Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 16 > Chapter 11 > Subchapter 2 - Exploration, Formation, and Organization

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Agencies: means town cemeteries; religious or ecclesiastical society cemeteries; cemetery associations; and any person, firm, corporation, or unincorporated association engaged in the business of a cemetery. See
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• Annual meeting: when applied to towns shall mean the annual town meeting in March or an adjournment thereof. See
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• 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.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• between: as used in this title in respect to a specified age of a student, shall mean the period of time commencing on the birthday of the child when he or she becomes the age first specified and ending on the day next preceding the birthday of the child when he or she becomes the age last specified. See
• biennially: shall mean the year in which a regular session of the General Assembly is held. See
• Board clerk: means the individual selected to be clerk of the board of a union school district by the members of the board from among their number pursuant to the provisions of sections 714 (initial members of union school district board), 729 (unified union district board members), and 747 (union elementary and union high school district board members) of this chapter. See
• Cemetery: means any plot of ground used or intended to be used for the burial or permanent disposition of the remains of the human dead in a grave, a mausoleum, a columbarium, a vault, or other receptacle. See
• Cemetery association: means any corporation now or hereafter organized that is or shall be authorized by its articles to conduct the business of a cemetery. See
• Columbarium: means a structure or room or other space in a building or structure of durable and lasting fireproof construction, containing niches, used or intended to be used, to contain the permanent disposition of human remains. See
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living. See
• Community mausoleum: means a structure or building of durable and lasting construction used or intended to be used for the permanent disposition of the remains of deceased persons in crypts or spaces, provided such crypts or spaces are available to or may be obtained by individuals or the public for a price in money or its equivalent. See
• 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.
• Conversion therapy: means any practice by a mental health care provider that seeks to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to change sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex or gender. See
• 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.
• Cremated remains: means remains of a deceased person after incineration in a disposition facility. See
• Cremation: means the reducing of the remains of deceased persons, by the use of retorts, to cremated remains and the disposal thereof in a columbarium, niche, mausoleum, grave, or in any other manner not contrary to law. See
• Crypt: means the chamber in a mausoleum of sufficient size to contain the remains of deceased persons. See
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Danger of harm to others: means the person has inflicted or attempted to inflict serious bodily injury to another or has committed an act that would constitute a sexual assault or lewd or lascivious conduct with a child. See
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living. See
• Department: means the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living. See
• Department: means the Department of Health. See
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Designated program: means a program designated by the Commissioner as adequate to provide in an individual manner appropriate custody, care, and habilitation to persons with intellectual disabilities receiving services under this subchapter. See
• Developmental disability: means a severe, chronic disability of a person that is manifested before the person reaches 18 years of age and results in:

• 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.
• Disposition facility: means a building or structure for the reducing of human remains by means of cremation, alkaline hydrolysis, or natural organic reduction. See
• District clerk: means the individual elected as clerk of a union school district by the voters of the district pursuant to the provisions of sections 715 (union school district organizational meeting), 735 (unified union school district officers and election), and 753 (union elementary and union high school district officers and election) of this chapter. See
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Dower: A widow
• drug addict: means a person who shows signs of mental illness because of his or her use of drugs, hallucinogens, stimulants, or sedatives or who has an uncontrollable desire for their use or consumption. See
• Ecological land management practices: means utilization of land stewardship decision-making processes that account for the best available understanding of ecosystem functions and biological diversity. See
• Electorate: means the qualified voters in a school district voting at a properly warned school district meeting. See
• 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}
• 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.
• Family: means a group of individuals that includes a person with a developmental disability and that:

• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• 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.
• fled: as used in this chapter shall be construed to mean any voluntary or involuntary departure from the jurisdiction of the court where the proceedings hereinafter mentioned may have been instituted and are still pending, with the effect of avoiding, impeding, or delaying the action of the court in which such proceedings may have been instituted or be pending, or any such departure from the state where the person demanded then was, if he or she then were under detention by law as a person of unsound mind and subject to detention. See
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Forming districts: means all school districts, including union school districts, that are located within the geographical boundaries of a proposed or voter-approved union school district prior to the operational date of the union school district, which will potentially merge or have merged to form the new union school district. See
• 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
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Guardianship: means the legal status of a person with developmental disabilities who is subject to the Commissioner's exercise of some or all of the powers listed in section 9310 of this title. See
• 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.
• hospital: shall include a secure residential recovery facility as defined in subsection 7620(e) of this title. See
• Interested person: means a responsible adult who has a direct interest in a person with developmental disabilities and includes the person with developmental disabilities, a near relative, guardian, public official, social worker, or clergy. See
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• 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.
• 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
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Local board of health: means the local health officer, with the selectboard of the town or city council of a city. See
• Magistrate: shall mean any Supreme Court Justice, Superior judge, District judge, or Probate judge. See
• Member district: means a school district, which can be a union school district, that is a member of a union elementary school district or a union high school district for certain grades, prekindergarten through grade 12, and is a distinct district organized to provide for the education of its resident students for all other grades, whether by operating one or more schools or paying tuition. See
• Mental health care provider: means a person licensed to practice medicine pursuant to 26 Vt. 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
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Municipality: shall include a city, town, town school district, incorporated school or fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units. See
• 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}
• Natural burial ground: means a cemetery maintained using ecological land management practices and without the use of vaults for the burial of unembalmed human remains or human remains embalmed using nontoxic embalming fluids and that rest in either no burial container or in a nontoxic, nonhazardous, plant-derived burial container or shroud. See
• Natural organic reduction: means the contained, accelerated conversion of human remains to soil. See
• Near relative: means a spouse, parent, step parent, brother, sister, or grandparent. See
• Niche: means a recess in a columbarium used, or intended to be used, for the permanent disposition of human remains of one or more deceased persons. See
• Oath: shall include affirmation where by law an affirmation may be substituted. See
• 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.
• 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: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• Person: means any individual, company, corporation, association, partnership, the U. See
• Person in need of guardianship: means a person who:

• Person with a developmental disability: means a person who is a resident of Vermont and who has a developmental disability. See
• person with an intellectual disability: shall mean an individual who has significantly subaverage intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior. See
• Person with developmental disabilities: means :

• Personal estate: shall include all property other than real estate. See
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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}
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• 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.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• 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
• Public health hazard: means the potential harm to the public health by virtue of any condition or any biological, chemical, or physical agent. See
• Qualified developmental disabilities professional: means a psychologist, physician, registered nurse, educator, or social worker with specialized training or at least one year of experience in working with people with developmental disabilities. See
• real estate: shall include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and all rights thereto and interests therein, and pews or slips in places of public worship shall be treated as real estate. See
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Recipient: means a person with a developmental disability or a family that has been approved to receive services or funding under criteria specified in the system of care plan. 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.
• Respondent: means a person who is the subject of a petition filed pursuant to section 9305 of this title. See
• said: when used by way of reference to a person or thing shall apply to the same person or thing last mentioned. See
• School board: means the board of school directors elected to manage the schools of a school district, the prudential committee of an incorporated school district, the supervisory union board of directors, and the supervisors of unorganized towns and gores. See
• 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
• School district meeting: means a duly warned meeting of a school district at which questions are presented to the electorate. See
• seal: shall include an impression of the official seal made upon paper alone or by means of a wafer or wax affixed thereto. See
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Education. See
• Secure residential recovery facility: means a residential facility, licensed as a therapeutic community residence as defined in 33 V. See
• Service: means support or service provided, funded, or coordinated by the Department. See
• 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.
• 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
• State Board: means the State Board of Education established by chapter 3 of this title. See
• 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.
• Superintendent: means the chief executive officer of a supervisory union and each school board within it. See
• Supervisory district: means a supervisory union that consists of only one school district, which may be a unified union district. See
• Supervisory union: means an administrative, planning, and educational service unit created by the State Board under section 261 of this title, that consists of two or more school districts; if the context clearly allows, the term also means a supervisory district. See
• sworn: shall include affirmed. See
• System of care plan: means the plan adopted pursuant to section 8725 of this title and that describes funding and services to be provided to people with developmental disabilities and their families. See
• 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.
• 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
• town school district: means a city school district, or incorporated school district, and does not mean a union school district. See
• Transitional period: means the period of time beginning on the day on which a union school district becomes a legal entity pursuant to section 713 (certification of votes) of this chapter and continuing until its operational date. See
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• 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:

• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Village: shall mean an incorporated village. See
• Weighted voting: means a system, sometimes used in the "proportional to town population" model of union school district board membership, set forth in subdivisions 711(d)(1), 711(e)(1), 730(a)(1), 748(a)(1), and 748(b)(1) of this chapter, where proportionality is achieved by assigning a different number of votes to each board member. See
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.