Sections
Chapter 39 Attorneys 54.1-3900 – 54.1-3944

Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 54.1 > Subtitle IV - Professions Regulated by the Supreme Court

  • Abuse: means any act or failure to act by an employee or other person responsible for the care of an individual in a facility or program operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, that was performed or was failed to be performed knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally, and that caused or might have caused physical or psychological harm, injury, or death to an individual receiving care or treatment for mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Abused or neglected child: means any child:

    1. See Virginia Code 16.1-228

  • Adjournment sine die: The end of a legislative session "without day." These adjournments are used to indicate the final adjournment of an annual or the two-year session of legislature.
  • Adoptive home: means the place of residence of any natural person in which a child resides as a member of the household and in which he has been placed for the purposes of adoption or in which he has been legally adopted by another member of the household. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Agent: means any person who acts for another with or without compensation at the request, or with the knowledge and acquiescence, of the other in dealing with third persons. See Virginia Code 54.1-3939
  • Allegation: something that someone says happened.
  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
  • Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
  • 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
  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Articles of incorporation: means all documents constituting, at any particular time, the charter of a corporation. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • Assets: means the buildings and land of state facilities operated by the Department. See Virginia Code 37.2-317
  • Assistive technology: means any item, piece of equipment or device that enables an individual with a disability to improve his or her independence and quality of life. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • attorney: means attorney-at-law. See Virginia Code 54.1-3900
  • Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
  • Authority: means the Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority established pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
  • authority: means a public body and a body corporate and politic organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 (§ 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Authority: means the respective political subdivisions of the Commonwealth created in this subpart. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
  • 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.
  • Bee: means the honeybee, Apis mellifera and genetic variations thereof, at any living stage; and may include other hymenopterous insects that depend on pollen and nectar for food. See Virginia Code 3.2-4400
  • 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
  • Bequest: Property gifted by will.
  • Board: means the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-1300
  • Board: means the State Board of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Board: means the Board of Directors of the Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
  • Board: means the Commonwealth Transportation Board. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
  • Board: when used in this chapter shall mean the Board of Bar Examiners. See Virginia Code 54.1-3919
  • Board: means the State Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Board: means the respective boards of directors for the authorities created in this subpart. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
  • 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
  • Bonds: means notes, bonds, certificates, and other evidence of indebtedness or obligation of the Authority. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
  • Brain injury: means any injury to the brain that occurs after birth that is acquired through traumatic or non-traumatic insults. See Virginia Code 37.2-403
  • Business firm: means any corporation, partnership, electing small business (Subchapter S) corporation, limited liability company, or sole proprietorship authorized to do business in the Commonwealth and subject to tax imposed under Articles 2 (§ 58. See Virginia Code 36-158
  • capper: means any person acting within the Commonwealth as an agent for an attorney in the solicitation of professional employment for the attorney. See Virginia Code 54.1-3939
  • Certificate of health: means a state-of-origin document prepared and signed by the State Apiarist or other authorized person declaring the bees, bee equipment, appliances, apiaries, and honey houses to be free of bee diseases. See Virginia Code 3.2-4400
  • 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 in need of supervision: means :

    1. 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.
  • Commission: means the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • Committee membership: Legislators are assigned to specific committees by their party. Seniority, regional balance, and political philosophy are the most prominent factors in the committee assignment process.
  • Community services board: means the public body established pursuant to § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Component governments: means the counties and cities composing a transportation district and the various departments, bureaus, and divisions of such counties and cities. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
  • Conditional license: means a license issued in accordance with the requirements of § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-403
  • Consent: means the voluntary, express, and informed agreement to treatment in a mental health facility by a minor 14 years of age or older and by a parent or a legally authorized custodian. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
  • County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
  • 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
  • Delinquent child: means a child who has committed a delinquent act or an adult who has committed a delinquent act prior to his 18th birthday, except where the jurisdiction of the juvenile court has been terminated under the provisions of § 16. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
  • Department: means the state agency headed by the Commissioner of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • 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 Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Department: means the Department of Housing and Community Development. See Virginia Code 36-158
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Designee of the local community services board: means an examiner designated by the local community services board who (i) is skilled in the assessment and treatment of mental illness, (ii) has completed a certification program approved by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, (iii) is able to provide an independent examination of the minor, (iv) is not related by blood, marriage, or adoption to, or is not the legal guardian of, the minor being evaluated, (v) has no financial interest in the admission or treatment of the minor being evaluated, (vi) has no investment interest in the facility detaining or admitting the minor under this article, and (vii) except for employees of state hospitals and of the U. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • 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
  • Developmental disability: means a severe, chronic disability of an individual that (i) is attributable to a mental or physical impairment, or a combination of mental and physical impairments, other than a sole diagnosis of mental illness; (ii) is manifested before the individual reaches 22 years of age; (iii) is likely to continue indefinitely; (iv) results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity: self-care, receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, or economic self-sufficiency; and (v) reflects the individual's need for a combination and sequence of special interdisciplinary or generic services, individualized supports, or other forms of assistance that are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Developmental services: means planned, individualized, and person-centered services and supports provided to individuals with developmental disabilities for the purpose of enabling these individuals to increase their self-determination and independence, obtain employment, participate fully in all aspects of community life, advocate for themselves, and achieve their fullest potential to the greatest extent possible. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • District: means a transportation district authorized to be created by this chapter. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
  • district commission: means the governing body of a district. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
  • Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
  • Document: means (i) any tangible medium on which information is inscribed, and includes any writing or written instrument, or (ii) an electronic record. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • 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
  • Election: means a general, primary, or special election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • Employee: means an employee of the local community services board who is skilled in the assessment and treatment of mental illness and has completed a certification program approved by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • 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
  • Entity conversion: means conversion. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • 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
  • Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
  • Ex officio: means service by virtue of one's office and includes voting privileges for ex officio members unless otherwise provided. See Virginia Code 1-215
  • facilities: means all those matters and things utilized in rendering transportation service by means of rail, bus, water, or air and any other mode of travel, including tracks, rights-of-way, bridges, tunnels, subways, and rolling stock for rail, motor vehicle, marine, and air transportation; stations, terminals, and ports; areas for parking; buildings; structures; and all equipment, fixtures, and business activities reasonably required for the performance of transportation service, but does not include any such facilities owned by any person, company, association, or corporation the major part of whose transportation service extends beyond a transportation district created in this chapter. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
  • Facility: means a state or licensed hospital, training center, psychiatric hospital, or other type of residential or outpatient mental health or developmental services facility. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • 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 member: means an immediate family member of an individual receiving services or the principal caregiver of that individual. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Foreign corporation: means a corporation not authorized by law to issue shares, organized under laws other than the laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • 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
  • Full license: means a license issued in accordance with the requirements of § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-403
  • Fund: means the Assistive Technology Loan Fund established pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
  • Fund: means the Housing Revitalization Zone Fund. See Virginia Code 36-158
  • Fund: means the Behavioral Health and Developmental Services Trust Fund. See Virginia Code 37.2-317
  • General election: means an election held in the Commonwealth on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November or on the first Tuesday in May for the purpose of filling offices regularly scheduled by law to be filled at those times. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • General registrar: means the person appointed by the electoral board of a county or city pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Governing bodies: means the boards of supervisors of counties and councils of cities composing a transportation district. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
  • Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Hearing dog: means a dog trained to alert its owner by touch to sounds of danger and sounds to which the owner should respond. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
  • Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
  • 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
  • Housing revitalization zone: means an area declared by the Governor to be eligible for the benefits of this chapter. See Virginia Code 36-158
  • Housing unit: means any building, structure, or portion thereof, which is occupied as, or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or more families. See Virginia Code 36-158
  • 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
  • Incapable of making an informed decision: means unable to understand the nature, extent, or probable consequences of a proposed treatment or unable to make a rational evaluation of the risks and benefits of the proposed treatment as compared with the risks and benefits of alternatives to the treatment. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
  • Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. Source: FDIC
  • Independent living services: includes counseling, education, housing, employment, and money management skills development and access to essential documents and other appropriate services to help children or persons prepare for self-sufficiency. 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: means a current direct recipient of public or private mental health, developmental, or substance abuse treatment, rehabilitation, or habilitation services and includes the terms "consumer" "patient" "resident" "recipient" or "client. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • 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.
  • Inpatient treatment: means placement for observation, diagnosis, or treatment of mental illness in a psychiatric hospital or in any other type of mental health facility determined by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to be substantially similar to a psychiatric hospital with respect to restrictions on freedom and therapeutic intrusiveness. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • Intake officer: means a juvenile probation officer appointed as such pursuant to the authority of this chapter. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
  • Intellectual disability: means a disability, originating before the age of 18 years, characterized concurrently by (i) significant subaverage intellectual functioning as demonstrated by performance on a standardized measure of intellectual functioning, administered in conformity with accepted professional practice, that is at least two standard deviations below the mean and (ii) significant limitations in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Investment interest: means the ownership or holding of an equity or debt security, including shares of stock in a corporation, interests or units of a partnership, bonds, debentures, notes, or other equity or debt instruments. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • judge: includes a retired judge sitting by designation pursuant to § 16. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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: means a state hospital and a licensed hospital that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Licensed hospital: means a hospital or institution, including a psychiatric unit of a general hospital, that is licensed pursuant to the provisions of this title. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • local electoral board: means a board appointed pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Local zone administrator: means the chief executive of the county, city, or town in which a housing revitalization zone is located, or his designee. See Virginia Code 36-158
  • Locality: has the meaning assigned to it in § 1-221. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
  • Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Member: means any member whose benefits under the Virginia Retirement System (§ 51. See Virginia Code 51.1-1300
  • Mental health facility: means a public or private facility for the treatment of mental illness operated or licensed by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • Mental health services: means planned individualized interventions intended to reduce or ameliorate mental illness or the effects of mental illness through care, treatment, counseling, rehabilitation, medical or psychiatric care, or other supports provided to individuals with mental illness for the purpose of enabling these individuals to increase their self-determination and independence, obtain remunerative employment, participate fully in all aspects of community life, advocate for themselves, and achieve their fullest potential to the greatest extent possible. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Mental illness: means a substantial disorder of the minor's cognitive, volitional, or emotional processes that demonstrably and significantly impairs judgment or capacity to recognize reality or to control behavior. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • Mental illness: means a disorder of thought, mood, emotion, perception, or orientation that significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to address basic life necessities and requires care and treatment for the health, safety, or recovery of the individual or for the safety of others. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Mental impairment: means (i) a disability attributable to intellectual disability, autism, or any other neurological disability closely related to intellectual disability and requiring treatment similar to that required by individuals with intellectual disability or (ii) an organic or mental impairment that has substantial adverse effects on an individual's cognitive or volitional functions, including central nervous system disorders or significant discrepancies among mental functions of an individual. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
  • Metropolitan area: means a metropolitan statistical area as defined by the U. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
  • Minor: means a person less than 18 years of age. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Neglect: means failure by a person or a program or facility operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, responsible for providing services to do so, including nourishment, treatment, care, goods, or services necessary to the health, safety, or welfare of an individual receiving care or treatment for mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Net proceeds: means the gross amount received by the seller on account of the sale of any assets (i) less costs incurred on behalf of the seller in connection with such sale and (ii), if after the sale the sold assets will be used by an entity other than a state agency or instrumentality or a local governmental entity in a governmental activity and debt obligations financed any portion of the sold assets and any amount of such obligations is outstanding at the time of the sale, less the amount necessary to provide for the payment or redemption of the portion of such outstanding obligations that financed the sold assets, which amount shall be used to pay or redeem such obligations or shall be transferred to the third party issuer of the obligations for a use permitted in accordance with such obligations. See Virginia Code 37.2-317
  • Nonlegislative citizen member: means any natural person who is not a member of the General Assembly of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-225
  • Notary: means notary public. See Virginia Code 1-226
  • Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
  • 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.
  • Officer of election: means a person appointed by an electoral board pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Otherwise disabled person: means any person who has a physical, sensory, intellectual, developmental, or mental disability or a mental illness. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Parent: includes parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person standing in loco parentis. See Virginia Code 16.1-278.1
  • Parent: means (i) a biological or adoptive parent who has legal custody of the minor, including either parent if custody is shared under a joint decree or agreement, (ii) a biological or adoptive parent with whom the minor regularly resides, (iii) a person judicially appointed as a legal guardian of the minor, or (iv) a person who exercises the rights and responsibilities of legal custody by delegation from a biological or adoptive parent, upon provisional adoption or otherwise by operation of law. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • 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: means the term as defined in § 1-230. See Virginia Code 3.2-4400
  • Person: means an individual, partnership, association, or corporation or any governmental agency or authority. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
  • Person: includes an individual and an entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • 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
  • Person with a disability: means any person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his major life activities or who has a record of such impairment. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
  • 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
  • Planning district: means a contiguous area within the boundaries established by the Department of Housing and Community Development. See Virginia Code 36-158
  • 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.
  • Plea agreement: An arrangement between the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the defendant in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for special considerations. Source:
  • 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 party: means an organization of citizens of the Commonwealth which, at either of the two preceding statewide general elections, received at least 10 percent of the total vote cast for any statewide office filled in that election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Polling place: means the structure that contains the one place provided for each precinct at which the qualified voters who are residents of the precinct may vote. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Precinct: means the territory designated by the governing body of a county, city, or town to be served by one polling place. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Presentence report: A report prepared by a court's probation officer, after a person has been convicted of an offense, summarizing for the court the background information needed to determine the appropriate sentence. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Pretrial services officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
  • primary election: means an election held for the purpose of selecting a candidate to be the nominee of a political party for election to office. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Principal office: means the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, where the principal executive offices of a domestic or foreign corporation are located, or, if there are no such offices, the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, so designated by the board of directors. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Provider: means any person, entity, or organization, excluding an agency of the federal government by whatever name or designation, that delivers (i) services to individuals with mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse or (ii) residential services for persons with brain injury. See Virginia Code 37.2-403
  • Provisional license: means a license issued to a provider previously issued a full license that has demonstrated a temporary inability to maintain compliance with licensing or human rights regulations or that has failed to comply with a previous corrective action plan, and that allows the provider to continue operating for a limited time while addressing the inability or failure to comply with regulations. See Virginia Code 37.2-403
  • Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
  • 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 service project: means any governmental or quasi-governmental agency project or any project of a nonprofit corporation or association operated exclusively for charitable or community purposes. See Virginia Code 16.1-278.1
  • Qualified business firm: means a business firm designated as a qualified business firm by the Department pursuant to § 36-165. See Virginia Code 36-158
  • Qualified evaluator: means a psychiatrist or a psychologist licensed in Virginia by either the Board of Medicine or the Board of Psychology, or if such psychiatrist or psychologist is unavailable, (i) any mental health professional licensed in Virginia through the Department of Health Professions as a clinical social worker, professional counselor, marriage and family therapist, or psychiatric advanced practice registered nurse or (ii) any mental health professional employed by a community services board. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • 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 owner occupant: means the owner of a housing unit who also uses the housing unit as the owner's residence, and who is designated as a qualified owner occupant pursuant to § 36-165. See Virginia Code 36-158
  • 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
  • Qualified voter: means a person who is entitled to vote pursuant to the Constitution of Virginia and who is (i) 18 years of age on or before the day of the election or qualified pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Qualifying borrower: means any person who demonstrates that a loan made pursuant to this chapter will assist one or more persons with disabilities to improve their independence or become more productive members of the community. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
  • Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
  • 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.
  • Registered voter: means any person who is maintained on the Virginia voter registration system. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Registration records: means all official records concerning the registration of qualified voters and shall include all records, lists, applications, and files, whether maintained in books, on cards, on automated data bases, or by any other legally permitted record-keeping method. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • 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.
  • Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • Retirement System: means the Virginia Retirement System. See Virginia Code 51.1-1300
  • Secretary: means the Secretary of Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
  • Sentencing guidelines: A set of rules and principles established by the United States Sentencing Commission that trial judges use to determine the sentence for a convicted defendant. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Service area: means the city or county or combination of cities and counties or counties or cities that is served by a community services board or behavioral health authority or the cities and counties that are served by a state facility. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Service dog: means a dog trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a mobility-impaired or otherwise disabled person. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
  • 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
  • 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
  • Solicitation of professional employment: means obtaining or attempting to obtain, for an attorney, the opportunity to represent or render other legal services to another person, for which services the attorney will or may receive compensation. See Virginia Code 54.1-3939
  • Special justice: means a person appointed by a chief judge of a judicial circuit for the purpose of performing the duties of a judge pursuant to § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
  • state: means the Commonwealth of Virginia or any of its agencies or departments. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
  • 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 hospital: means a hospital, psychiatric institute, or other institution operated by the Department that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • 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.
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Substance abuse: means the use of drugs, enumerated in the Virginia Drug Control Act (§ 54. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • such agency: means an agency authorized by, or arising from action of, the General Assembly to plan for or provide transportation facilities and service for a metropolitan area located wholly or in part in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 33.2-1901
  • Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
  • sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Three-unit service dog team: means a team consisting of a trained service dog, a person with a disability, and a person who is an adult and who has been trained to handle the service dog. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
  • 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
  • Training center: means a facility operated by the Department that provides training, habilitation, or other individually focused supports to persons with intellectual disability. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
  • Transact business: includes the conduct of affairs by any corporation that is not organized for profit. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • 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.
  • Treatment: means any planned intervention intended to improve a minor's functioning in those areas which show impairment as a result of mental illness. See Virginia Code 16.1-336
  • True bill: Another word for indictment.
  • 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.
  • User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
  • Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
  • Violent juvenile felony: means any of the delinquent acts enumerated in subsection B or C of § 16. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
  • voter registration system: means the automated central record-keeping system for all voters registered within the Commonwealth that is maintained as provided in Article 2 (§ 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • written: means any information in the form of a document. See Virginia Code 13.1-803