Terms Used In Texas Penal Code Chapter 28 - Arson, Criminal Mischief, and Other Property Damage or Destruction

• Act: means a bodily movement, whether voluntary or involuntary, and includes speech. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Actor: means a person whose criminal responsibility is in issue in a criminal action. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Another: means a person other than the actor. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Benefit: means anything reasonably regarded as economic gain or advantage, including benefit to any other person in whose welfare the beneficiary is interested. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Bodily injury: means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Conduct: means an act or omission and its accompanying mental state. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Consent: means assent in fact, whether express or apparent. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Controlled substance: has the meaning assigned by § 481. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Court: means and includes:
  (1) a county court in the exercise of its probate jurisdiction;
  (2) a court created by statute and authorized to exercise original probate jurisdiction; and
  (3) a district court exercising original probate jurisdiction in a contested matter. See Texas Estates Code 22.007
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Death: includes , for an individual who is an unborn child, the failure to be born alive. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Effective consent: includes consent by a person legally authorized to act for the owner. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• 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.
• 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.
• Felony: means an offense so designated by law or punishable by death or confinement in a penitentiary. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Government: means :
  (A) the state;
  (B) a county, municipality, or political subdivision of the state; or
  (C) any branch or agency of the state, a county, municipality, or political subdivision. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Individual: means a human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Judge: means the presiding judge of any court having original jurisdiction over probate proceedings, regardless of whether the court is:
  (1) a county court in the exercise of its probate jurisdiction;
  (2) a court created by statute and authorized to exercise probate jurisdiction; or
  (3) a district court exercising probate jurisdiction in a contested matter. See Texas Estates Code 22.019
• 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.
• Law: means the constitution or a statute of this state or of the United States, a written opinion of a court of record, a municipal ordinance, an order of a county commissioners court, or a rule authorized by and lawfully adopted under a statute. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Misdemeanor: means an offense so designated by law or punishable by fine, by confinement in jail, or by both fine and confinement in jail. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Owner: means a person who:
  (A) has title to the property, possession of the property, whether lawful or not, or a greater right to possession of the property than the actor; or
  (B) is a holder in due course of a negotiable instrument. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Person: means an individual or a corporation, association, limited liability company, or other entity or organization governed by the Business Organizations Code. See Texas Penal Code 1.07
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes a department, bureau, or other agency of the United States of America. See Texas Government Code 311.005
• Ward: means a person for whom a guardian has been appointed. See Texas Estates Code 22.033