Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 36 > Chapter 5.1 - Virginia Fair Housing Law

• 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.
• Articles of incorporation: means all documents constituting, at any particular time, the charter of a corporation. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• 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.
• Bar or lounge area: means any establishment or portion of an establishment devoted to the sale and service of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises and where the sale or service of food or meals is incidental to the consumption of the alcoholic beverages. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• Board of directors: means the group of persons vested with the management of the business of the corporation irrespective of the name by which such group is designated, and "director" means a member of the board of directors. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Disinterested director: means a director who, at the time action is to be taken under § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• domestic corporation: means a corporation not authorized by law to issue shares, irrespective of the nature of the business to be transacted, organized under this chapter or existing pursuant to the laws of the Commonwealth on January 1, 1986, or that, by virtue of articles of incorporation, amendment, or merger, has become a domestic corporation of the Commonwealth, even though also being a corporation organized under laws other than the laws of the Commonwealth or that has become a domestic corporation of the Commonwealth pursuant to Article 11. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• Educational facility: means any building used for instruction of enrolled students, including but not limited to any day-care center, nursery school, public or private school, institution of higher education, medical school, law school, or career and technical education school. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• Employee: includes , unless otherwise provided in the bylaws, an officer but not a director. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• Entity: includes any domestic or foreign corporation; any domestic or foreign stock corporation; any domestic or foreign unincorporated entity; any estate or trust; and any state, the United States, and any foreign government. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• governing body: includes both or all of them. See Virginia Code 15.2-2602
• 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
• Health care facility: means any institution, place, building, or agency required to be licensed under Virginia law, including but not limited to any hospital, nursing facility or nursing home, boarding home, assisted living facility, supervised living facility, or ambulatory medical and surgical center. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• Individual: means a natural person. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• 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.
• Interest: means either or both of the following rights under the organic law of a foreign or domestic unincorporated entity:

  1. See Virginia Code 13.1-803

• 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.
• local government: shall be construed to mean a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Member: means one having a membership interest in a corporation in accordance with the provisions of its articles of incorporation or bylaws. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• 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.
• 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.
• Person: includes an individual and an entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• 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
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Private club: means an organization, whether incorporated or not, that (i) is the owner, lessee, or occupant of a building or portion thereof used exclusively for club purposes, including club or member sponsored events; (ii) is operated solely for recreational, fraternal, social, patriotic, political, benevolent, or athletic purposes, and only sells alcoholic beverages incidental to its operation; (iii) has established bylaws, a constitution, or both that govern its activities; and (iv) the affairs and management of which are conducted by a board of directors, executive committee, or similar body chosen by the members at an annual meeting. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• Private work place: means any office or work area that is not open to the public in the normal course of business except by individual invitation. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• Proceeding: includes civil suit and criminal, administrative and investigatory action conducted by a governmental agency. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• proprietor: includes corporations, associations, or partnerships as well as individuals. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• Public place: means any enclosed, indoor area used by the general public, including but not limited to any building owned or leased by the Commonwealth or any agency thereof or any locality, public conveyance or public vehicle, educational facility, hospital, nursing facility or nursing home, other health care facility, library, retail store of 15,000 square feet or more, auditorium, arena, theater, museum, concert hall, or other area used for a performance or an exhibit of the arts or sciences, or any meeting room. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• public vehicle: means any air, land, or water vehicle used for the mass transportation of persons in intrastate travel for compensation, including but not limited to any airplane, train, bus, or boat that is not subject to federal smoking regulations. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• Recreational facility: means any enclosed, indoor area used by the general public and used as a stadium, arena, skating rink, video game facility, or senior citizen recreational facility. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• Restaurant: means any place where food is prepared for service to the public on or off the premises, or any place where food is served. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• smoking: means the carrying or holding of any lighted pipe, cigar, or cigarette of any kind, or any other lighted smoking equipment, or the lighting, inhaling, or exhaling of smoke from a pipe, cigar, or cigarette of any kind. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Theater: means any indoor facility or auditorium, open to the public, which is primarily used or designed for the purpose of exhibiting any motion picture, stage production, musical recital, dance, lecture, or other similar performance. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
• 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
• 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
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Voting group: means all members of one or more classes that under the articles of incorporation or this chapter are entitled to vote and be counted together collectively on a matter at a meeting of members. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
• written: means any information in the form of a document. See Virginia Code 13.1-803