Terms Used In New York Laws > Penal > Part 2 > Title E > Article 70 - Sentences of Imprisonment

• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• 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.
• 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.
• Bank holding company: when used in this article, means any company which (a) directly or indirectly, or through a subsidiary or subsidiaries, owns, controls, or holds with power to vote (i) ten per centum or more of the voting stock of a company which is or becomes a bank holding company by virtue of this article, or (ii) ten per centum or more of the voting stock of a banking institution, or (b) controls in any manner the election of a majority of the directors of (i) a banking institution, or (ii) a company which is or becomes a bank holding company by virtue of this article, or (c) is a company, for the benefit of whose stockholders or members ten per centum or more of the voting stock of a banking institution or of a company which is or becomes a bank holding company by virtue of this article is held, directly or indirectly, by a trustee or trustees, or (d) through a combination of (i) ownership, control or holding, directly or indirectly, of voting stock and (ii) voting stock and held, directly or indirectly, by a trustee or trustees for the benefit of the members or stockholders of such company, if such voting stock is voting stock of one or more banking institutions or of one of more companies which are or become bank holding companies by virtue of this article, as the case may be, is a company which would be a bank holding company if the aggregate of such voting stock were either entirely owned, controlled or held, directly or indirectly, by such company or entirely held, directly or indirectly, by a trustee or trustees for the benefit of the members or stockholders of such company. See N.Y. Banking Law 141
• Banking institution: when used in this article, means a bank, a trust company, a stock-form savings bank or a stock-form savings and loan association. See N.Y. Banking Law 141
• board of education: shall mean the trustee, trustees or board of education of any common, union free, central, central high or city school district, or a board of cooperative educational services. See N.Y. Education Law 1980
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Company: when used in this article, means any corporation, partnership, trust, unincorporated association, joint stock association or similar organization organized under the laws of the state of New York, or if not so organized, doing business in the state of New York, or any individual residing or doing business in the state of New York, or any combination of individuals which combination is residing or is doing business in the state of New York, any combination of the foregoing which combination is residing or is doing business in the state of New York, or any such individual and any of the foregoing acting in concert, but shall not include (a) any corporation the majority of the stock of which is owned by the United States or by any state unless the superintendent determines that it would be in the public interest to deem such a corporation to constitute a company, or (b) any corporation or community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private stockholder or individual, and no substantial part of the activities of which is the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation unless the superintendent determines that it would be in the public interest to deem such a corporation, community chest, fund, or foundation to constitute a company, or (c) any corporation or partnership owning or controlling stock acquired in connection with an underwriting of securities and which is held only for such period of time as will permit the sale thereof upon a reasonable basis. See N.Y. Banking Law 141
• 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.
• 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.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Doing business: when used in this article, shall include the maintenance by a foreign company of a place of business in this state, or the conduct by a foreign company of operations in this state, or the acquisition, owning or holding by a foreign company of any stock or assets of any banking institution or any company which directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds with power to vote ten per centum or more of the voting stock of a banking institution. See N.Y. Banking Law 141
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• 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.
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• 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.
• 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}
• 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.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• 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}
• 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.
• 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.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• school district: shall mean any common, union free, central, central high or city school district, or a board of cooperative educational services. See N.Y. Education Law 1980
• 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.
• Subsidiary: when used in this article, means (a) any company ten per centum or more of whose voting stock is directly or indirectly, or through a subsidiary or subsidiaries, owned, controlled, or held with power to vote, by a bank holding company; or (b) any company the election of a majority of whose directors is controlled in any manner by a bank holding company; or (c) any company ten per centum or more of whose voting stock is directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or held with power to vote, by a trustee or trustees for the benefit of the stockholders or members of a bank holding company; or (d) any company at least ten per centum of the voting stock of which is directly or indirectly, or through a subsidiary or subsidiaries, owned, controlled or held with power to vote by a combination of a bank holding company and by a trustee or trustees for the benefit of the stockholders or members of such bank holding company. See N.Y. Banking Law 141
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• 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.
• 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}