Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 27 > Chapter 3 - Local Fire Marshals

• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Board: means the Criminal Justice Services Board. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• 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
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contractual services: means any telephone, telegraph, postal, electric light and power service and other similar services. See Virginia Code 15.2-1234
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Criminal history record information: means records and data collected by criminal justice agencies on adult individuals consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, informations, or other formal charges, and any disposition arising therefrom. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Criminal justice agency: includes any program certified by the Commission on VASAP pursuant to § 18. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Criminal Justice Services. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Distribution formula: means that linear equation derived biennially by the Department, using standard statistical procedures, which best predicts average crime rates in all cities and eligible counties in the Commonwealth on the basis of the following factors in their simplest form:

  1. See Virginia Code 9.1-165

• fire marshal: as used in this chapter may include the local fire official and local arson investigator when appointed pursuant to this section. See Virginia Code 27-30
• 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}
• Governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Law-enforcement officer: means any full-time or part-time employee of a police department or sheriff's office which is a part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, or any full-time or part-time employee of a private police department, and who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of the Commonwealth, and shall include any (i) special agent of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority; (ii) police agent appointed under the provisions of § 56-353; (iii) officer of the Virginia Marine Police; (iv) conservation police officer who is a full-time sworn member of the enforcement division of the Department of Wildlife Resources; (v) investigator who is a sworn member of the security division of the Virginia Lottery; (vi) conservation officer of the Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioned pursuant to § 10. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• local government: shall be construed to mean a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Virginia Code 1-228
• 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.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• 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.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• 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.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• supplies: means any articles or things, including equipment, which are used by or furnished to any department, institution, office, board or other agency of county government. See Virginia Code 15.2-1234
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250