Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 17.1 > Chapter 5 > Article 1 - Establishment; Jurisdiction; Etc.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• 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
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• 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.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contracting entity: means any public body as defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• 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.
• Courts of record: means the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the circuit courts. See Virginia Code 1-212
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• 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

• 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}
• 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.
• 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
• farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
• 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.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• 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
• 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.
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• 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
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• 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
• 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.
• 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
• 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.
• 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
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• 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
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Rate: means rate charged for any service rendered or to be rendered. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• Southwest Virginia: means the region of the Commonwealth designated as Southwest Virginia in § 22. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• 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
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• Surface owner: means any person who is the owner of record of the surface of the land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• 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.
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• 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
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.