States or of a foreign nation. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• 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
• Recording group: means any vocal or instrumental group at least one of whose members has previously released a commercial sound recording under that group's name and in which such member or members have a legal right by virtue of use or operation under the group name without having abandoned the name or affiliation with the group. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 34.03
• 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.
• Resident: shall mean :
  
  (a) An individual domiciled in this state;
  
  (b) A domestic corporation;
  
  (c) A banking organization, as defined in section one hundred three of this chapter; and
  
  (d) This state and any public corporation organized under its laws. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Security: shall mean :
  
  (a) Any instrument issued by a corporation or public corporation or any entry on the books and records of such corporation or public corporation evidencing an obligation to make any payment of the principal amount of a debt or of any increment due or to become due thereon; or
  
  (b) Any instrument issued by a corporation to evidence a proprietary interest therein or any intangible interest in a corporation as evidenced by the books and records of the corporation except:
  
  (i) A policy of insurance issued by a mutual insurance corporation, or
  
  (ii) A share issued by a savings and loan association, a building and loan association, or a credit union. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500
• Sound recording: means any work that results from the fixation on a material object of a series of musical, spoken or other sounds regardless of the nature of the material object, including, but not limited to, a disk, tape, computerized file or other phono-record, in which the sounds are embodied. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 34.03
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• 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: shall mean the trust created by section 54. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 54.03
• 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}
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Video surveillance: means the intentional visual observation by law enforcement of a person by means of a television camera or other electronic device that is part of a television transmitting apparatus, whether or not such observation is recorded on film or video tape, without the consent of that person or another person thereat and under circumstances in which such observation in the absence of a video surveillance warrant infringes upon such person's reasonable expectation of privacy under the constitution of this state or of the United States. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Video surveillance warrant: means an order of a justice authorizing or approving video surveillance. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 700.05
• Wages: shall include moneys payable, under contract or otherwise, for services rendered to a domestic or foreign corporation or fiduciary, including but not limited to payment of salaries, commissions, royalties, expenses, employee benefits, and insurance benefits payable by a corporation pursuant to a self-insurance plan, less lawful deductions. See N.Y. Abandoned Property Law 500