Article 140 Burglary and Related Offenses
Article 145 Criminal Mischief and Related Offenses
Article 150 Arson
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Terms Used In New York Laws > Penal > Part 3 > Title I - Offenses Involving Damage to and Intrusion Upon Property

  • Account owner: shall mean a person who enters into a tuition savings agreement pursuant to the provisions of this article, including a person who enters into such an agreement as a fiduciary or agent on behalf of a trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Adopter: means any faculty member or academic department at institutions of higher learning responsible for considering and choosing textbooks and/or supplemental materials to be utilized in connection with the accredited courses taught at institutions of higher education. See N.Y. Education Law 720
  • Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
  • 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.
  • Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
  • 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.
  • Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
  • Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
  • 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
  • Bequest: Property gifted by will.
  • Borrower: shall mean a student attending a covered institution in this state, or a parent or person in parental relation to such student, who also obtains an educational loan from a lending institution to pay for or finance higher education expenses. See N.Y. Education Law 620
  • commercial trampoline: shall mean a device that:
    (a) incorporates a trampoline bed; and
    (b) is used for entertainment or recreational jumping, springing, bouncing, acrobatics, or gymnastics in a trampoline park. See N.Y. General Business Law 220
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Comptroller: shall mean the comptroller of the state of New York. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Construction: includes construction of new buildings, acquisition of existing buildings, and expansion, remodeling, alteration, and renovation of existing buildings, and initial equipment of such new, newly acquired, expanded, remodeled, altered or renovated buildings;
    N.Y. Education Law 1002
  • 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 the New York state higher education services corporation. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Covered institution: shall mean any college, vocational institution, or approved program as defined in section six hundred one of this title. See N.Y. Education Law 620
  • Covered institution employee: shall mean any employee, agent, contractor, director, officer or trustee of a covered institution. See N.Y. Education Law 620
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • 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 beneficiary: shall mean , with respect to an account or accounts, the individual designated as the individual whose higher education expenses are expected to be paid from the account or accounts. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Donee: The recipient of a gift.
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • Educational loan: shall mean any loan that is made, insured, or guaranteed under Part B of Title IV of the Federal Higher Education Act of nineteen hundred sixty-five, as amended, any high risk loan or any private loan issued by a lending institution for the purposes of paying for or financing higher education expenses. See N.Y. Education Law 620
  • Eligible educational institution: shall mean (a) any institution of higher education defined as an eligible educational institution in section 529 (e)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or (b) any apprenticeship program described in section 529 (c)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • 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
  • Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
  • 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.
  • Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
  • Executrix: The female counterpart of an executor. See also
  • 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.
  • family tuition account: shall mean an individual savings account established in accordance with the provisions of this article. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Financial organization: shall mean an organization authorized to do business in the state of New York and (a) which is an authorized fiduciary to act as a trustee pursuant to the provisions of an act of congress entitled "Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974" as such provisions may be amended from time to time, or an insurance company; and (b)(i) is licensed or chartered by the department of financial services, (ii) is chartered by an agency of the federal government, (iii) is subject to the jurisdiction and regulation of the securities and exchange commission of the federal government, or (iv) is any other entity otherwise authorized to act in this state as a trustee pursuant to the provisions of an act of congress entitled "Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974" as such provisions may be amended from time to time. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • 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.
  • Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Gainful occupation: includes any employment for which a compensation is paid either in goods and/or in services; practice of a profession; self-employment; homemaking, farm or family work (including work for which payment is in kind rather than in cash); sheltered employment; and home industries or other gainful homebound work. See N.Y. Education Law 1002
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Gift: shall mean any discount, favor, gratuity, inducement, loan, stock, thing of value, or other item having more than nominal value. See N.Y. Education Law 620
  • Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. Source: Federal Reserve
  • Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
  • 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.
  • Handicapped person: means any person who in the judgment of the department is under a physical or mental disability which constitutes a substantial handicap to employment but which is of such a nature that vocational rehabilitation services may reasonably be expected to render him fit to engage in gainful employment, and also any person under a physical or mental disability which constitutes a substantial handicap to employment and for whom vocational rehabilitation services are necessary to ascertain his rehabilitation potential. See N.Y. Education Law 1002
  • health professionals: means persons duly licensed or otherwise authorized to practice a health profession pursuant to applicable law, including, but not limited to, physicians, registered professional nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, optometrists, dentists, dental hygienists, dietitians and nutritionists, and audiologists. See N.Y. Education Law 902
  • Hemp: means the plant Cannabis sativa L. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 505
  • High risk loans: shall mean any agreement between a lending institution and a covered institution that provides for the lending institution to provide loans to students with a poor or no credit history, who would otherwise not be eligible for educational loans. See N.Y. Education Law 620
  • Higher education expenses: shall include the following:
    N.Y. Education Law 620
  • Individuals with severe disabilities: means persons for whom competitive employment has either not traditionally occurred or has been interrupted or intermittent as a result of having a permanent and substantially disabling physical, sensory, or mental condition. See N.Y. Education Law 1002
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • inspection: shall mean a procedure that an inspector conducts to:
    (a) determine whether a trampoline park facility, including any device or material, is constructed, assembled, maintained, tested, and operated in accordance with this article and the manufacturer's recommendations;
    (b) determine the operational safety of a trampoline park facility, including any device or material;
    (c) determine whether the trampoline park complies with safety standards ; and
    (d) determine whether the trampoline park's policies, safeguards, and procedures comply with this article. See N.Y. General Business Law 220
  • inspector: shall mean an individual who:
    (a) conducts an inspection of a trampoline park to certify compliance with this article and industry safety standards ; and
    (b)
    (i) is certified by:
    (A) a nationally accredited organization that develops and publishes consensus standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services that are used for trampolines; or
    (B) a nationally accredited organization that promotes trampoline park safety ;
    (ii) represents the insurer of the trampoline park ;
    (iii) represents a nationally accredited organization that:
    (A) inspects amusement and recreational facilities and equipment; and
    (B) certifies and trains professional private industry inspectors through written testing and continuing education requirements; or
    (iv) represents an organization that the United States Olympic Committee designates as the national governing body for gymnastics . See N.Y. General Business Law 220
  • Institution of higher education: means :
    (a) any of the colleges and universities described in subdivision three of section three hundred fifty-two of the education law;
    (b) a college established and operated pursuant to the provisions of article one hundred twenty-six of the education law, and providing two-year or four-year post-secondary programs in general and technical educational subjects and receiving financial assistance from the state;
    (c) the city university of New York, as defined in subdivision two of section sixty-two hundred two of the education law; and
    (d) a not-for-profit two or four-year university or college given the power to confer associate, baccalaureate or higher degrees in this state by the legislature or by the regents under article five of the education law. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 505
  • Institution of higher education: means any institution of higher education, recognized and approved by the regents of the university of the state of New York, which provides a course of study leading to the granting of a post-secondary degree or diploma. See N.Y. Education Law 720
  • 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
  • Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
  • Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
  • 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.
  • Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
  • 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
  • Lending institution: shall mean :
    N.Y. Education Law 620
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • License: means a license, permit or registration issued pursuant to this article. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 505
  • 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.
  • Management contract: shall mean the contract executed by the comptroller and a financial organization selected to act as a depository and manager of the program. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. Source: OCC
  • Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
  • Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
  • Motor vehicle: includes every vehicle operated or driven upon a public highway which is propelled by any power other than muscular power, except (a) electrically-driven invalid chairs being operated or driven by an invalid, (b) vehicles which run only upon rails or tracks, and (c) snowmobiles as defined in article forty-seven of the vehicle and traffic law. See N.Y. Penal Law 150.00
  • 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
  • Nonqualified withdrawal: shall mean a withdrawal from an account but shall not mean:
    N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • 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.
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Preferred lender list: shall mean a list of one or more recommended or suggested lending institutions that a covered institution makes available for use, in print or any other medium or form, by borrowers, potential borrowers or others. See N.Y. Education Law 620
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Processing of hemp in connection with its growing and cultivation: means the growing, cultivation, cloning, harvesting, drying, curing, grinding and trimming of hemp plants. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 505
  • Program: shall mean the New York state college choice tuition savings program established pursuant to this article. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Program manager: shall mean a financial organization selected by the comptroller to act as a depository and manager of the program. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
  • Publisher: means any publishing house, publishing firm, or publishing company that publishes textbooks and supplemental materials. See N.Y. Education Law 720
  • Pupil: means a child for whom transportation aid is paid and who lives more than one and one-half miles from the school which he or she attends, measured by the nearest available road to such school, or a child who lives more than one mile from an approved route, measured by the nearest available road to such route, and also lives more than one and one-half miles from the school which he or she attends. See N.Y. Education Law 3621
  • Qualified higher education expenses: shall mean any qualified higher education expense included in section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Qualified withdrawal: shall mean a withdrawal from an account to pay the qualified higher education expenses of the designated beneficiary of the account at an eligible educational institution. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
  • Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. Source: FDIC
  • Regional or joint transportation system: means a transportation system in which a school district participates pursuant to a contract executed in accordance with paragraph h of subdivision twenty-five of section seventeen hundred nine of this chapter. See N.Y. Education Law 3621
  • Rehabilitation facility: means a facility, operated for the principal purpose of assisting in the rehabilitation of handicapped persons and
    N.Y. Education Law 1002
  • 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.
  • Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
  • Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • Revenue sharing: shall mean any arrangement whereby a lending institution pays a covered institution or an affiliated entity or organization of such covered institution a percentage of the principal of each loan directed towards the lending institution from a borrower at the covered institution. See N.Y. Education Law 620
  • Route: means a highway or highways over and upon which a school bus regularly travels in accordance with a schedule maintained for the transportation of pupils from their homes to school. See N.Y. Education Law 3621
  • salary: shall mean the amount of compensation that is to be paid to a teacher for services rendered during the full ten months period that the public schools of the district are required by law to be in session during any school year. See N.Y. Education Law 3101
  • School bus: means any vehicle or other means of conveyance used for the purpose of transporting pupils. See N.Y. Education Law 3621
  • School district: means common school districts, to the extent that they provide transportation of students in grades seven through twelve to a school outside the district, consolidated school districts, central school districts, central high school districts, union free school districts, except special act school districts as defined in section four thousand one of this chapter, and city school districts. See N.Y. Education Law 3621
  • Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
  • 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.
  • Storage: means any school bus garage facilities or sites which may be approved by the commissioner. See N.Y. Education Law 3621
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Substantial handicap to employment: means that a physical or mental disability (in the light of attendant medical, psychological, vocational, educational, cultural, social or environmental factors) impedes an individual's occupational performance, by preventing his obtaining, retaining, or preparing for a gainful occupation consistent with his capacities and abilities. See N.Y. Education Law 1002
  • Supplemental materials: means materials that supplement the primary textbook or textbooks that come in the form of another book, online technologies, a workbook, CD-ROM, or any other format, and that can be used by a faculty member or a student during the teaching of a course. See N.Y. Education Law 720
  • Supported employment: means paid competitive work performed by individuals with severe disabilities who require intensive support services to obtain such employment and extended support to sustain such employment, and which is performed in an integrated setting which provides regular interactions with individuals who do not have disabilities, other than paid caregivers. See N.Y. Education Law 1002
  • Supported employment services: means support services needed by individuals with severe disabilities to obtain and sustain supported employment. See N.Y. Education Law 1002
  • Teachers: shall mean all full-time members of the teaching and supervisory staff of each school district of the state, including, if employed in such district, the superintendent of schools, associate, district or other superintendents, members of the board of examiners, directors, inspectors, supervisors, principals, administrative assistants, first assistants, teachers, school psychologists, social workers in a city having a population of over one million, lecturers and special instructors, except employees holding the positions enumerated in subdivisions one and two of section thirty-one hundred six of this article. See N.Y. Education Law 3101
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Textbook: means any textbook that is adopted for a course, as determined by the faculty member or members or entity charged with choosing that textbook. See N.Y. Education Law 720
  • trampoline bed: shall mean the flexible surface of a trampoline on which a user jumps or bounces. See N.Y. General Business Law 220
  • trampoline court: shall mean an area of a trampoline park comprising:
    (a) multiple commercial trampolines; or
    (b) at least one commercial trampoline and at least one associated foam or inflatable bag pit. See N.Y. General Business Law 220
  • trampoline park: shall mean a place of business that offers the recreational use of a trampoline court for a fee or charge for admission to the trampoline park for entertainment or recreational purposes. See N.Y. General Business Law 220
  • 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.
  • Trustor: The person who makes or creates a trust. Also known as the grantor or settlor.
  • Tuition savings agreement: shall mean an agreement between the comptroller or a financial organization and the account owner. See N.Y. Education Law 695-B
  • Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
  • Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
  • Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
  • Vocational rehabilitation services: means :
    N.Y. Education Law 1002
  • Workshop: means a place where any manufacture or handiwork is carried on and which is operated for the principle purpose of providing gainful employment to severely handicapped persons (a) as an interim step in the rehabilitation process for those who cannot be absorbed in the competitive labor market; or (b) during such time as employment opportunities for them in the competitive labor market do not exist. See N.Y. Education Law 1002
  • Year of service: shall mean the number of years which a teacher has served in the school district in which he is employed including the year for which a determination for salary purposes is made. See N.Y. Education Law 3101