Article 1 Administration and Enforcement
Article 2 New Buildings and Structures
Article 3 Miscellaneous Provisions

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 23-27.3 - State Building Code

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Apprentice barber: means an employee whose principal occupation is service with a barber who has held a current license as a barber for at least three (3) years with a view to learning the art of barbering, as defined in subsection (14). See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Apprentice irrigator: as used in this chapter , means a person hired to perform all phases of an irrigation project under the supervision of a master irrigation licensee or a licensed journeyperson irrigator for a period of one year. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-4.1
  • Apprentice plumber: as used in this chapter , means any employee, whose principal occupation is service with a master plumber with a view to learning the art or trade of maintenance, installation, or repair of plumbing, as defined in § 5-20-2. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-5
  • 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.
  • Barber: means any person who shaves or trims the beard; waves, dresses, singes, shampoos, or dyes the hair; or applies hair tonics, cosmetic preparations, antiseptics, powders, oil clays, or lotions to the scalp, face, or neck of any person; or cuts the hair of any person; gives facial and scalp massages; or treatments with oils, creams, lotions, or other preparations. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Board: means the state board of barbering and hairdressing as provided for in this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Department: means the Rhode Island department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Department: means the department of business regulation. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-11.1-3
  • Director: means the director of the department of business regulation. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-11.1-3
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • Division: means the division of professional regulation within the department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. Source: OCC
  • Esthetician: means a person who engages in the practice of esthetics, and is licensed as an esthetician. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Esthetics: means the practice of cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, and beautifying skin, including, but not limited to, the treatment of such skin problems as dehydration, temporary capillary dilation, excessive oiliness, and clogged pores. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Event permit: means a permit that a city or town issues to the organizer of a public mobile food establishment event located on public property. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-11.1-3
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. Source: OCC
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Hairdresser and cosmetician: means any person who arranges, dresses, curls, cuts, waves, singes, bleaches, or colors the hair or treats the scalp, or manicures the nails of any person, either with or without compensation, or who, by the use of the hands or appliances, or of cosmetic preparations, antiseptics, tonics, lotions, creams, powders, oils or clays, engages, with or without compensation, in massaging, cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, exercising, or beautifying, or in doing similar work upon the neck, face, or arms, or who removes superfluous hair from the body of any person. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • hotel: means a hotel, motel, resort, boarding house, or bed and breakfast that is kept, used, or advertised as, or held out to the public as, a place where sleeping or housekeeping accommodations are supplied for pay to guests for leisure, business, or group occupancy. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-14-3
  • Hotel: shall mean any establishment defined in § 5-14-3. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-14.1-1
  • Human trafficking: means the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act as defined in 22 U. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-14.1-1
  • in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Instructor: means any person licensed as an instructor under the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
  • Journeyperson irrigator: as used in this chapter , means a person who has performed all phases of a project under the supervision of a master irrigation licensee for a period of not less than one year. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-5.1
  • Journeyperson plumber: as used in this chapter , means any employee, except an apprentice plumber as subsequently defined, whose principal occupation is the installation, maintenance, or repair of plumbing, as defined in § 5-20-2. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-4
  • 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
  • Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
  • Licensing authorities: means the bureau or board of police commissioners of any city or town where that bureau or board of police commissioners is established; but where there is no bureau or board, it means the town council of a town and the city council of a city. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-16-1
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Manicurist: means any person who engages in manicuring for compensation and is duly licensed as a manicurist. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Master irrigator: as used in this chapter , means a person who has performed in the capacity of a journeyperson irrigator as defined in § 5-20-5. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-3.1
  • Master plumber: as used in this chapter , means any person who, as an independent contractor, engages in this state in the business of installation, maintenance, or repair of plumbing in the building or upon the premises where that plumbing, as defined in § 5-20-2, is or is to be located, either by contract or agreement with the owner, lessee, tenant, or agent of those premises or building, or who employs one or more journeyperson plumbers, one or more plumber's apprentices or other persons to assist in that installation, maintenance, or repair work or who performs any acts specified in this chapter for performance by a "master plumber. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-3
  • Mobile food establishment: means a food service operation that is operated from a movable motor-driven or propelled vehicle, portable structure, or watercraft that can change location. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-11.1-3
  • Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
  • Municipal mobile food establishment permit: means a permit issued by a city or town to a mobile food establishment operator that possesses a current state mobile food establishment registration. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-11.1-3
  • Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
  • operator: means a person or corporate entity who or that owns, manages, or controls, or who or that has the duty to manage or control, the operation of a mobile food establishment. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-11.1-3
  • outdoor advertising: as used in this chapter , applies only to all advertising displayed to attract the attention of persons on any public highway, or while in the vehicle of any common carrier, or in any station of a common carrier, or while in any public building, public park, public grounds, or other public places, whether the advertising by means of printing, writing, picture, or a combination of those, and whatever may be the means of display, except that it does not include advertising located upon private property and relating exclusively to the business conducted on that property or the sale or rental of the property, or advertising in or upon the cars and stations of any common carrier. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-18-1
  • 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.
  • Person: means any individual, firm, partnership, association, or corporation. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-13-1
  • Person: means and includes a person, partnership, or corporation. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-16-1
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Plumbing: means :

    (i)  All fittings, fixtures, appliances, and connections that are located within a building or a structure, or within five feet (5?) of the outer walls of a building or structure and that connect said building or structure, where a person or persons live, work, or assemble, with the source of public or private water supply used or intended for domestic or personal use, as well as any interconnecting piping between buildings or structures;

    (ii)  All piping, fittings, fixtures, and appliances for a sanitary drainage and related ventilation system, direct or indirect, within that building; and

    (iii)  Air piping, medical, and laboratory gas systems including, but not limited to, oxygen and nitrous oxide. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20-2

  • Practice of barbering: means the engaging by any licensed barber in all, or any combination of, the following practices: shaving or trimming the beard or cutting the hair; giving facial and scalp massages or treatments with oils, creams, lotions, or other preparations, either by hand or mechanical appliances; singeing, shampooing, arranging, dressing, curling, waving, chemical waving, hair relaxing, or dyeing the hair or applying hair tonics; or applying cosmetic preparations, antiseptics, powders, oils, clays, or lotions to the scalp, face, or neck. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Practice of hairdressing and cosmetic therapy: means the engaging by any licensed hairdresser and cosmetician in any one or more of the following practices: the application of the hands or of mechanical or electrical apparatus, with or without cosmetic preparations, tonics, lotions, creams, antiseptics, or clays, to massage, cleanse, stimulate, manipulate, exercise, or otherwise to improve or to beautify the scalp, face, neck, shoulders, arms, bust, or upper part of the body; or the manicuring of the nails of any person; or the removing of superfluous hair from the body of any person; or the arranging, dressing, curling, waving, weaving, cleansing, cutting, singeing, bleaching, coloring, or similarly treating the hair of any person. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • Practice of manicuring: means the cutting, trimming, polishing, tinting, coloring, or cleansing the nails of any person. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • 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.
  • Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Public laundry: means and includes any plant or equipment conducted or operated as a laundry for profit, and for which business is solicited from the general public, but does not mean or include a laundry operated exclusively for and in connection with a hospital, school, or other institution, hotel, boardinghouse, or private dwelling, nor a laundry operated by one institution that also serves another institution. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-16-1
  • Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
  • Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
  • real estate: may be construed to include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and rights thereto and interests therein. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-10
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Registrant: means the holder of a "state mobile food establishment registration. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-11.1-3
  • registration: means a registration issued by the department which authorizes a mobile food establishment to operate in the state. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-11.1-3
  • 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.
  • Riding school: means any establishment in connection with which one or more horses are let for hire to be ridden or driven, either with or without the furnishing of riding or driving instruction. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-13-1
  • RIDOH: means the Rhode Island department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-11.1-3
  • School: means a school approved under chapter 40 of Title 16, as amended, devoted to the instruction in, and study of, the theory and practice of barbering, hairdressing, and cosmetic therapy, esthetics, and/or manicuring. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-10-1
  • seal: shall be construed to include an impression of the seal made with or without the use of wax or wafer on the paper. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-15
  • 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.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
  • town council: include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
  • 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.
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8
  • vendor: means a person who prepares, sells, cooks, or serves food or beverages from a mobile food establishment. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-11.1-3