Terms Used In Texas Government Code > Title 10 > Subtitle D - State Purchasing and General Services

• Account: means any deposit or credit account with a bank, including a demand, time, savings, passbook, share draft, or like account, other than an account evidenced by a certificate of deposit. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 4.104
• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Afternoon: means the period of a day between noon and midnight. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 4.104
• Alcoholic beverage: means alcohol, or any beverage containing more than one-half of one percent of alcohol by volume, which is capable of use for beverage purposes, either alone or when diluted. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• 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.
• Applicant: means a person who submits or files an original or renewal application with the commission for a license or permit. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• 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.
• 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.
• Bailee: means a person that by a warehouse receipt, bill of lading, or other document of title acknowledges possession of goods and contracts to deliver them. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 7.102
• Bailiff: a court officer who enforces the rules of behavior in courtrooms.
• Banking day: means the part of a day on which a bank is open to the public for carrying on substantially all of its banking functions. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 4.104
• 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.
• Barrel: means , as a standard of measure, a quantity of malt beverages equal to 31 standard gallons. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• 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}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Brewer: means a person engaged in the brewing of malt beverages, whether located inside or outside the state. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Buyer: means a person who buys or contracts to buy goods. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2.103
• Buyer in the ordinary course of business: means a person who in good faith and without knowledge that the sale to him or her is in violation of the ownership rights or security interest or leasehold interest of a third party in the goods buys in the ordinary course from a person in the business of selling goods of that kind but does not include a pawnbroker. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Carrier: means a person that issues a bill of lading. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 7.102
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Clearing house: means an association of banks or other payors regularly clearing items. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 4.104
• Commercial unit: means a unit of goods as by commercial usage is a single whole for purposes of lease and division of which materially impairs its character or value on the market or in use. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Commission: means the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Committee membership: Legislators are assigned to specific committees by their party. Seniority, regional balance, and political philosophy are the most prominent factors in the committee assignment process.
• 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.
• Concurrent resolution: A legislative measure, designated "S. Con. Res." and numbered consecutively upon introduction, generally employed to address the sentiments of both chambers, to deal with issues or matters affecting both houses, such as a concurrent budget resolution, or to create a temporary joint committee. Concurrent resolutions are not submitted to the President/Governor and thus do not have the force of law.
• Consignee: means a person named in a bill of lading to which or to whose order the bill promises delivery. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 7.102
• Consignment sale: means :
  (A) the delivery of alcoholic beverages under an agreement, arrangement, condition, or system by which the person receiving the beverages has the right at any time to relinquish possession to them or to return them to the shipper and in which title to the beverages remains in the shipper;
  (B) the delivery of alcoholic beverages under an agreement, arrangement, condition, or system by which the person designated as the receiver merely acts as an intermediary for the shipper or seller and the actual receiver;
  (C) the delivery of alcoholic beverages to a factor or broker;
  (D) any method employed by a shipper or seller by which a person designated as the purchaser of alcoholic beverages does not in fact purchase the beverages;
  (E) any method employed by a shipper or seller by which a person is placed in actual or constructive possession of an alcoholic beverage without acquiring title to the beverage; or
  (F) any other type of transaction which may legally be construed as a consignment sale. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Consignor: means a person named in a bill of lading as the person from which the goods have been received for shipment. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 7.102
• Consumer lease: means a lease that a lessor regularly engaged in the business of leasing or selling makes to a lessee who is an individual and who takes under the lease primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose, if the total payments to be made under the lease contract, excluding payments for options to renew or buy, do not exceed $25,000. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract for sale: includes both a present sale of goods and a contract to sell goods at a future time. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2.106
• 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.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
• Criminal negligence: has the meaning assigned by Section Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Customer: means a person having an account with a bank or for whom a bank has agreed to collect items, including a bank that maintains an account at another bank. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 4.104
• 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.
• Delivery order: means a record that contains an order to deliver goods directed to a warehouse, carrier, or other person that in the ordinary course of business issues warehouse receipts or bills of lading. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 7.102
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• 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:
• Distilled spirits: means alcohol, spirits of wine, whiskey, rum, brandy, gin, or any liquor produced in whole or in part by the process of distillation, including all dilutions or mixtures of them, and includes spirit coolers that may have an alcoholic content as low as four percent alcohol by volume and that contain plain, sparkling, or carbonated water and may also contain one or more natural or artificial blending or flavoring ingredients. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Documentary draft: means a draft to be presented for acceptance or payment if specified documents, certificated securities (Section Texas Business and Commerce Code 4.104
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Draft: means a draft as defined in Section Texas Business and Commerce Code 4.104
• Drawee: means a person ordered in a draft to make payment. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 4.104
• Effects: includes all personal property and all interest in that property. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• En banc: In the bench or "full bench." Refers to court sessions with the entire membership of a court participating rather than the usual quorum. U.S. courts of appeals usually sit in panels of three judges, but may expand to a larger number in certain cases. They are then said to be sitting en banc.
• 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}
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Fault: means a wrongful act, omission, breach, or default. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Felony: A crime carrying a penalty of more than a year in prison.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Finance lease: means a lease with respect to which:
  (A) the lessor does not select, manufacture, or supply the goods;
  (B) the lessor acquires the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods in connection with the lease; and
  (C) one of the following occurs:
  (i) the lessee receives a copy of the contract by which the lessor acquired the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods before signing the lease contract;
  (ii) the lessee's approval of the contract by which the lessor acquired the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods is a condition to effectiveness of the lease contract;
  (iii) the lessee, before signing the lease contract, receives an accurate and complete statement designating the promises and warranties, and any disclaimers of warranties, limitations or modifications of remedies, or liquidated damages, including those of a third party, such as the manufacturer of the goods, provided to the lessor by the person supplying the goods in connection with or as part of the contract by which the lessor acquired the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods; or
  (iv) if the lease is not a consumer lease, the lessor, before the lessee signs the lease contract, informs the lessee in writing (a) of the identity of the person supplying the goods to the lessor, unless the lessee has selected that person and directed the lessor to acquire the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods from that person, (b) that the lessee is entitled under this chapter to the promises and warranties, including those of any third party, provided to the lessor by the person supplying the goods in connection with or as part of the contract by which the lessor acquired the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods, and (c) that the lessee may communicate with the person supplying the goods to the lessor and receive an accurate and complete statement of those promises and warranties, including any disclaimers and limitations of them or of remedies. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• 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.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• General-law municipality: means a municipality designated by Chapter Texas Local Government Code 1.005
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Goods: means all things that are moveable at the time of identification to the lease contract, or are fixtures (Section Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Goods: means all things that are treated as movable for the purposes of a contract for storage or transportation. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 7.102
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• 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.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Home-rule municipality: means a municipality designated by Chapter Texas Local Government Code 1.005
• Hotel: means the premises of an establishment:
  (A) where, in consideration of payment, travelers are furnished food and lodging;
  (B) in which are located:
  (i) at least 10 adequately furnished completely separate rooms with adequate facilities so comfortably disposed that persons usually apply for and receive overnight accommodations in the establishment, either in the course of usual and regular travel or as a residence; or
  (ii) at least five rooms described by Subparagraph (i) if the building being used as a hotel is a historic structure as defined by Section Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by writing, printing, or other means. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Installment lease contract: means a lease contract that authorizes or requires the delivery of goods in separate lots to be separately accepted, even though the lease contract contains the clause "each delivery is a separate lease" or its equivalent. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• 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}
• 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.
• Issuer: means a bailee that issues a document of title or, in the case of an unaccepted delivery order, the person that orders the possessor of goods to deliver. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 7.102
• Item: means an instrument or a promise or order to pay money handled by a bank for collection or payment. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 4.104
• 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.
• 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.
• Justice: when applied to a magistrate, means justice of the peace. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lease: means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a term in return for consideration, but a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or retention or creation of a security interest is not a lease. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Lease agreement: means the bargain, with respect to the lease, of the lessor and the lessee in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances including course of dealing or usage of trade or course of performance as provided by this chapter. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Lease contract: means the total legal obligation that results from the lease agreement as affected by this chapter and any other applicable rules of law. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Leasehold interest: means the interest of the lessor or the lessee under a lease contract. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Legal tender: coins, dollar bills, or other currency issued by a government as official money. ^{Source: U.S. Mint}
• Lessee: means a person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Lessor: means a person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensee: means a person who is the holder of a license provided in this code, or any agent, servant, or employee of that person. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Lien: means a charge against or interest in goods to secure payment of a debt or performance of an obligation, but the term does not include a security interest. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
• Liquor: means any alcoholic beverage, other than a malt beverage, containing alcohol in excess of five percent by volume, unless otherwise indicated. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Lot: means a parcel or a single article that is the subject matter of a separate lease or delivery, whether or not it is sufficient to perform the lease contract. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Malt beverage: means a fermented beverage of any name or description containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, brewed or produced from malt, in whole or in part, or from any malt substitute. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Merchant lessee: means a lessee that is a merchant with respect to goods of the kind subject to the lease. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Misdemeanor: Usually a petty offense, a less serious crime than a felony, punishable by less than a year of confinement.
• Mixed beverage: means one or more servings of a beverage composed in whole or part of an alcoholic beverage in a sealed or unsealed container of any legal size for consumption on the premises where served or sold by the holder of a mixed beverage permit, the holder of certain nonprofit entity temporary event permits, the holder of a private club registration permit, or the holder of certain retailer late hours certificates. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• 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.
• most recent federal census: means the United States decennial census immediately preceding the action in question. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Municipality: means a general-law municipality, home-rule municipality, or special-law municipality. See Texas Local Government Code 1.005
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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: includes affirmation. See Texas Government Code 311.005
• 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.
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• 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.
• Permittee: means a person who is the holder of a permit provided for in this code, or an agent, servant, or employee of that person. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Person: means a natural person or association of natural persons, trustee, receiver, partnership, corporation, organization, or the manager, agent, servant, or employee of any of them. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• 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.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• 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.
• Premises: has the meaning given it in Section Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• present sale: means a sale which is accomplished by the making of the contract. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2.106
• Present value: means the amount as of a date certain of one or more sums payable in the future, discounted to the date certain. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
• 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.
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Purchase: includes taking by sale, lease, mortgage, security interest, pledge, gift, or any other voluntary transaction creating an interest in goods. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• 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.
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Restaurant: means a business that:
  (A) operates its own permanent food service facility with commercial cooking equipment on its premises; and
  (B) prepares and offers to sell multiple entrees for consumption on or off the premises. See Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 1.04
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Seller: means a person who sells or contracts to sell goods. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2.103
• 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.
• Shipper: means a person that enters into a contract of transportation with a carrier. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 7.102
• Signature: includes the mark of a person unable to write, and "subscribe" includes the making of such a mark. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Sublease: means a lease of goods the right to possession and use of which was acquired by the lessor as a lessee under an existing lease. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Succeeding: means immediately following. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supplier: means a person from whom a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased under a finance lease. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• Supply contract: means a contract under which a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 2A.103
• sworn: includes affirm or affirmed. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• 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.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• True bill: Another word for indictment.
• 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}
• Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Victim Impact Statement: A written or spoken statement by the victim or his or her representative about the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a crime on the victim. The statement is given to the court before sentencing.
• Warehouse: means a person engaged in the business of storing goods for hire. See Texas Business and Commerce Code 7.102
• Week: means seven consecutive days. See Texas Government Code 311.005
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Written: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures. See Texas Government Code 311.005