Terms Used In New York Laws > General Obligations > Article 3 - Capacity; Effect of Status or of Certain Relationships or Occupations Upon the Creation, Definition or Enforcement of Obligations

• Absconding: means intentionally avoiding supervision by failing to maintain contact or communication with the releasee's assigned community supervision officer or area bureau office and to notify his or her assigned community supervision officer or area bureau office of a change in residence, and reasonable efforts by the assigned community supervision officer to re-engage the releasee have been unsuccessful. See N.Y. Executive Law 259
• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Advisory board: means that body established pursuant to this section or a criminal justice coordinating council whose members include the chief administrative officer and a majority of the members set forth in subdivision two of this section. See N.Y. Executive Law 261
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Approved amendment: means an amendment submitted by the county executive upon approval by the advisory board or council and by the local legislative body, which has been determined by the division to meet the requirements set forth in section 266 of this article to provide eligible alcohol and substance abuse programs. See N.Y. Executive Law 261
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• art merchant: includes an auctioneer who sells such works at public auction, and except in the case of multiples, includes persons, not otherwise defined or treated as art merchants herein, who are consignors or principals of auctioneers. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
• Artist: means the creator of a work of fine art or, in the case of multiples, the person who conceived or created the image which is contained in or which constitutes the master from which the individual print was made. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• authority: shall mean the corporation created by section eleven hundred forty-seven-c of this title. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• authorship: refers to the creator of a work of fine art or multiple or to the period, culture, source or origin, as the case may be, with which the creation of such work is identified in the description of the work. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
• 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.
• Board: means the state board of parole. See N.Y. Executive Law 259
• Board of directors: shall mean the governing board of the authority. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• Bonds: shall mean the bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness issued by the authority. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Certificate of authenticity: means a written statement by an art merchant confirming, approving or attesting to the authorship of a work of fine art or multiple, which is capable of being used to the advantage or disadvantage of some person. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Civil service commission: shall mean the civil service commission of the county of Allegany. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of the department of corrections and community supervision. See N.Y. Executive Law 259
• Community supervision: means the supervision of individuals released into the community on temporary release, presumptive release, parole, conditional release, post release supervision or medical parole. See N.Y. Executive Law 259
• Comptroller: shall mean the comptroller of the state of New York. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• Conservation: means acts taken to correct deterioration and alteration and acts taken to prevent, stop or retard deterioration. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
• Construction: shall mean the negotiation, acquisition, erection, building, alteration, improvement, testing, increase, enlargement, extension, reconstruction, interconnection, renovation or rehabilitation of a sewer facility of a project as defined herein; the inspection and supervision thereof; and the engineering, architectural, legal, appraisal, fiscal, economic and environmental investigations, services and studies, surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifications, procedures and other actions incidental thereto. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• County: shall mean , unless otherwise specifically stated, the county of Allegany. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• County executive: means a county administrator, county manager, county director or county president and in cities with a population of one million or more, the mayor. See N.Y. Executive Law 261
• Department: means the department of corrections and community supervision. See N.Y. Executive Law 259
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• discriminate: includes to segregate or separate. See N.Y. Civil Rights Law 18-B
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Dower: A widow
• Eligible alcohol and substance abuse programs: means eligible programs which serve to assist the courts, public officers and others in identifying and avoiding inappropriate incarceration by providing services to offenders who have or have had a history of alcohol or substance abuse and who, having been charged with or convicted of a felony are also at risk of incarceration as a pre-trial detainee, a determinate sentenced offender, an indeterminate sentenced offender, a probation violator, or a parole violator. See N.Y. Executive Law 261
• Eligible programs: means existing programs, enhancement of existing programs or initiation of new programs or, if submitting an approved amendment pursuant to section two hundred sixty-six of this article, eligible alcohol and substance abuse programs as defined in paragraph c of this subdivision which serve to assist the court, public officers or others in identifying and avoiding the inappropriate use of incarceration. See N.Y. Executive Law 261
• 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
• Extradition: The formal process of delivering an accused or convicted person from authorities in one state to authorities in another state.
• Fine art: means a painting, sculpture, drawing, or work of graphic art, and print, but not multiples. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: shall mean :

  (a) In the case of a village, county, town or village or district corporation the finance board, as such term is defined in subdivision four of § 2. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A

• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• housing accommodation: includes any building, structure, or portion thereof which is used or occupied or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied, as the home, residence or sleeping place of one or more human beings, but shall not include any accommodations operated by a religious or denominational organization as part of its religious or denominational activities. See N.Y. Civil Rights Law 18-B
• 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.
• 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}
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• Limited edition: means works of art produced from a master, all of which are the same image and bear numbers or other markings to denote the limited production thereof to a stated maximum number of multiples, or are otherwise held out as limited to a maximum number of multiples. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Members: shall mean the members of the board of directors. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• 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.
• multiples: means prints, photographs, positive or negative, sculpture and similar art objects produced in more than one copy and sold, offered for sale or consigned in, into or from this state for an amount in excess of one hundred dollars exclusive of any frame or in the case of sculpture, an amount in excess of fifteen hundred dollars. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
• Municipality: shall mean any city, county, town, village or county or town acting on behalf of an improvement district. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• Non-technical violation: means : (a) the commission of a new felony or misdemeanor offense; or (b) conduct by a releasee who is serving a sentence for an offense defined in article 130 of the penal law or section 255. See N.Y. Executive Law 259
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• owner: includes the lessee, sub-lessee, assignee, managing agent, or other person having the right of ownership or possession or the right to rent or lease housing accommodations and includes the state and any of its political subdivisions and any agency thereof. See N.Y. Civil Rights Law 18-B
• person: includes one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy and receivers or other fiduciaries. See N.Y. Civil Rights Law 18-B
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• plan: means a county plan designed to identify and provide eligible programs as determined by either an advisory board established pursuant to this article, or by an existing criminal justice coordinating council, provided, however, the membership of such council includes a majority of those persons set forth in subdivision two of this section, provided that one person shall be the chief administrative officer. See N.Y. Executive Law 261
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• project: shall mean a system of trunk, intercepting and connecting, lateral and outlet sewers, pumping and ventilating stations, disposal or treatment plants or works and other appliances and structures, which in the judgment of the authority will provide an effectual and advantageous means for relieving the area which the authority encompasses and any waters within or passing through or any ground waters from pollution by the sewage and waste of the area encompassing the authority and relieving such area from inadequate sanitary drainage and for the sanitary disposal or treatment of the sewage thereof, or such sections or parts of such system as the authority may from time to time deem it proper or convenient to construct, consistent with the plan or purpose of this title. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• publicly assisted housing accommodation: includes any housing accommodation within the state of New York

  (a) which, after July first, nineteen hundred fifty, is granted exemption in whole or in part from taxes levied by the state or any of its political subdivisions;

  (b) which is constructed after July first, nineteen hundred fifty, on land sold below cost by the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof, pursuant to the federal housing act of nineteen hundred forty-nine;

  (c) which is constructed after July first, nineteen hundred fifty, in whole or in part on property acquired or assembled by the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof through the power of condemnation or otherwise for the purpose of such construction;

  (d) for the acquisition, construction, repair or maintenance of which the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof supplies, after July first, nineteen hundred fifty, funds or other financial assistance;

  (e) (1) which is located in a multiple dwelling; and (2) the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair or maintenance of which is, after July first, nineteen hundred fifty-five, financed in whole or in part by a loan, whether or not secured by a mortgage, the repayment of which is guaranteed or insured by the federal government or any agency thereof, or the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof, provided that such a housing accommodation shall be deemed to be publicly assisted only during the life of such loan and such guaranty or insurance; or

  (f) which is offered for sale by a person who owns or otherwise controls the sale of ten or more housing accommodations located on land that is contiguous (exclusive of public streets), if (1) the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair or maintenance of such housing accommodations is, after July first, nineteen hundred fifty-five, financed in whole or in part by a loan, whether or not secured by a mortgage, the repayment of which is guaranteed or insured by the federal government or any agency thereof, or the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof, provided that such a housing accommodation shall be deemed to be publicly assisted only during the life of such loan and guaranty or insurance, or (2) a commitment, issued by a government agency after July first, nineteen hundred fifty-five, is outstanding that acquisition of such housing accommodations may be financed in whole or in part by a loan, whether or not secured by a mortgage, the repayment of which is guaranteed or insured by the federal government or any agency thereof, or the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof. See N.Y. Civil Rights Law 18-B

• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Releasee: means an individual released from an institution under the jurisdiction of the department into the community on temporary release, presumptive release, parole, conditional release, post-release supervision or medical parole. See N.Y. Executive Law 259
• 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.
• Reproduction: means a copy, in any medium, of a work of fine art, that is displayed or published under circumstances that, reasonably construed, evinces an intent that it be taken as a representation of a work of fine art as created by the artist. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
• Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
• Sculpture: means a three-dimensional fine art object produced, fabricated or carved in multiple from a mold, model, cast, form or other prototype, other than from glass, sold, offered for sale or consigned in, into or from this state for an amount in excess of fifteen hundred dollars. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
• State: shall mean the state of New York. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• State agency: shall mean any state office, public benefit corporation, department, board, commission, bureau or division, or other agency or instrumentality of the state. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• State sanitary code: shall mean regulations adopted pursuant to § 225 of the public health law. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Technical violation: means any conduct that violates a condition of community supervision in an important respect, other than the commission of a new felony or misdemeanor offense under the penal law. See N.Y. Executive Law 259
• Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• Treasurer: shall mean the treasurer of the authority. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 1147-A
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Written instrument: means a written or printed agreement, bill of sale, invoice, certificate of authenticity, catalogue or any other written or printed note or memorandum or label describing the work of fine art or multiple which is to be sold, exchanged or consigned by an art merchant. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01