Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 16 > Chapter 11 > Subchapter 1 - General Provisions

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• biennially: shall mean the year in which a regular session of the General Assembly is held. See
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• 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.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Department: means the Department of Health. See
• Designated agency: means a designated community mental health and developmental disability agency as described in subsection 8907(a) of this title. See
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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.
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Federal prosecutor: A lawyer appointed by the President in each judicial district to prosecute and defend cases for the federal government.
• 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.
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• gender identity: means an individual's actual or perceived gender identity, or gender-related characteristics intrinsically related to an individual's gender or gender-identity, regardless of the individual's assigned sex at birth. See
• Grades: means the division of the educational work of the public schools into 13 school year units beginning with kindergarten and thereafter numbered from one to 12 beginning with the lowest. See
• 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 officer: means Commissioner of Health, the Commissioner's designee, or a local or district health officer. See
• Intensive residential recovery facility: means a licensed program under contract with the Department of Mental Health that provides a safe, therapeutic, recovery-oriented residential environment to care for individuals with one or more mental conditions or psychiatric disabilities who need intensive clinical interventions to facilitate recovery in anticipation of returning to the community. See
• Justice: when applied to a person, other than a Justice of the Supreme Court, shall mean a justice of the peace for the county for which he or she is elected or appointed. See
• Month: shall mean a calendar month and "year" shall mean a calendar year and be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See
• Municipality: shall include a city, town, town school district, incorporated school or fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units. See
• No refusal system: means a system of hospitals and intensive residential recovery facilities under contract with the Department of Mental Health that provides high-intensity services, in which the facilities shall admit any individual for care if the individual meets the eligibility criteria established by the Commissioner in contract. See
• 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.
• Operational date: means the date on which a union school district formed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter assumes full and sole responsibility for the education of all resident students in the grades for which it is organized. See
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Permit: means any permit or license issued pursuant to this title. See
• Person: means any individual, company, corporation, association, partnership, the U. See
• 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}
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• 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.
• Psychiatric disability: means an impairment of thought, mood, perception, orientation, or memory that limits one or more major life activities but does not include intellectual disability. See
• Psychosocial rehabilitation: means a range of social, educational, occupational, behavioral, and cognitive interventions for increasing the role performance and enhancing the recovery of individuals with a serious mental condition or psychiatric disability, including services that foster long-term recovery and self-sufficiency. See
• Recovery-oriented: means a system or services that emphasize the process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential. See
• 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.
• School district: means a school district organized as a town school district, city school district, incorporated school district, or union school district, unless clearly inapplicable. See
• Serious bodily injury: means the same as in section 1912 of this title. See
• 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.
• sexual orientation: means female or male homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
• town: means a city or incorporated village. See
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unified union school district: means a union school district organized to provide for the education of the district's resident students in all grades, prekindergarten through grade 12. See
• union district: includes a union elementary school district, union high school district, and unified union school district unless the context clearly limits it to fewer than all options. See
• Union school district: means a municipality formed under the provisions of this chapter that is governed by a single publicly elected board and that is responsible for the education of students residing in two or more towns in the grades for which the district is organized by:

• Village: shall mean an incorporated village. See
• Warm line: means a nonemergency telephone response line operated by trained peers for the purpose of active listening and assistance with problem-solving for persons in need of such support. See