Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 5-50 - Health Clubs

• Accredited theater production: means a for-profit live stage presentation in a qualified production facility, as defined in this chapter that is either: (i) A pre-Broadway production, or (ii) A post-Broadway production. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• Accredited theater production certificate: means a certificate issued by the film office certifying that the production is an accredited theater production that meets the guidelines of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• Admission: means all charges established for admission except those specifically designated as service charges;

  (2)  "Licensee" means a person conducting racing events at which betting under the pari-mutuel system is permitted;

  (3)  "Person" includes, but is not limited to, individuals, associations, and corporations;

  (4)  "Racing event" means a racing event at which pari-mutuel betting is permitted;

  (5)  "Seller" means a person required by this chapter to collect any tax imposed under this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-29-1

• 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.
• 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.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• 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.
• Business day: means any day except Sunday or a legal holiday. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Claimant: means a property owner or lessee, who has filed a claim under this chapter and was domiciled in this state for the entire calendar year for which he or she files a claim for relief under this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-30.3-3
• 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.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• 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.
• Department: means the department of attorney general, unless otherwise described. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Disability: means a condition that will exist for more than forty-five (45) days and prevents a buyer from utilizing the health club to the same extent the buyer did before the commencement of the condition. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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
• 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.
• Farmland: means :

  (i)  Any tract or tracts of land, including woodland and wasteland constituting a farm unit;

  (ii)  Land which is actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use including, but not limited to: forages and sod crops; grains and feed crops; fruits and vegetables; poultry, dairy, and other livestock and their products; nursery, floral, and greenhouse products; other food or fiber products useful to people;

  (iii)  When meeting the requirements and qualifications for payments pursuant to a soil conservation program under an agreement with the federal government, the director of environmental management is authorized to promulgate and adopt rules and regulations defining particular categories and minimum acreages of land eligible for designation as farmland under this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-27-2

• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• 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.
• Forest land: means any tract or contiguous tracts of land, ten (10) acres or larger bearing a dense growth of trees, including any underbrush, and having either the quality of self perpetuation, or being dependent upon its development by the planting and replanting of trees in stands of closely growing timber, actively managed under a forest management plan approved by the director of environmental management. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-27-2
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• 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.
• Health club: means any corporation, partnership, unincorporated association, or other business enterprise offering facilities for the preservation, maintenance, encouragement, or development of physical fitness or well-being in return for the payment of a fee entitling the payer to the use of the facilities. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Health club contract: means a written statement where a buyer is entitled to membership in a health club or use of the facilities of a health club for a period longer than seven (7) days. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Household: means one or more persons occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single nonprofit housekeeping unit. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-30.3-3
• Household income: means all income received by all persons of a household in a calendar year while members of the household. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-30.3-3
• 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
• Income: means the sum of federal adjusted gross income as defined in the Internal Revenue Code of the United States, 26 U. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-30.3-3
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• 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.
• Open space land: means any tract or contiguous tracts of undeveloped land, where the undeveloped land serves to enhance agricultural values, or land in its natural state that conserves forests, enhances wildlife habitat or protects ecosystem health, and that is:

  (i)  Ten (10) total acres or larger, exclusive of house site, where "house site" means the zoned lot size or one acre, whichever is smaller, and land surrounding dwellings or devoted to developed facilities, such as tennis courts, pool, etc. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-27-2

• 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.
• Payroll: means all salaries, wages, fees, and other compensation including related benefits for services performed and costs incurred within Rhode Island. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• Person: includes , but is not limited to, individuals, associations, and corporations;

  (4)  "Racing event" means a racing event at which pari-mutuel betting is permitted;

  (5)  "Seller" means a person required by this chapter to collect any tax imposed under this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-29-1

• 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.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Production and performance expenditures: means a contemporaneous exchange of cash or cash equivalent for goods or services related to development, production, performance, or operating expenditures incurred in this state for a qualified theater production including, but not limited to, expenditures for design, construction and operation, including sets, special and visual effects, costumes, wardrobes, make-up, accessories; costs associated with sound, lighting, staging, payroll, transportation expenditures, advertising and public relations expenditures, facility expenses, rentals, per diems, accommodations and other related costs. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• purchaser: means a natural person who enters into a health club contract. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Qualified production facility: means a facility located in the state of Rhode Island in which live theatrical productions are, or are intended to be, exclusively presented that contains at least one stage, a seating capacity of one thousand (1,000) or more seats, and dressing rooms, storage areas, and other ancillary amenities necessary for the accredited theater production. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• 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.
• 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}
• 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.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Seller: means any person, firm, corporation, partnership, unincorporated association, franchise, franchisor, or other business enterprise that operates a health club or offers or enters into contracts for health club services. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-50-1
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• 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
• Transportation expenditures: means expenditures for the packaging, crating, and transportation both to the state for use in a qualified theater production of sets, costumes, or other tangible property constructed or manufactured out of state, and/or from the state after use in a qualified theater production of sets, costumes, or other tangible property constructed or manufactured in this state and the transportation of the cast and crew to and from the state. See Rhode Island General Laws 44-31.3-2
• 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
• Writ of certiorari: An order issued by the Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case for which it will hear on appeal.