Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 17.1 > Chapter 5 - Circuit Courts

• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• affiliated interest: when used in this chapter shall mean and include the following:

  1. See Virginia Code 56-76

• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Authority: means the Southwest Virginia Energy Research and Development Authority established pursuant to this article. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• 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.
• Board: means the Virginia Gas and Oil Board. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Coal mine methane: means methane gas captured and produced from an underground gob area associated with a mined-out coal seam that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• coastal energy: includes wave or tidal action, currents, offshore winds, thermal differences, and methane hydrates. See Virginia Code 45.2-1715
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 56-1
• 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.
• company: includes all corporations created by acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, or under the general incorporation laws of this Commonwealth, or doing business therein, and shall exclude all municipal corporations, other political subdivisions, and public institutions owned or controlled by the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Consortium: means the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium established pursuant to Article 5 (§ 45. See Virginia Code 45.2-1700
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contracting entity: means any public body as defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• Courts of record: means the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the circuit courts. See Virginia Code 1-212
• Dealer: means a motor vehicle dealer licensed pursuant to Chapter 15 of Title 46. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• DEQ: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Developer: means any private developer of an energy development project. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Division: means the Division of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-1700
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Energy conservation measures: means the use of methods and techniques, the application of knowledge, or the installation of devices, including an alteration or betterment of an existing facility, that reduces energy consumption or operating costs and includes:

  1. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702

• Energy cost savings: means a measured reduction in fuel, energy, or operation and maintenance costs created from the implementation of one or more energy conservation measures when compared with an established baseline for previous fuel, energy, or operation and maintenance costs. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• Energy development project: means any activity that generates, produces, or stores energy, any energy efficiency system, and any supporting ancillary activities located within Southwest Virginia and includes interests in land, improvements, and ancillary facilities and research, development, commercialization, and deployment activities designated by the Authority to the nonprofit collaborative. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Energy performance-based contract: means a contract for the evaluation, recommendation, and implementation of energy conservation measures that includes, at a minimum:

  1. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702

• Exploratory well: means any well drilled to (i) find and produce gas or oil in an unproven area, (ii) find a new reservoir in a field previously found to be productive of gas or oil in another reservoir, or (iii) extend the limits of a known gas or oil reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Injection well: means any well used to inject or otherwise place any substance associated with gas or oil operations into the earth or underground strata for disposal, storage, or enhanced recovery. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• 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.
• Local exchange telephone service: means telephone service provided in a geographical area established for the administration of communication services and consists of one or more central offices together with associated facilities which are used in providing local exchange service. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Maintenance savings: means the operating expenses eliminated and future capital replacement expenditures avoided as a result of new equipment installed or services performed by the performance contractor. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• Mine: includes all of the land or property of the mining plant, including both the surface and subsurface, that is used in or contributes directly or indirectly to the mining, concentration, or handling of the mineral resources, including all roads. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Mistrial: An invalid trial, caused by fundamental error. When a mistrial is declared, the trial must start again from the selection of the jury.
• municipal corporation: shall include an authority created by a governmental unit exempt from the referendum requirement of § 15. See Virginia Code 56-1
• natural gas: means all natural gas, whether hydrocarbon, nonhydrocarbon, or any combination or mixture thereof, including hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulfide, helium, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, casing head gas, and all other fluids not defined as oil pursuant to this section. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Nonprofit collaborative: means a multi-site nonprofit innovative energy technology testbed established as a collaborative effort of the Department of Energy, the Authority, and the Authority's business partners to support the Authority's purpose through energy technology research, development, commercialization, and deployment. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Oil: means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and are not the result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Performance guarantee bond: means the performance bond provided by the energy performance contractor for each year of the energy program in an amount equal to, but no greater than, the guaranteed measured and verifiable annual savings set forth in the program. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• Person: includes individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Plan: means the Virginia Energy Plan prepared pursuant to Article 4 (§ 45. See Virginia Code 45.2-1700
• 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.
• Program: means the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program established pursuant to this article. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• public service company: when used in this chapter shall mean every person, firm, corporation or association, or their lessees, trustees or receivers, other than a municipal corporation, now or hereafter engaged in business in this Commonwealth as a public utility and subject to regulation as to rates and service by the State Corporation Commission under the provisions of Chapter 10 (§ 56-232 et seq. See Virginia Code 56-55
• public service company: when used in this chapter shall mean every person, firm, corporation or association, or their lessees, trustees or receivers, other than a municipal corporation, now or hereafter engaged in business in this Commonwealth as a public utility and subject to regulation as to rates and service by the State Corporation Commission under the provisions of Chapter 10 (§ 56-232 et seq. See Virginia Code 56-76
• Purchase: means the purchase or lease of a new or used electric motor vehicle. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Rate: means rate charged for any service rendered or to be rendered. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Southwest Virginia: means the region of the Commonwealth designated as Southwest Virginia in § 22. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• State waters: means all water, on the surface and under the ground, that is wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction and that affects the public welfare. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Surface owner: means any person who is the owner of record of the surface of the land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Water well: means any well drilled, bored, or dug into the earth for the sole purpose of extracting from it potable, fresh, or usable water for household, domestic, industrial, agricultural, or public use. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Well: means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored, or dug into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction, injection, or placement of any gaseous or liquid substance or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction, injection, or placement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600