Terms Used In New York Laws > Public Authorities > Article 9 > Title 4 - Contracts of Public Authorities

• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• 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.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Construction item: means any such item or material used in construction and which is procured directly by the public authority or office or any such item or material commonly used in construction which is procured by a person, other than a municipality, under contract with the public authority or office. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 2875-A
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• 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.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• 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.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• 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}
• 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.
• Office: means the office of general services. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 2875-A
• 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.
• Practicable: means capable of being used without violating the following criteria: performance, availability at a reasonable price, availability within a reasonable period of time and maintenance of a satisfactory level of competition. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 2875-A
• Product: means any material, supply, equipment or construction item or other item whether real or personal property which is the subject of any purchase, barter, or other exchange made to procure such product. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 2875-A
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Secondary materials: means any material recovered from or otherwise destined for the waste stream, including but not limited to, post-consumer material, industrial scrap material, and overstock or obsolete inventories from distributors, wholesalers and other companies as defined in rules and regulations promulgated by the commissioner of general services but such term does not include those materials and byproducts generated from, and commonly reused within an original manufacturing process. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 2875-A
• Specification: means any description of the physical or functional characteristics, or of the nature of a material, supply, equipment or construction item. See N.Y. Public Authorities Law 2875-A
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• 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}
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.