Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 6A-1 - General Provisions

• Aeronautics: means transportation by aircraft, air instruction, the operation, repair, or maintenance of aircraft, and the design, operation, repair, or maintenance of airports, landing fields, or other air navigation facilities. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• aeronautics inspector: means an employee of the Rhode Island airport corporation, as defined in the Rhode Island airport corporation personnel job description manual, who is charged by the director to enforce the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• Air instruction: means the imparting of aeronautical information by any aviation instructor or in any air school or flying club. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• Air school: means any person engaged in giving, offering to give, or advertising, representing, or holding himself or herself out as giving, with or without compensation or other award, instruction in aeronautics — in flying, in ground subjects, or in both. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• Aircraft: means any contrivance now known or invented, used, or designed for navigation of, or flight in, the air, except a parachute or other contrivance designed for air navigation but used primarily as safety equipment. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• Airport: means any area of land or water, or both, designed and set aside for the approach, landing, and taking off of aircraft and utilized or to be utilized in the interest of the public for those purposes. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-3-2
• Airport: means any area of land, water, or both, which is used or is made available for the landing and take off of aircraft, and which provides facilities for the shelter, supply, and repair of aircraft and which, as to size, design, surface, marking, equipment, and management meets the minimum requirements established from time to time by the director. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• 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.
• Aviation instructor: means any individual engaged in giving, or offering to give, instruction in aeronautics — in flying, in ground subjects, or in both — either with or without compensation or other reward, without advertising his or her occupation, without calling his or her facilities "air school" or any equivalent term, and without employing or using other instructors. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• 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.
• Civil aircraft: means any aircraft other than a public aircraft. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• 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.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Deputy director: means the deputy director of the Rhode Island airport corporation. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• Director: means the executive director of the Rhode Island airport corporation. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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}
• 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.
• 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.
• Flying club: means any person (other than an individual) who, neither for profit nor reward, owns, leases, or uses one or more aircraft for the purpose of instruction, pleasure, or both. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• 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.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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}
• 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.
• Landing field: means any area of land, water, or both, which is used or is made available for the landing and take off of aircraft, which may or may not provide facilities for the shelter, supply, and repair of aircraft, and which, as to size, design, surface, marking, equipment, and management meets the minimum requirements established from time to time by the director. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• 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}
• 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.
• 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.
• Operate: means , with respect to aircraft, to use, cause to use or authorize to use an aircraft, for the purpose of engine start, movement on the ground (taxi), or air navigation including the piloting of aircraft, with or without the right of legal control (as owner, lessee, or otherwise). See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• Operator: means a person who operates or is in actual physical control of an aircraft. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• Owner: means the legal title holder or any person, firm, copartnership, association, or corporation having the lawful possession or control of an aircraft under a written sale agreement. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• 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.
• Person: means any individual, firm, co-partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or body politic, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee or other similar representative. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-3-2
• Person: means any individual, or any corporation or other association of individuals. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Political subdivision: means any city or town or any other public corporation, authority or district, department, or any combination of two (2) or more, currently empowered to adopt, administer and enforce municipal zoning regulations or to purchase or condemn pursuant to § 1-2-3. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-3-2
• Political subdivision: means any city or town or any other public corporation, authority, or district, or any combination of two (2) or more, which is or may be authorized by law to acquire, establish, construct, maintain, improve, and operate airports. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• Public aircraft: means an aircraft used exclusively in the governmental service. See Rhode Island General Laws 1-4-2
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• 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
• 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.
• 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
• 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}
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8