Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 5-25 - Veterinary Practice

• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Administrator: means the administrator of veterans affairs of the United States or his or her successor. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-16-2
• Adult: means an individual who has attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• 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.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• Animal: means any animal other than humans and includes, by way of illustration, not limitation, fowl, birds, fish, livestock, and reptiles, wild or domestic, living or dead. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-25-2
• 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.
• 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
• 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.
• 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.
• 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}
• Benefits: means all money paid or payable by the United States through the veterans administration. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-16-2
• Bequeath: To gift property by will.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Care custodian: means a person who provides health or social services to a dependent adult, except that "care custodian" does not include a person who provided services without remuneration if the person had a personal relationship with the dependent adult: (i) At least ninety (90) days before providing those services; (ii) At least six (6) months before the dependent adult's death; and (iii) Before the dependent adult was admitted to hospice care, if the dependent adult was admitted to hospice care. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-19.1-2
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Conservator: means a person appointed by the court to administer the property of an adult, including a person appointed under chapter 15 of Title 33. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• 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.
• Cross examine: Questioning of a witness by the attorney for the other side.
• 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.
• Department: means the Rhode Island department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-25-2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent adult: means a person who, at the time of executing the instrument at issue under this section, was a person described in either of the following:

  (i)  The person was sixty-five (65) years of age or older and satisfied one or both of the following criteria:

  (A)  The person was unable to provide properly for his or her personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter;

  (B)  Due to one or more deficits in the mental functions listed in §?11-5-12(b)(2), the person had difficulty managing his or her own financial resources or resisting fraud or undue influences. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-19.1-2

• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the director of the Rhode Island department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-25-2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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 established in chapter 26 of this title. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-25-2
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• 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}
• Emergency: means circumstances that likely will result in substantial harm to a respondent's health, safety, or welfare, and in which the appointment of a guardian is necessary because no other person has authority to and is willing to act on the respondent's behalf. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• Estate: means income on hand and assets acquired partially or wholly with "income". See Rhode Island General Laws 33-16-2
• 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
• 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.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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}
• 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.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guardian: shall mean any person acting as fiduciary for the person and estate or person or estate of any "ward". See Rhode Island General Laws 33-16-2
• 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.
• Guardian: means a person appointed by the court to make decisions regarding the person of an adult, including a person appointed under chapter 15 of Title 33. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• Guardianship order: means an order appointing a guardian. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• Home state: means the state in which the respondent was physically present, including any period of temporary absence, for at least six (6) consecutive months immediately before the filing of a petition for the appointment of a guardian or issuance of a protective order; or if none, the state in which the respondent was physically present, including any period of temporary absence, for at least six (6) consecutive months ending within the six (6) months prior to the filing of the petition. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• 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
• Incapacitated person: means an adult for whom a guardian has been appointed. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• Income: means money received from the veterans administration and revenue or profit from any property wholly or partially acquired therewith. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-16-2
• Independent attorney: means an attorney who has no legal, business, financial, professional, or personal relationship with the beneficiary of a donative transfer at issue under this chapter, and who would not be appointed as a fiduciary or receive any pecuniary benefit as a result of the operation of the instrument containing the donative transfer at issue under this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-19.1-2
• 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.
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• 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.
• 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}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: includes affirmation; the word "sworn" includes affirmed; and the word "engaged" includes either sworn or affirmed. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-11
• 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.
• Party: means the respondent, petitioner, guardian, conservator, or any other person allowed by the court to participate in a guardianship or protective proceeding. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• Person: means an individual, a partnership, a corporation or an association. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-16-2
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited-liability company, association, joint venture, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Protected person: means an adult for whom a protective order has been made. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• Protective order: means an order appointing a conservator or another court order related to management of an adult's property. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• Protective proceeding: means a judicial proceeding in which a protective order is sought or has been issued. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• 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.
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• 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.
• Respondent: means an adult for whom a protective order or the appointment of a guardian is sought. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
• 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.
• Significant-connection state: means a state, other than the home state, with which a respondent has a significant connection other than mere physical presence and in which substantial evidence concerning the respondent is available. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• spouse or domestic partner: includes a predeceased spouse or predeceased domestic partner. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-19.1-2
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, a federally recognized Indian tribe, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-15.2-102
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Tenancy by the entirety: A type of joint tenancy between husband and wife that is recognized in some States. Neither party can sever the joint tenancy relationship; when a spouse dies, the survivor acquires full title to the property.
• Testate: To die leaving a will.
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• 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
• Veterans administration: means the veterans administration, its predecessors or successors. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-16-2
• Veterinarian: means a person who practices veterinary medicine. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-25-2
• Veterinary dentistry: means that part of veterinary science that deals with the prevention and treatment of diseases, developmental conditions, and injuries of the teeth, gums, and oral cavity in animals. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-25-2
• Ward: means a beneficiary of the veterans administration. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-16-2
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.