Terms Used In New York Laws > Criminal Procedure > Part 3 > Title P > Article 520 - Bail and Bail Bonds

• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• 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.
• Appearance bond: means a bail bond in which the only obligor is the principal. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• 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.
• Bail: means cash bail, a bail bond or money paid with a credit card. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Bail bond: means a written undertaking, executed by one or more obligors, that the principal designated in such instrument will, while at liberty as a result of an order fixing bail and of the posting of the bail bond in satisfaction thereof, appear in a designated criminal action or proceeding when his attendance is required and otherwise render himself amenable to the orders and processes of the court, and that in the event that he fails to do so the obligor or obligors will pay to the people of the state of New York a specified sum of money, in the amount designated in the order fixing bail. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Cash bail: means a sum of money, in the amount designated in an order fixing bail, posted by a principal or by another person on his behalf with a court or other authorized public servant or agency, upon the condition that such money will become forfeit to the people of the state of New York if the principal does not comply with the directions of a court requiring his attendance at the criminal action or proceeding involved or does not otherwise render himself amenable to the orders and processes of the court. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Court: includes , where appropriate, a judge authorized to act as described in a particular statute, though not as a court. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• Insurance company bail bond: means a surety bond, executed in the form prescribed by the superintendent of financial services, in which the surety-obligor is a corporation licensed by the superintendent of financial services to engage in the business of executing bail bonds. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligor: means a person who executes a bail bond on behalf of a principal and thereby assumes the undertaking described therein. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Partially secured bail bond: means a bail bond secured only by a deposit of a sum of money not exceeding ten percent of the total amount of the undertaking. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Principal: means a defendant in a criminal action or proceeding, or a person adjudged a material witness therein, or any other person so involved therein that the principal may by law be compelled to appear before a court for the purpose of having such court exercise control over the principal's person to secure the principal's future attendance at the action or proceeding when required, and who in fact either is before the court for such purpose or has been before it and been subjected to such control. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Secured bail bond: means a bail bond secured by either:
  
  (a) Personal property which is not exempt from execution and which, over and above all liabilities and encumbrances, has a value equal to or greater than the total amount of the undertaking; or
  
  (b) Real property having a value of at least twice the total amount of the undertaking. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Surety: means an obligor who is not a principal. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Surety bond: means a bail bond in which the obligor or obligors consist of one or more sureties or of one or more sureties and the principal. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10
• Unsecured bail bond: means a bail bond, other than an insurance company bail bond, not secured by any deposit of or lien upon property. See N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law 500.10