Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 19.2 > Chapter 16 - Evidence and Witnesses

• 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
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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.
• Bank: means any national bank, any bank organized under Chapter 8 (§ 6. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• Basin: means the Roanoke River Basin. See Virginia Code 62.1-69.36
• Bond with surety: includes the payment in cash of the full amount of the required bond and, in such case, no surety shall be required. See Virginia Code 1-205
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• 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.
• Courts of record: means the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the circuit courts. See Virginia Code 1-212
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Credit union: means any credit union organized under Chapter 13 (§ 6. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• dam: as used in this chapter is intended to include the appurtenant pondage area or any part thereof. See Virginia Code 62.1-84
• 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}
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Ex officio: means service by virtue of one's office and includes voting privileges for ex officio members unless otherwise provided. See Virginia Code 1-215
• 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
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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}
• 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.
• 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.
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• lane: means that portion of a roadway designed or designated to accommodate the forward movement of a single line of vehicles. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• Loan: means a loan or forbearance of money. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• Nonlegislative citizen member: means any natural person who is not a member of the General Assembly of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-225
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• 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.
• revocation: means that the document or privilege revoked is not subject to renewal or restoration except through reapplication after the expiration of the period of revocation. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• Rivanna River Basin: means that land area designated as the Rivanna River Basin by the State Water Control Board pursuant to § 62. See Virginia Code 62.1-69.45
• Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the shoulder. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• Roanoke River Basin: means that land area designated as the Roanoke River Basin by the Virginia State Water Control Board, pursuant to § 62. See Virginia Code 62.1-69.36
• Savings institution: means any savings institution, as defined in § 6. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• Semitrailer: means every vehicle of the trailer type so designed and used in conjunction with a motor vehicle that some part of its own weight and that of its own load rests on or is carried by another vehicle. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• state: shall include any territory of the United States and the District of Columbia. See Virginia Code 19.2-272
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 1-206
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subordinate mortgage or deed of trust: means a mortgage or deed of trust that is subject to a prior mortgage or deed of trust in existence at the time of the making of the loan secured by such subordinate mortgage or deed of trust. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• summons: shall include a subpoena (both subpoena ad testificandum and subpoena duces tecum), order or other notice requiring the appearance of a witness or production of documents. See Virginia Code 19.2-272
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Tow truck: means a motor vehicle for hire (i) designed to lift, pull, or carry another vehicle by means of a hoist or other mechanical apparatus and (ii) having a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of at least 10,000 pounds. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• Tractor truck: means every motor vehicle designed and used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load other than a part of the load and weight of the vehicle attached thereto. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• Trailer: means every vehicle without motive power designed for carrying property or passengers wholly on its own structure and for being drawn by a motor vehicle, including manufactured homes. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• Truck: means every motor vehicle designed to transport property on its own structure independent of any other vehicle and having a registered gross weight in excess of 7,500 pounds. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• Trustee: means a trustee under a probated will or an inter vivos trust instrument. See Virginia Code 64.2-100
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. ^{Source: OCC}
• Vehicle: means every device in, on or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, except personal delivery devices and devices moved by human power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• waters of the Commonwealth: as used in this chapter shall mean: (a) Any stream or that portion of any stream in this Commonwealth which prior to June 21, 1932, has been declared navigable by any unrepealed statute of this Commonwealth, or (b) any stream or that portion of any stream in this Commonwealth, the bed of which is owned by the Commonwealth, or (c) those parts of streams or other bodies of water in this Commonwealth which either in their natural or improved condition, notwithstanding interruptions between the navigable parts of such streams or waters by falls, shallows, or rapids, compelling land carriage, are used or suitable for use for the transportation of persons or property in interstate or foreign commerce, including therein all such interrupting falls, shallows or rapids, and also any stream or part thereof in this Commonwealth other than those above mentioned in this subdivision in which the construction of any dam or works as authorized by this chapter would affect the interests of interstate or foreign commerce, or (d) that portion of any river or stream flowing between the high-water mark on the Virginia shore and the low-water mark when such low-water mark constitutes the boundary line between Virginia and another state. See Virginia Code 62.1-81
• Witness: as used in this article shall include a person whose testimony is desired in any proceeding or investigation by a grand jury or in a criminal action, prosecution or proceeding. See Virginia Code 19.2-272
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.