Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 52 > Chapter 6.1 - Virginia Community Policing Act

• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Animal: means any nonhuman vertebrate species except fish. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Animal control officer: means a person appointed as an animal control officer or deputy animal control officer as provided in § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Boarding establishment: means a place or establishment other than a public or private animal shelter where companion animals not owned by the proprietor are sheltered, fed, and watered in exchange for a fee. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• broker: means a person that, for compensation or the expectation of compensation, obtains or offers to obtain sales-based financing from a provider for a recipient. See Virginia Code 6.2-2228
• care: means the responsible practice of good animal husbandry, handling, production, management, confinement, feeding, watering, protection, shelter, transportation, treatment, and, when necessary, euthanasia, appropriate for the age, species, condition, size and type of the animal and the provision of veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering or impairment of health. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Chief: means the Chief of the Division of Mines of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-100
• Collar: means a well-fitted device, appropriate to the age and size of the animal, attached to the animal's neck in such a way as to prevent trauma or injury to the animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Companion animal: means any domestic or feral dog, domestic or feral cat, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit not raised for human food or fiber, exotic or native animal, reptile, exotic or native bird, or any feral animal or any animal under the care, custody, or ownership of a person or any animal that is bought, sold, traded, or bartered by any person. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Company: means a bank, trust company, or other entity conducting the business of renting safe deposit boxes. See Virginia Code 6.2-2300
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dealer: means any person who in the regular course of business for compensation or profit buys, sells, transfers, exchanges, or barters companion animals. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Entity: means any corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Euthanasia: means the humane destruction of an animal accomplished by a method that involves instantaneous unconsciousness and immediate death or by a method that involves anesthesia, produced by an agent that causes painless loss of consciousness, and death during such loss of consciousness. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Facility: means a building or portion thereof as designated by the State Veterinarian, other than a private residential dwelling and its surrounding grounds, that is used to contain a primary enclosure or enclosures in which animals are housed or kept. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• Finance charge: has the meaning assigned to it in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Regulation Z, 12 C. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Groomer: means any person who, for a fee, cleans, trims, brushes, makes neat, manicures, or treats for external parasites any animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Humane: means any action taken in consideration of and with the intent to provide for the animal's health and well-being. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Humane investigator: means a person who has been appointed by a circuit court as a humane investigator as provided in § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Humane society: means any incorporated, nonprofit organization that is organized for the purposes of preventing cruelty to animals and promoting humane care and treatment or adoptions of animals. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Law-enforcement officer: means any person who is a full-time or part-time employee of a police department or sheriff's office that is part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof and who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Operational expenses: means expenses of the clerk of court used to maintain the clerk's office and includes, but is not limited to, (i) computer support, maintenance, enhancements, upgrades, and replacements and office automation and information technology equipment, including software and conversion services; (ii) preserving, maintaining, and enhancing court records, including, but not limited to, the costs of repairs, maintenance, consulting services, service contracts, redaction of social security numbers from certain records, and system replacements or upgrades; and (iii) improving public access to records maintained by the clerk, including locating technology in an offsite facility for such purposes or for implementation of a disaster recovery plan. See Virginia Code 17.1-295
• Ordinance: means any law, rule, regulation, or ordinance adopted by the governing body of any locality. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Owner: means any person who: (i) has a right of property in an animal; (ii) keeps or harbors an animal; (iii) has an animal in his care; or (iv) acts as a custodian of an animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• 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.
• Pet shop: means a retail establishment where companion animals are bought, sold, exchanged, or offered for sale or exchange to the general public. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Private animal shelter: means a facility operated for the purpose of finding permanent adoptive homes for animals that is used to house or contain animals and that is owned or operated by an incorporated, nonprofit, and nongovernmental entity, including a humane society, animal welfare organization, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or any other similar organization. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• provider: means a person that extends a specific offer of sales-based financing to a recipient. See Virginia Code 6.2-2228
• Public animal shelter: means a facility operated by the Commonwealth, or any locality, for the purpose of impounding or sheltering seized, stray, homeless, abandoned, unwanted, or surrendered animals or a facility operated for the same purpose under a contract with any locality. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Recipient: means a person whose principal place of business is in the Commonwealth and that applies for sales-based financing and is made a specific offer of sales-based financing by a provider. See Virginia Code 6.2-2228
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Sales-based financing: means a transaction that is repaid by the recipient to the provider, over time, as a percentage of sales or revenue, in which the payment amount may increase or decrease according to the volume of sales made or revenue received by the recipient. See Virginia Code 6.2-2228
• Specific offer: means the specific terms of sales-based financing, including price or amount, that are quoted to a recipient, based on information obtained from or about the recipient, which, if accepted by a recipient, shall be binding on the provider, as applicable, subject to any specific requirements stated in such terms. See Virginia Code 6.2-2228
• State Veterinarian: means the veterinarian employed by the Commissioner as provided in § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-5900
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.