Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 33.2 > Subtitle II - Modes of Transportation: Highways, Bridges, Ferries, Rail, and Public Transportation

• Abandonment: means that the public's right to use a public highway, public landing, or public crossing has been extinguished. See Virginia Code 33.2-900
• Abstract of judgment: In a federal criminal proceeding, A certification from a U.S. District Court clerk that a judgment of restitution was entered against the defendant owing to the victim. If the defendant inherits, owns, or sells real property or holdings, these assets can then be attached at the state and local levels as well.
• Abused or neglected child: means any child:

  1. See Virginia Code 16.1-228

• Accident: means an accident covered under the group insurance coverage purchased by the Board. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Acknowledgment: means a notarial act in which an individual at a single time and place (i) appears in person before the notary and presents a document; (ii) is personally known to the notary or identified by the notary through satisfactory evidence of identity; and (iii) indicates to the notary that the signature on the document was voluntarily affixed by the individual for the purposes stated within the document and, if applicable, that the individual had due authority to sign in a particular representative capacity. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Administration: means the process of attaining the objectives of an organization through a system of coordinated and cooperative efforts to make social service programs effective instruments for the amelioration of social conditions and for the solution of social problems. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• Administrative records: shall mean all other court papers and records not otherwise defined. See Virginia Code 16.1-69.53
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or older. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Advertisement: includes any part of an advertisement recognizable as such. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Advertising structure: means any rigid or semirigid material, with or without any advertisement displayed thereon, situated upon or attached to real property outdoors, primarily or principally for the purpose of furnishing a background or base or support upon which an advertisement may be posted or displayed. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• 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.
• Affirmation: means a notarial act, or part thereof, that is legally equivalent to an oath and in which an individual at a single time and place (i) appears in person before the notary and presents a document; (ii) is personally known to the notary or identified by the notary through satisfactory evidence of identity; and (iii) makes a vow of truthfulness or fidelity on penalty of perjury. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Agent: means a person who is a licensed bail bondsman who has been given power of attorney to act on the behalf of a licensed property bail bondsman. See Virginia Code 9.1-185
• Agricultural activity: means any activity used in the production of food and fiber, including farming, feedlots, grazing livestock, poultry raising, dairy farming, and aquaculture activities. See Virginia Code 3.2-400
• Agricultural operation: means any operation devoted to the bona fide production of crops, animals, or fowl, including the production of fruits and vegetables of all kinds, meat, dairy, and poultry products, nuts, tobacco, nursery, and floral products and the production and harvest of products from silviculture activity. See Virginia Code 3.2-300
• 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.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• ancillary charge: means any delinquent act committed by a juvenile as a part of the same act or transaction as, or that constitutes a part of a common scheme or plan with, a delinquent act that would be a felony if committed by an adult. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• 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.
• Appointing authority: means the General Assembly or the Governor. See Virginia Code 51.1-301
• 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
• armory: shall include training or logistical support facilities, such as, but not limited to, maintenance facilities, training areas, facilities at the State Military Reservation, Virginia Beach, Virginia, and the Fort Pickett Maneuver Training Center. See Virginia Code 44-123.1
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Art therapist: means a person who has (i) completed a master's or doctoral degree program in art therapy, or an equivalent course of study, from an accredited educational institution; (ii) satisfied the requirements for licensure set forth in regulations adopted by the Board; and (iii) been issued a license for the independent practice of art therapy by the Board. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Art therapy: means the integrated use of psychotherapeutic principles, visual art media, and the creative process in the assessment, treatment, and remediation of psychosocial, emotional, cognitive, physical, and developmental disorders in children, adolescents, adults, families, or groups. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Art therapy associate: means a person who has (i) completed a master's or doctoral degree program in art therapy, or an equivalent course of study from an accredited educational institution; (ii) satisfied the requirements for licensure set forth in regulations adopted by the Board; and (iii) been issued a license to practice art therapy under an approved clinical supervisor in accordance with regulations of the Board. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Asset management: means a systematic process of operating and maintaining the systems of state highways by combining engineering practices and analysis with sound business practices and economic theory to achieve cost-effective outcomes. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• 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.
• Bail bondsman: means any person who is licensed by the Department who engages in the business of bail bonding and is thereby authorized to conduct business in all courts of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 9.1-185
• Bail recovery: means an act whereby a person arrests a bailee with the object of surrendering the bailee to the appropriate court, jail, or police department, for the purpose of discharging the bailee's surety from liability on his bond. See Virginia Code 9.1-186
• Bailee: means a person who has been released on bail, and who is or has been subject to a bond, as defined in § 19. See Virginia Code 9.1-186
• Bailee: means the person who by a warehouse receipt, bill of lading or other document acknowledges possession of goods and contracts to deliver them. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Billboard sign: means any sign, advertisement, or advertising structure as defined in this section owned by a person, firm, or corporation in the business of outdoor advertising. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Board: means the Board of Counseling. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Board: means the Commonwealth Transportation Board. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Board: means the Board of Social Work. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• Board: means the Criminal Justice Services Board. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Board: means the Criminal Justice Services Board. See Virginia Code 9.1-185
• Board: means the Soil and Water Conservation Board. See Virginia Code 3.2-400
• Board: means the Board of Housing and Community Development. See Virginia Code 27-95
• Board: means the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Board of supervisors: means the governing body of a county. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• 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
• Business of outdoor advertising: means the erection, use, or maintenance of advertising structures or the posting or display of outdoor advertisements by any person who receives profit gained from rentals or any other compensation from any other person for the use or maintenance of such advertising structures or the posting or display of such advertisements, except reasonable compensation for materials and labor used or furnished in the actual erection of advertising structures or the actual posting of advertisements. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Case records: shall mean all documents, dockets and indices. See Virginia Code 16.1-69.53
• Casework: means both direct treatment, with an individual or several individuals, and intervention in the situation on the client's behalf with the objectives of meeting the client's needs, helping the client deal with the problem with which he is confronted, strengthening the client's capacity to function productively, lessening his distress, and enhancing his opportunities and capacities for fulfillment. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• Casework management and supportive services: means assessment of presenting problems and perceived needs, referral services, policy interpretation, data gathering, planning, advocacy, and coordination of services. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• Center: means the business registration and permitting center established by this section and located in and under the administrative control of the Department. See Virginia Code 2.2-1617
• Centerline of the highway: means a line equidistant from the edges of the median separating the main traveled ways of a divided highway or the centerline of the main traveled way of a nondivided highway. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Centralized fleet: means those passenger-type vehicles assigned to the Department of General Services and available for use by state agencies. See Virginia Code 2.2-1173
• Centralized fleet: means the same as that term is defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 2.2-1182
• Certificate: means a certificate issued by a judge on or before June 30, 2005, pursuant to former § 19. See Virginia Code 9.1-185
• Certificate: includes a certificate of deposit and a certificate of take. See Virginia Code 33.2-1000
• certificate: means the part of, or attachment to, a notarized document that is completed by the notary public, bears the notary public's signature, title, commission expiration date, notary registration number, and other required information concerning the date and place of the notarization and states the facts attested to or certified by the notary public in a particular notarization. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Certificate of deposit: means a certificate issued by the Commissioner of Highways and countersigned by the State Treasurer, stating that any sum or sums designated therein shall be paid pursuant to the order of the court, and filed by the Commissioner of Highways with the court wherein condemnation proceedings are pending or are to be instituted in lieu of the payment of funds into court, as provided in subdivision A 2 of § 33. See Virginia Code 33.2-1000
• Certificate of take: means a certificate recorded by the Commissioner of Highways with the court wherein condemnation proceedings are pending or are to be instituted, in connection with which the Commissioner of Highways has deposited funds with the court as provided in subdivision A 1 of § 33. See Virginia Code 33.2-1000
• Certification: means the process by which (i) a business is determined to be a small, women-owned, or minority-owned business or (ii) an employment services organization, for the purpose of reporting small, women-owned, and minority-owned business and employment services organization participation in state contracts and purchases pursuant to §§ 2. See Virginia Code 2.2-1604
• Certified substance abuse counseling assistant: means a person certified by the Board to practice in accordance with the provisions of § 54. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Certified substance abuse counselor: means a person certified by the Board to practice in accordance with the provisions of § 54. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Child in need of services: means (i) a child whose behavior, conduct or condition presents or results in a serious threat to the well-being and physical safety of the child or (ii) a child under the age of 14 whose behavior, conduct or condition presents or results in a serious threat to the well-being and physical safety of another person; however, no child who in good faith is under treatment solely by spiritual means through prayer in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination shall for that reason alone be considered to be a child in need of services, nor shall any child who habitually remains away from or habitually deserts or abandons his family as a result of what the court or the local child protective services unit determines to be incidents of physical, emotional or sexual abuse in the home be considered a child in need of services for that reason alone. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Child welfare agency: means a child-placing agency, child-caring institution or independent foster home as defined in § 63. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• City: has the meaning assigned to it in § 1-208. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• 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
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Clinical social worker: means a social worker who, by education and experience, is professionally qualified at the autonomous practice level to provide direct diagnostic, preventive and treatment services where functioning is threatened or affected by social and psychological stress or health impairment. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• Code: means the Statewide Fire Prevention Code. See Virginia Code 27-95
• Code provisions: means the provisions of the Fire Prevention Code as adopted and promulgated by the Board, and the amendments thereof as adopted and promulgated from time to time by such Board. See Virginia Code 27-95
• College savings trust account: means the same as that term is defined in § 23. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Collegial body: means a governmental entity whose power or authority is vested within its membership. See Virginia Code 1-209
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Commissioner of Highways: means the individual who serves as the chief executive officer of the Department of Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• 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.
• Communicable disease of public health threat: means an illness of public health significance, as determined by the State Health Commissioner in accordance with regulations of the Board of Health, caused by a specific or suspected infectious agent that may be reasonably expected or is known to be readily transmitted directly or indirectly from one individual to another and has been found to create a risk of death or significant injury or impairment; this definition shall not, however, be construed to include human immunodeficiency viruses or tuberculosis, unless used as a bioterrorism weapon. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• commuter buses: means vehicles providing a scheduled transportation service to the general public. See Virginia Code 33.2-500
• Company: means insurance company. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Compensation: means any amount paid in addition to reimbursement for expenses. See Virginia Code 2.2-2813
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Complaint: means an allegation made by any person to the Commissioner that an owner's or operator's agricultural activity is creating or, if not changed, will create pollution and that states the location and nature of such agricultural activity. See Virginia Code 3.2-400
• Comprehensive application: means a document incorporating pertinent data from existing applications for permits covered under this section. See Virginia Code 2.2-1617
• Comprehensive permit: means the single document designed for public display issued by the Business Permitting Center that certifies state agency permit approval and that incorporates the endorsements for individual permits included in the comprehensive permitting program. See Virginia Code 2.2-1617
• Constitutional officer: means an officer provided for pursuant to Article VII, § 4 of the Constitution. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Consultation and education: means program consultation in social work to agencies, organizations, or community groups; academic programs and other training such as staff development activities, seminars, and workshops using social work principles and theories of social work education. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contract rental: means a contract for the use of motor vehicles by employees for official state business within the confines of their normal work locations. See Virginia Code 2.2-1173
• Contributor: means the same as that term is defined in § 23. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Coordinator: means the Coordinator of the Department of Emergency Management. See Virginia Code 44-146.34
• 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.
• Council: means the governing body of a city or town. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Counseling: means the application of principles, standards, and methods of the counseling profession in (i) conducting assessments and diagnoses for the purpose of establishing treatment goals and objectives and (ii) planning, implementing, and evaluating treatment plans using treatment interventions to facilitate human development and to identify and remediate mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders and associated distresses that interfere with mental health. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Court records: shall include case records, financial records and administrative records as defined in this section. See Virginia Code 16.1-69.53
• Courts of record: means the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the circuit courts. See Virginia Code 1-212
• Credential analysis: means a process or service that independently affirms the veracity of a government-issued identity credential by reviewing public or proprietary data sources and meets the standards of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Credible witness: means an honest, reliable, and impartial person who personally knows an individual appearing before a notary and takes an oath or affirmation from the notary to confirm that individual's identity. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Creditable service: means prior service plus membership service, as further defined in and modified by § 51. See Virginia Code 51.1-301
• 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
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• 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.
• Delinquent act: means (i) an act designated a crime under the law of the Commonwealth, or an ordinance of any city, county, town, or service district, or under federal law, (ii) a violation of § 18. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Department: means the Department of Juvenile Justice and "Director" means the administrative head in charge thereof or such of his assistants and subordinates as are designated by him to discharge the duties imposed upon him under this law. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Department: means the Department of Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Department: means the Department of Criminal Justice Services. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
• Department: means the Department of Criminal Justice Services. See Virginia Code 9.1-185
• Department: means the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity or any division of the Department to which the Director has delegated or assigned duties and responsibilities. See Virginia Code 2.2-1604
• Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Department: means the Department of Emergency Management. See Virginia Code 44-146.31
• Department: means the Department of Emergency Management. See Virginia Code 44-146.34
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent child: means (i) the insured employee's unmarried natural or legally adopted children who are not self-supporting; (ii) the insured employee's unmarried stepchildren living full time with the insured employee in a parent-child relationship and who can be claimed as a dependent on the insured employee's federal income tax return; (iii) any other children if they are in the insured employee's court-ordered custody; or (iv) other dependent children of the employee's family who are eligible for coverage under the family membership program offered under policies and procedures of the Department of Human Resource Management governing health insurance plans administered pursuant to § 2. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• detention home: means a local, regional or state public or private locked residential facility that has construction fixtures designed to prevent escape and to restrict the movement and activities of children held in lawful custody. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Director: means the Director of the Department of General Services. See Virginia Code 2.2-1173
• Disaster: means (i) any man-made disaster, including any condition following an attack by any enemy or foreign nation upon the United States resulting in substantial damage of property or injury to persons in the United States including by use of bombs, missiles, shell fire, or nuclear, radiological, chemical, or biological means or other weapons or by overt paramilitary actions; terrorism, foreign and domestic; cyber incidents; and any industrial, nuclear, or transportation accident, explosion, conflagration, power failure, resources shortage, or other condition such as sabotage, oil spills, and other injurious environmental contaminations that threaten or cause damage to property, human suffering, hardship, or loss of life and (ii) any natural disaster, including any hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, earthquake, drought, fire, communicable disease of public health threat, or other natural catastrophe resulting in damage, hardship, suffering, or possible loss of life. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• Discharge: means spillage, leakage, pumping, pouring, seepage, emitting, dumping, emptying, injecting, escaping, leaching, fire, explosion, or other releases. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• Discontinuance: means that the Board has determined that a highway, landing, or crossing no longer serves the public convenience warranting its maintenance at public expense; it divests the Department from maintenance responsibilities. See Virginia Code 33.2-900
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismemberment: means a dismemberment covered under the group insurance coverage purchased by the Board. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Document: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form, including a record as defined in the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (§ 59. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Document: means document of title as defined in the general definitions in Title 8. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
• Documents: shall mean all motions for judgment, bills of complaint, answers, bills of particulars, other pleadings, interrogatories, motions in writing, warrants, summonses, petitions, proof of service, witness summonses and subpoenas, documents received in evidence, transcripts, orders, judgments, writs, and any other similar case-related records and papers in the possession of the district courts and filed with the pleadings in the case. See Virginia Code 16.1-69.53
• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Electronic document: means information that is created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Electronic notarial certificate: means the portion of a notarized electronic document that is completed by the notary public, bears the notary public's signature, title, commission expiration date, and other required information concerning the date and place of the electronic notarization, and states the facts attested to or certified by the notary public in a particular notarization. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• electronic notarization: means an official act by a notary under § 47. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• electronic notary: means a notary public who has been commissioned by the Secretary of the Commonwealth with the capability of performing electronic notarial acts under § 47. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• electronic seal: means information within a notarized electronic document that confirms the notary's name, jurisdiction, and commission expiration date and generally corresponds to data in notary seals used on paper documents. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Electronic signature: means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with an electronic document and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the document. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Emergency: means any occurrence, or threat thereof, whether natural or man-made, which results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property or natural resources and may involve governmental action beyond that authorized or contemplated by existing law because governmental inaction for the period required to amend the law to meet the exigency would work immediate and irrevocable harm upon the citizens or the environment of the Commonwealth or some clearly defined portion or portions thereof. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• Emergency services: means the preparation for and the carrying out of functions, other than functions for which military forces are primarily responsible, to prevent, minimize, and repair injury and damage resulting from disasters, together with all other activities necessary or incidental to the preparation for and carrying out of the foregoing functions. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• Employee: means a state police officer. See Virginia Code 51.1-201
• Employee: means any (i) member of the Capitol Police Force as described in § 30-34. See Virginia Code 51.1-212
• Employment services organization: means an organization that provides community-based employment services to individuals with disabilities that is an approved Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) accredited vendor of the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services. See Virginia Code 2.2-1604
• Enforcement agency: means the agency or agencies of any local governing body or the State Fire Marshal charged with the administration or enforcement of the Fire Prevention Code. See Virginia Code 27-95
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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
• Expenses: means all reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of duties. See Virginia Code 2.2-2813
• 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 abuse: means any act involving violence, force, or threat that results in bodily injury or places one in reasonable apprehension of death, sexual assault, or bodily injury and that is committed by a person against such person's family or household member. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Family or household member: means (i) the person's spouse, whether or not he or she resides in the same home with the person, (ii) the person's former spouse, whether or not he or she resides in the same home with the person, (iii) the person's parents, stepparents, children, stepchildren, brothers, sisters, half-brothers, half-sisters, grandparents and grandchildren, regardless of whether such persons reside in the same home with the person, (iv) the person's mother-in-law, father-in-law, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law who reside in the same home with the person, (v) any individual who has a child in common with the person, whether or not the person and that individual have been married or have resided together at any time, or (vi) any individual who cohabits or who, within the previous 12 months, cohabited with the person, and any children of either of them then residing in the same home with the person. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• 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
• Farmer: means any person who derives at least 75 percent of his gross income from a farming operation in the Commonwealth as reported on his federal income tax forms the previous year, or a farmer who receives or is eligible to receive a federal loan and who owns or leases land that would be eligible for special tax assessments pursuant to Article 4 (§ 58. See Virginia Code 3.2-500
• Federal-aid primary highway: means any highway within that portion of the primary state highway system as established and maintained under Article 2 (§ 33. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Felonious assault: means a physical assault (i) by another person resulting in bodily harm to an insured employee; (ii) that takes place while such employee is performing his customary duties at the employer's normal place of business or at other places the employer's business requires him to travel; (iii) that involves the use of force or violence with the intent to cause harm; and (iv) that is a felony or misdemeanor under applicable law. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Fictive kin: means persons who are not related to a child by blood or adoption but have an established relationship with the child or his family. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Financial records: shall mean all papers and records related to the receipt and disbursement of money by the district court. See Virginia Code 16.1-69.53
• Fire Services Board: means the Virginia Fire Services Board as provided for in § 9. See Virginia Code 27-95
• Fireworks: means any firecracker, torpedo, skyrocket, or other substance or object, of whatever form or construction, that contains any explosive or inflammable compound or substance, and is intended, or commonly known as fireworks, and which explodes, rises into the air or travels laterally, or fires projectiles into the air. See Virginia Code 27-95
• 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.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forestal products: means saw timber, pulpwood, posts, firewood, Christmas trees, and other tree and wood products for sale or for farm use. See Virginia Code 3.2-303
• 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}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• 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}
• Fund: means the Governor's Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund established pursuant to § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-303
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Good faith: means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
• Goods: means all things that are treated as movable for the purposes of a contract of storage or transportation. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
• 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
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Group work: means helping people, in the realization of their potential for social functioning, through group experiences in which the members are involved with common concerns and in which there is agreement about the group's purpose, function, and structure. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{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.
• Hazard mitigation: means any action taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from natural hazards. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• Hazardous materials: means substances or materials which may pose unreasonable risks to health, safety, property, or the environment when used, transported, stored or disposed of, which may include materials which are solid, liquid or gas. See Virginia Code 44-146.34
• High performance building certification program: means a public building design, construction, and renovation program that meets the requirements of VEES. See Virginia Code 2.2-1182
• High-occupancy requirement: means the number of persons required to be traveling in a vehicle for the vehicle to use HOT lanes without the payment of a toll. See Virginia Code 33.2-500
• highway: means a state or county highway. See Virginia Code 33.2-800
• Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Highway: means every way or place of whatever nature open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• highway construction: means highway, passenger and freight rail, or public transportation purposes. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• HOT lanes: means a highway or portion of a highway containing one or more travel lanes separated from other lanes that (i) has an electronic toll collection system; (ii) provides for free passage by vehicles that meet the high-occupancy requirement, including mass transit vehicles and commuter buses; and (iii) contains a photo-enforcement system for use in such electronic toll collection. See Virginia Code 33.2-500
• HOT lanes operator: means the operator of the facility containing HOT lanes, which may include the Department of Transportation or some other entity. See Virginia Code 33.2-500
• HOV lanes: means a highway or portion of a highway containing one or more travel lanes for the travel of high-occupancy vehicles or buses as designated pursuant to § 33. See Virginia Code 33.2-500
• Identity proofing: means a process or service that independently verifies an individual's identity in accordance with § 2. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Immediate family member: means the insured employee's spouse, children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, brothers and sisters and their spouses. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Independent living arrangement: means placement of (i) a child at least 16 years of age who is in the custody of a local board or licensed child-placing agency by the local board or licensed child-placing agency or (ii) a child at least 16 years of age or a person between the ages of 18 and 21 who was committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice immediately prior to placement by the Department of Juvenile Justice, in a living arrangement in which such child or person does not have daily substitute parental supervision. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Individual: shall include any companion animal. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• Informal fact-finding conference: means an informal fact-finding conference conducted in accordance with § 2. See Virginia Code 3.2-400
• inhabitants: means with reference to any county, city, town, political subdivision of the Commonwealth or any combination thereof, the natural persons in such county, city, town, political subdivision or combination as shown by the unadjusted United States decennial census last preceding the time at which any provision dependent upon population is being applied or the time as of which it is being construed. See Virginia Code 1-235
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inspection warrant: means an order in writing, made in the name of the Commonwealth, signed by any judge or magistrate whose territorial jurisdiction encompasses the building, structure or premises to be inspected or entered, and directed to a state or local official, commanding him to enter and to conduct any inspection, examination, testing or collection of samples for testing required or authorized by the Virginia Statewide Fire Prevention Code. See Virginia Code 27-95
• insurance program: means the plan covered under the policy purchased by the Board which provides group life, accidental death, and dismemberment insurance coverage for employees. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Intake officer: means a juvenile probation officer appointed as such pursuant to the authority of this chapter. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Interchange: means a grade separated intersection with one or more turning roadways for travel between intersection legs, or an intersection at grade, where two or more highways join or cross. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Interstate highway: means any highway in or component of the Interstate System. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Interstate System: means the same as that term is defined in 23 U. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Issuer: means a bailee who issues a document except that in relation to an unaccepted delivery order it means the person who orders the possessor of goods to deliver. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
• Joint activity: means a governmental function which is carried out by, performed on behalf of, or contracted for two or more localities within a region and includes present and future activities. See Virginia Code 15.2-1307
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• judge: means the judge or the substitute judge of the juvenile and domestic relations district court of each county or city. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Judge: means any justice or judge of a court of record of the Commonwealth, any member of the State Corporation Commission or Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission, any judge of a district court of the Commonwealth other than a substitute judge of such district court, and any executive secretary of the Supreme Court assuming such position between December 1, 1975, and January 31, 1976. See Virginia Code 51.1-301
• 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.
• juvenile and domestic relations court: means the juvenile and domestic relations district court of each county or city. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• law: means the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Law embraced in this chapter. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• 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
• Lawfully erected: means any sign that was erected pursuant to the issuance of a permit from the Commissioner of Highways under § 33. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Lease: means a contract for the use of a passenger-type vehicle for a term of more than thirty days. See Virginia Code 2.2-1173
• 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}
• Legal custody: means (i) a legal status created by court order which vests in a custodian the right to have physical custody of the child, to determine and redetermine where and with whom he shall live, the right and duty to protect, train and discipline him and to provide him with food, shelter, education and ordinary medical care, all subject to any residual parental rights and responsibilities or (ii) the legal status created by court order of joint custody as defined in § 20-107. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensed substance abuse treatment practitioner: means a person who: (i) is trained in and engages in the practice of substance abuse treatment with individuals or groups of individuals suffering from the effects of substance abuse or dependence, and in the prevention of substance abuse or dependence; and (ii) is licensed to provide advanced substance abuse treatment and independent, direct, and unsupervised treatment to such individuals or groups of individuals, and to plan, evaluate, supervise, and direct substance abuse treatment provided by others. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Limited access highway: means a highway especially designed for through traffic, over which abutters have no easement or right of light, air, or access by reason of the fact that their property abuts upon such limited access highway. See Virginia Code 33.2-400
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local emergency: means the condition declared by the local governing body when in its judgment the threat or actual occurrence of an emergency or disaster is or threatens to be of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant coordinated local government action to prevent or alleviate the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering threatened or caused thereby, provided, however, that a local emergency arising wholly or substantially out of a resource shortage may be declared only by the Governor, upon petition of the local governing body, when he deems the threat or actual occurrence of such an emergency or disaster to be of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant coordinated local government action to prevent or alleviate the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering threatened or caused thereby, and provided, however, nothing in this chapter shall be construed as prohibiting a local governing body from the prudent management of its water supply to prevent or manage a water shortage. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• local government: shall be construed to mean a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Local government: means the governing body of any city, county or town in this Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 27-95
• Local Grant Program: means the Local Food and Farming Infrastructure Grant Program established pursuant to § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-303
• Locality: has the meaning assigned to it in § 1-221. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Locality: means all counties, cities and towns within a regional partnership. See Virginia Code 15.2-1307
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Main traveled way: means the traveled way of a highway on which through traffic is carried. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Maintain: means to allow to exist. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Maintenance: means (i) ordinary maintenance; (ii) maintenance replacement; (iii) operations that include traffic signal synchronization, incident management, and other intelligent transportation system functions; and (iv) any other categories of maintenance that may be designated by the Commissioner of Highways. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Major disaster: means any natural catastrophe, including any: hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought, or regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, in any part of the United States, which, in the determination of the President of the United States is, or thereafter determined to be, of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance under the Stafford Act (P. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• mass transit: means passenger transportation by rubber-tired, rail, or other surface conveyance that provides shared ride services open to the general public on a regular and continuing basis. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• measures: includes : (i) agricultural water quality protection management measures described in the Virginia Agricultural Best Management Practices Manual; and (ii) agricultural water quality protection management measures contained in the U. See Virginia Code 3.2-400
• Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system as provided in this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.1-201
• Member: means any person included in the membership of the Retirement System as provided in this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.1-212
• minor: means a person who is (i) younger than 18 years of age or (ii) for purposes of the Fostering Futures program set forth in Article 2 (§ 63. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Minority-owned business: means a business that is at least 51 percent owned by one or more minority individuals who are U. See Virginia Code 2.2-1604
• Mistrial: An invalid trial, caused by fundamental error. When a mistrial is declared, the trial must start again from the selection of the jury.
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Municipality: has the meaning assigned to it in § 1-224. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• National Highway System: means the same as that term is defined in 23 U. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• National Highway System: means the federal-aid highway system referenced in 23 U. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Normal retirement date: means a member's sixtieth birthday. See Virginia Code 51.1-201
• Normal retirement date: means a member's sixtieth birthday. See Virginia Code 51.1-212
• Normal retirement date: means a member's sixty-fifth birthday. See Virginia Code 51.1-301
• notarization: means any official act performed by a notary under § 47. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• notary: means any person commissioned to perform official acts under the title, and includes an electronic notary except where expressly provided otherwise. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Notary: means notary public. See Virginia Code 1-226
• Nuclear power station: means a facility producing electricity through the utilization of nuclear energy for sale to the public which is required to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and includes all units of the facility at a single site. See Virginia Code 44-146.31
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: shall include "affirmation. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Virginia Code 1-228
• 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.
• Official misconduct: means any violation of this title by a notary, whether committed knowingly, willfully, recklessly or negligently. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Operator: means any person who exercises managerial control over any agricultural activity. See Virginia Code 3.2-400
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• owner: includes persons owning structures or improvements for which an outdoor advertising permit has been issued by the Commissioner of Highways pursuant to § 33. See Virginia Code 33.2-1000
• Owner: means any person who owns land where an agricultural activity occurs. See Virginia Code 3.2-400
• Owner: means the registered owner of a vehicle on record with the Department of Motor Vehicles or with the equivalent agency in another state. See Virginia Code 33.2-500
• 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.
• Passenger-type vehicle: means any automobile, including sedans and station wagons, or van used primarily for the transportation of the operator and no more than fifteen passengers. See Virginia Code 2.2-1173
• Permanent foster care placement: means the place of residence in which a child resides and in which he has been placed pursuant to the provisions of §§ 63. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Permissible fireworks: means any fountains that do not emit sparks or other burning effects to a distance greater than five meters (16. See Virginia Code 27-95
• Permit: means the whole or part of any state agency permit, license, certificate, approval, registration, charter, or any form or permission required by law, to engage in activity associated with or involving the establishment of a small business in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 2.2-1617
• Person: includes an individual, partnership, association, or corporation. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Person: means any individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, trust, estate, public or private institution, group, agency, political subdivision or agency thereof, and any legal successor, representative, agent or agency of the foregoing. See Virginia Code 44-146.31
• 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 estate: includes chattels real and such other estate as, upon the death of the owner intestate, would devolve upon his personal representative. See Virginia Code 1-233
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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
• personally knows: means familiarity with an individual resulting from interactions with that individual over a period of time sufficient to dispel any reasonable uncertainty that the individual has the identity claimed. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Photo-enforcement system: means a sensor installed in conjunction with a toll collection device to detect the presence of a vehicle that automatically produces one or more photographs, one or more microphotographs, a videotape, or other recorded images of each vehicle's license plate at the time it is detected by the toll collection device. See Virginia Code 33.2-500
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• plan: means a site-specific plan for an agricultural activity to manage, through use of stewardship measures, one or more of the following: soil, water, plants, plant nutrients, pest controls, wastes, and animals. See Virginia Code 3.2-400
• Planning and community organization: means helping organizations and communities analyze social problems and human needs; planning to assist organizations and communities in organizing for general community development; and improving social conditions through the application of social planning, resource development, advocacy, and social policy formulation. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• Planning Grant Program: means the Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Planning Grant Program established pursuant to § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-303
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Political subdivision: means any city or county in the Commonwealth and, for the purposes of this chapter, the Town of Chincoteague and any town of more than 5,000 population that chooses to have an emergency management program separate from that of the county in which such town is located. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• Political subdivision: means any city or county in the Commonwealth, and for the purposes of this chapter, any town with a population of more than 5,000 which chooses to have an emergency management program separate from that of the county in which the town is located. See Virginia Code 44-146.34
• Pollution: means any alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological properties of any state waters resulting from sedimentation, nutrients, or toxins. See Virginia Code 3.2-400
• Post: means post, display, print, paint, burn, nail, paste, or otherwise attach. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• 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}
• Practice of social work: means rendering or offering to render to individuals, families, groups, organizations, governmental units, or the general public service which is guided by special knowledge of social resources, social systems, human capabilities, and the part conscious and unconscious motivation play in determining behavior. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• Practice of substance abuse treatment: means rendering or offering to render substance abuse treatment to individuals, groups, organizations, or the general public. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• 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.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• 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.
• Prevailing average wage: means that amount determined by the Virginia Employment Commission to be the average wage paid workers in the city or county of the Commonwealth where the economic development project is located. See Virginia Code 3.2-303
• Previous systems: means the systems established under the provisions of Chapters 2 (§ 51-3 et seq. See Virginia Code 51.1-301
• Primary highway: means any highway in or component of the primary state highway system. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Primary state highway system: consists of all highways and bridges under the jurisdiction and control of the Commonwealth Transportation Board and the Commissioner of Highways and not in the secondary state highway system. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Principal: means (i) a person whose signature is notarized or (ii) a person, other than a credible witness, taking an oath or affirmation from the notary. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Private investment: means the private investment required under this chapter. See Virginia Code 3.2-303
• Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Professional judgment: includes consideration of the client's level of disability, functional limitations and capabilities; consideration of client aptitudes, career and technical skills and abilities; education and pre-injury employment; and identification of return-to-work options and service needs which culminate in the determination or recommendation of appropriate employment for the rehabilitation client. See Virginia Code 54.1-3510
• Program: means the mechanism by which comprehensive permits are issued and renewed, permit and regulatory information is disseminated, and account data is exchanged by state agencies. See Virginia Code 2.2-1617
• Property bail bondsman: means a person licensed pursuant to this article who, for compensation, enters into a bond or does so through his agent and who pledges real property, cash or certificates of deposit issued by a federally insured institution, or any combination thereof as security for a bond as defined in § 19. See Virginia Code 9.1-185
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public facilities: means (i) airports, landing fields, and air navigation facilities; (ii) educational facilities; (iii) flood control, bank and shore protection, watershed protection, and dams; (iv) hospital facilities; (v) judicial and court facilities; (vi) correctional facilities, including jails and penitentiaries; (vii) library facilities; (viii) military installations; (ix) parks so designated by the Commonwealth or by the locality in its comprehensive plan; (x) properties of historical significance so designated by the Commonwealth; (xi) law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and rescue facilities; (xii) sanitary sewer, water or stormwater facilities; (xiii) transportation facilities including highways, roads, streets, and bridges, traffic signals, related easements and rights-of-way, mass transit, ports, and any components of federal, state, or local transportation facilities; (xiv) waste management facilities for hazardous, radioactive, or other waste; (xv) office facilities occupied by a public corporation; and (xvi) such other facilities that are necessary to the construction, maintenance, or operation of a public facility as listed in clauses (i) through (xv) and directly related thereto. See Virginia Code 1-219.1
• public highway: includes a bridge, ferry, causeway, landing, or wharf. See Virginia Code 33.2-1000
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Qualified individual: means a trained professional or licensed clinician who is not an employee of the local board of social services or licensed child-placing agency that placed the child in a qualified residential treatment program and is not affiliated with any placement setting in which children are placed by such local board of social services or licensed child-placing agency. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Qualified residential treatment program: means a program that (i) provides 24-hour residential placement services for children in foster care; (ii) has adopted a trauma-informed treatment model that meets the clinical and other needs of children with serious emotional or behavioral disorders, including any clinical or other needs identified through assessments conducted pursuant to clause (viii) of this definition; (iii) employs registered or licensed nursing and other clinical staff who provide care, on site and within the scope of their practice, and are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; (iv) conducts outreach with the child's family members, including efforts to maintain connections between the child and his siblings and other family; documents and maintains records of such outreach efforts; and maintains contact information for any known biological family and fictive kin of the child; (v) whenever appropriate and in the best interest of the child, facilitates participation by family members in the child's treatment program before and after discharge and documents the manner in which such participation is facilitated; (vi) provides discharge planning and family-based aftercare support for at least six months after discharge; (vii) is licensed in accordance with 42 U. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Qualifying child: means a dependent child less than eighteen years of age, or if eighteen years of age or older a dependent child enrolled in high school. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Real property: includes any property physically attached or annexed to real property in any manner whatsoever. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Record of notarial acts: means a device for creating and preserving a chronological record of notarizations performed by a notary. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Referral activities: means the evaluation of data to identify problems and to determine advisability of referral to other specialists. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Region: means a planning district; however, by agreement of the localities of the planning district, localities which are not part of a planning district may be added to the region if the locality's governing body by vote agrees to become part of the region. See Virginia Code 15.2-1307
• Regional partnership: means an organization composed of government, business, education and civic leaders approved by the local governing bodies of the region to carry out the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 15.2-1307
• Regulatory: means all permitting and other governmental or statutory requirements establishing a small business or professional activities associated with establishing a small business. See Virginia Code 2.2-1617
• Regulatory agency: means any state agency, board, commission, or division that regulates one or more professions, occupations, industries, businesses, or activities. See Virginia Code 2.2-1617
• 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.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Remote online notarization: means an electronic notarization under this chapter where the signer is not in the physical presence of the notary. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Research: means the application of systematic procedures for the purpose of developing, modifying, and expanding knowledge of social work practice which can be communicated and verified. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• Residual parental rights and responsibilities: means all rights and responsibilities remaining with the parent after the transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including but not limited to the right of visitation, consent to adoption, the right to determine religious affiliation and the responsibility for support. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Resource shortage: means the absence, unavailability, or reduced supply of any raw or processed natural resource or any commodities, goods, or services of any kind that bear a substantial relationship to the health, safety, welfare, and economic well-being of the citizens of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• Retirement System: means the Virginia Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Retirement system: means the State Police Officers' Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-201
• Retirement System: means the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-212
• Retirement system: means the Judicial Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-301
• Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Safety restraint system: means a properly installed seatbelt, lap and shoulder restraint or other restraint approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or any successor governmental agency. See Virginia Code 51.1-500
• Satisfactory evidence of identity: means identification of an individual based on (i) examination of one or more of the following unexpired documents bearing a photographic image of the individual's face and signature: a United States Passport Book, a United States Passport Card, a certificate of United States citizenship, a certificate of naturalization, a foreign passport, an alien registration card with photograph, a state issued driver's license or a state issued identification card or a United States military card or (ii) the oath or affirmation of one credible witness unaffected by the document or transaction who is personally known to the notary and who personally knows the individual or of two credible witnesses unaffected by the document or transaction who each personally knows the individual and shows to the notary documentary identification as described in clause (i). See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Scenic area: means any public park or area of particular scenic beauty or historical significance designated as a scenic area by the Board. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• scenic highway: means those highways designated by the Board pursuant to § 33. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Scenic highway: means a highway, designated as such by the Board, within a protected scenic corridor located, designed, and constructed so as to preserve and enhance the natural beauty and cultural value of the countryside. See Virginia Code 33.2-400
• Seal: means a device for affixing on a paper document an image containing the notary's name and other information related to the notary's commission. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Secondary highway: means any highway in or component of the secondary state highway system. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Secretary: means the Secretary of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Service: means service as a judge. See Virginia Code 51.1-301
• 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.
• Shelter care: means the temporary care of children in physically unrestricting facilities. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Sign: means any outdoor sign, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard, poster, billboard, or other thing that is designed, intended, or used to advertise or inform, any part of the advertising or informative contents of which is visible from any highway. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Small business: means an independently owned and operated business that, together with affiliates, has 250 or fewer employees or average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less averaged over the previous three years. See Virginia Code 2.2-1617
• Small business: means a business that is at least 51 percent independently owned and controlled by one or more individuals, or in the case of a cooperative association organized pursuant to Chapter 3 of Title 13. See Virginia Code 2.2-1604
• Social worker: means a person trained to provide service and action to effect changes in human behavior, emotional responses, and the social conditions by the application of the values, principles, methods, and procedures of the profession of social work. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
• 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: includes District of Columbia;

  (f) "Transit facilities" means all real and personal property located in the Zone, necessary or useful in rendering transit service between points within the Zone, by means of rail, bus, water or air and any other mode of travel, including, without limitation, tracks, rights-of-way, bridges, tunnels, subways, rolling stock for rail, motor vehicle, marine and air transportation, stations, terminals and ports, areas for parking and all equipment, fixtures, buildings and structures and services incidental to or required in connection with the performance of transit service;

  (g) "Transit services" means the transportation of persons and their packages and baggage by means of transit facilities between points within the Zone including the transportation of newspapers, express and mail between such points, and charter service which originates within the Zone but does not include taxicab service or individual-ticket-sales sightseeing operations;

  (h) "Transit Zone" or "Zone" means the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Zone created and described in Section 3 as well as any additional area that may be added pursuant to Section 83(a) of this Compact; and

  (i) "WMATC" means Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission. See Virginia Code 33.2-3100

• State: includes any state, territory, or possession of the United States. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• State agency: means any authority, board, department, instrumentality, institution, agency, or other unit of state government. See Virginia Code 2.2-1604
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 1-206
• State Board: means the State Board of Juvenile Justice. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• State Fire Marshal: means the State Fire Marshal as provided for by § 9. See Virginia Code 27-95
• State of emergency: means the condition declared by the Governor when in his judgment the threat or actual occurrence of an emergency or a disaster in any part of the Commonwealth is of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant disaster assistance by the Commonwealth to supplement the efforts and available resources of the several localities and relief organizations in preventing or alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering threatened or caused thereby and is so declared by him. See Virginia Code 44-146.16
• State waters: means all water, on the surface or in the ground, wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction. See Virginia Code 3.2-400
• Status offender: means a child who commits an act prohibited by law which would not be criminal if committed by an adult. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Substance abuse treatment: means (i) the application of specific knowledge, skills, substance abuse treatment theory, and substance abuse treatment techniques to define goals and develop a treatment plan of action regarding substance abuse or dependence prevention, education, or treatment in the substance abuse or dependence recovery process and (ii) referrals to medical, social services, psychological, psychiatric, or legal resources when such referrals are indicated. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Sufficient electric vehicle charging infrastructure: means provision or reservation of sufficient space to provide electric vehicle charging stations and related infrastructure, including transformers, service equipment, and large conduit, to support every centralized fleet vehicle that will be located at such building. See Virginia Code 2.2-1182
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supervision: means the ongoing process, performed by a supervisor, of monitoring the performance of the person supervised and providing regular, documented individual or group consultation, guidance, and instruction with respect to the clinical skills and competencies of the person supervised. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• Surety bail bondsman: means a person licensed pursuant to this article who is also licensed by the State Corporation Commission as a property and casualty insurance agent, and who sells, solicits, or negotiates surety insurance as defined in § 38. See Virginia Code 9.1-185
• SWaM: means small, women-owned, or minority-owned or related to a small, women-owned, or minority-owned business. See Virginia Code 2.2-1604
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Systems of state highways: has the meaning assigned to it in § 1-251. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Taxpayer: includes every person, corporation, partnership, organization, trust or estate subject to taxation under the laws of this Commonwealth, or under the ordinances, resolutions or orders of any county, city, town or other political subdivision of this Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 58.1-1
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July one, nineteen hundred seventy-one, 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 15.2-102
• 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
• Trade name: includes a brand name, trademark, distinctive symbol, or other similar device or thing used to identify particular products or services. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• transportation: means any movement of property by any mode and any packing, loading, unloading, or storage incidental thereto. See Virginia Code 44-146.34
• Traveled way: means the portion of a roadway for the movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unauthorized vehicle: means a motor vehicle that is restricted from use of the HOT lanes pursuant to subdivision 4 a of § 33. See Virginia Code 33.2-500
• 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
• Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
• Urban area: means an urbanized area or, in the case of an urbanized area encompassing more than one state, that part of the urbanized area within the Commonwealth, or an urban place. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Urban place: means an area so designated by the U. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Urbanized area: means an area so designated by the U. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• VEES: means the Virginia Energy Conservation and Environmental Standards developed by the Department considering the U. See Virginia Code 2.2-1182
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verification of fact: means a notarial act in which a notary reviews public or vital records to (i) ascertain or confirm facts regarding a person's identity, identifying attributes, or authorization to access a building, database, document, network, or physical site or (ii) validate an identity credential on which satisfactory evidence of identity may be based. See Virginia Code 47.1-2
• Veteran: means an individual who has served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable. See Virginia Code 2.2-1617
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• Violent juvenile felony: means any of the delinquent acts enumerated in subsection B or C of § 16. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Virginia byway: means a highway, designated as such by the Board, having relatively high aesthetic or cultural value, leading to or within areas of historical, natural, or recreational significance. See Virginia Code 33.2-400
• Visible: means capable of being seen (whether or not legible) without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity. See Virginia Code 33.2-1200
• Warehouseman: is a person engaged in the business of storing goods for hire. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.