Sections
Chapter 1 Creation and Limitation of Estates 55.1-100 – 55.1-138
Chapter 2 Property Rights of Married Persons 55.1-200 – 55.1-210
Chapter 3 Form and Effect of Deeds and Covenants; Liens 55.1-300 – 55.1-363
Chapter 4 Fraudulent and Voluntary Conveyances; Writings Necessary to Be Recorded 55.1-400 – 55.1-414
Chapter 5 Commutation and Valuation of Certain Estates and Interests 55.1-500 – 55.1-506
Chapter 5.1 Foreign Entities and Property Ownership 55.1-507 – 55.1-509
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Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 55.1 > Subtitle I - Property Conveyances

  • Accident and sickness insurance: means insurance against loss resulting from sickness, or from bodily injury or death by accident or accidental means, or from a combination of any or all of these perils. See Virginia Code 38.2-109
  • advisory board: means the board appointed by the commission in accordance with § 15. See Virginia Code 15.2-4602
  • 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.
  • Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
  • Agricultural land: means real estate in the Commonwealth used or zoned in a manner that would permit the use of the real estate for an agricultural operation. See Virginia Code 55.1-507
  • Agricultural operation: means any operation devoted to the bona fide production of crops, animals, or fowl, including the production of fruits and vegetables of any kind; meat, dairy, and poultry products; nuts, tobacco, nursery, and floral products; and the production and harvest of products from silvicultural activity. See Virginia Code 55.1-507
  • 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.
  • Annuities: means all agreements to make periodic payments in specified or calculable sums pursuant to the terms of a contract for a stated period of time or for the life of the person or persons specified in the contract. See Virginia Code 38.2-106
  • 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.
  • annuity: shall be deemed to include "variable annuity" and "modified guaranteed annuity" and shall be deemed to include a contract under which a lump sum cash settlement is an alternative to the option of periodic payments. See Virginia Code 38.2-106
  • 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.
  • Appraisal: A determination of property value.
  • 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
  • Articles of organization: means all documents constituting, at any particular time, the articles of organization of a limited liability company. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Assessable year: means the calendar year upon which the direct gross premium income is computed under this chapter. See Virginia Code 38.2-402
  • Assignee: means a person to which all or part of a membership interest has been transferred, whether or not the transferor is a member. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Attorney: means the person designated and authorized by subscribers as the attorney-in-fact having authority to obligate them on reciprocal insurance contracts. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
  • Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
  • Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
  • Authority: means the respective political subdivisions of the Commonwealth created in this subpart. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
  • Balanced budget: A budget in which receipts equal outlays.
  • 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 State Board of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Board: means the respective boards of directors for the authorities created in this subpart. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
  • Board: means the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
  • 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
  • Board of supervisors: means the governing body of a county. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
  • Bureau of Insurance: means the division of the Commission established to administer the insurance laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • business of insurance: include solicitation, negotiations preliminary to execution, execution of an insurance contract, and the transaction of matters subsequent to execution of the contract and arising out of it. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
  • Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
  • 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
  • Commission: means the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • Commission: means the governing body of the local district. See Virginia Code 15.2-4602
  • Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
  • Commissioner of Insurance: means the administrative or executive officer of the Bureau. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • 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.
  • Company: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • constitutional officer: means a county or city office or officer referred to in Article VII, § 4 of the Constitution of Virginia: clerk of the circuit court, attorney for the Commonwealth, sheriff, commissioner of the revenue, and treasurer. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Constitutional officer: means an officer provided for pursuant to Article VII, § 4 of the Constitution. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
  • Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Contribution: means any cash, property or services rendered, or a promissory note or other binding obligation to contribute cash or property or to perform services, which a member contributes to a limited liability company in his capacity as a member. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Cost: means all or any part of the cost of acquisition, construction, reconstruction, alteration, landscaping, or enlargement of a public mass transit system or highway that is located in counties that are authorized by this chapter to create a transportation improvement district, including the cost of the acquisition of land, rights-of-way, property rights, easements and interests acquired for such construction, alteration or expansion, the cost of demolishing or removing any structure on land so acquired, including the cost of acquiring any lands to which such structures may be removed, the cost of all labor, materials, machinery and equipment, financing charges, insurance, interest on all bonds prior to and during construction and, if deemed advisable by the commission, for a reasonable period after completion of such construction, reserves for principal and interest and for extensions, enlargements, additions, replacements, renovations, and improvements, provisions for working capital, the cost of surveys, engineering and architectural expenses, borings, plans and specifications and other engineering and architectural services, legal expenses, studies, estimates of costs and revenues, administrative expenses, and such other expenses as may be necessary, or incident to, the construction of the project or, solely as to districts created pursuant to this chapter after July 1, 1990, the creation of the district (the costs of which creation shall not exceed $150,000), and of such subsequent additions thereto or expansion thereof, and to determining the feasibility or practicability of such construction, the cost of financing such construction, additions, or expansion and placing the project and such additions or expansion in operation. See Virginia Code 15.2-4602
  • Council: means the governing body of a city or town. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
  • County: means Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties. See Virginia Code 15.2-4602
  • County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
  • 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.
  • Department: means the state agency headed by the Commissioner of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 55.1-507
  • Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Direct gross premium income: means direct gross premium as defined in § 58. See Virginia Code 38.2-402
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Distribution: means a direct or indirect transfer of money or other property, or incurrence of indebtedness by a limited liability company, to or for the benefit of its members in respect of their interests. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • 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
  • domestic limited liability company: means an entity that is an unincorporated organization organized and existing under this chapter, or that has become a domestic limited liability company of the Commonwealth pursuant to § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Donee: The recipient of a gift.
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • Dower: A widow
  • Election: means a general, primary, or special election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Election district: means the territory designated by proper authority or by law which is represented by an official elected by the people, including the Commonwealth, a congressional district, a General Assembly district, or a district for the election of an official of a county, city, town, or other governmental unit. 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
  • Electronic transmission: means any form of communication, not directly involving the physical transmission of paper, that creates a record that may be retained, retrieved, and reviewed by a recipient thereof, and that may be directly reproduced in paper form by the recipient through an automated process. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Eligible interests: means , as to a partnership, partnership interest as specified in § 50-73. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Entity: includes any domestic or foreign limited liability company, any domestic or foreign other business entity, any estate or trust, and any state, the United States, and any foreign government. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • 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
  • Entity conversion: means conversion. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Federal agency: means and includes the United States of America or any department, bureau, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 15.2-4602
  • Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. Source: OCC
  • Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Foreign adversary: means any foreign government or nongovernment person determined by the U. See Virginia Code 55.1-507
  • 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
  • Foreign limited liability company: means an entity, excluding a foreign business trust, that is an unincorporated organization that is organized under laws other than the laws of the Commonwealth and that is denominated by that law as a limited liability company, and that affords to each of its members, pursuant to the laws under which it is organized, limited liability with respect to the liabilities of the entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Foreign partnership: means an association of two or more persons to carry on as co-owners a business for profit formed under the laws of any state or jurisdiction other than the Commonwealth, and includes, for all purposes of the laws of the Commonwealth, a foreign registered limited liability partnership. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Foreign protected series: means a protected series established by a foreign series limited liability company and having attributes comparable to a protected series established under Article 16 (§ 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Foreign series limited liability company: means a foreign limited liability company having at least one foreign protected series. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • 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
  • gender identity: when used in reference to discrimination in the Code and acts of the General Assembly, means the gender-related identity, appearance, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth. See Virginia Code 2.2-3901
  • 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 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
  • Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
  • Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. Source: OCC
  • Health services plan: means any arrangement for offering or administering health services or similar or related services by a corporation licensed under Chapter 42 of Title 59. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
  • incorporated towns: as used in this article means only those incorporated towns which have held municipal elections in the ten years preceding the date of the filing of a petition for a referendum pursuant to § 15. See Virginia Code 15.2-3520
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Insurance company: means any company engaged in the business of making contracts of insurance. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • insurance policies: shall include contracts of fidelity, indemnity, guaranty and suretyship. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • Insurer: means an insurance company. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
  • 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

  • interest: means a member's share of the profits and the losses of the limited liability company and the right to receive distributions of the limited liability company's assets. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Interest in agricultural land: means any right, title, or interest, direct or indirect, in and to (i) agricultural land or (ii) any entity or other organization that holds any right, title, or interest, direct or indirect, in and to agricultural land. See Virginia Code 55.1-507
  • Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. Source: OCC
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
  • Jurisdiction: when used to refer to a political entity, means the United States, a state, a foreign country, or a political subdivision of a foreign country. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Jurisdiction of formation: means the state or country the law of which includes the organic law governing a domestic or foreign limited liability company or other business entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Lactation: means a condition that may result in the feeding of a child directly from the breast or the expressing of milk from the breast. See Virginia Code 2.2-3901
  • landowner: means the person or entity that has the usufruct, control, or occupation of the taxable real property as determined by the commissioner of the revenue of the jurisdiction in which the subject real property is located pursuant to § 58. See Virginia Code 15.2-4602
  • 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
  • Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
  • License year: means the 12-month period beginning on July 1 next succeeding the assessable year and ending on June 30 of the subsequent year. See Virginia Code 38.2-402
  • Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
  • Life insurance: includes policies that also provide (i) endowment benefits; (ii) additional benefits incidental to a loss in the event of death, dismemberment, or loss by accident or accidental means; (iii) additional benefits to safeguard the contract from lapse or to provide a special surrender value, a special benefit or an annuity, in the event of total and permanent disability of the insured; and (iv) optional modes of settlement of proceeds. See Virginia Code 38.2-102
  • like unit: means the consolidation of (i) two or more counties into a consolidated county, (ii) two or more cities into a consolidated city or (iii) two or more towns into a consolidated town. See Virginia Code 15.2-3500
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • local district: means any transportation improvement district created under the provisions of § 15. See Virginia Code 15.2-4602
  • local electoral board: means a board appointed pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • 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
  • Manager-managed limited liability company: means a limited liability company that is managed by a manager or managers as provided for in its articles of organization or an operating agreement. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • managers: means a person or persons designated by the members of a limited liability company to manage the limited liability company as provided in the articles of organization or an operating agreement. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Medicare: means the "Health Insurance for the Aged Act" Title XVIII of the Social Security Amendment of 1965, as amended. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • 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 a person that has been admitted to membership in a limited liability company as provided in § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Member-managed limited liability company: means a limited liability company that is not a manager-managed limited liability company. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Merger: means a business combination pursuant to § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1069.1
  • Military status: means status as (i) a member of the uniformed forces, as defined in 10 U. See Virginia Code 2.2-3901
  • 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.
  • Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. Source: OCC
  • Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Operating agreement: means an agreement of the members as to the affairs of a limited liability company and the conduct of its business, or a writing or agreement of a limited liability company with one member that satisfies the requirements of subdivision A 2 of § 13. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Organic law: means the statute governing the internal affairs of a domestic or foreign limited liability company or other business entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Other business entity: means a domestic or foreign partnership, limited partnership, business trust, stock corporation, or nonstock corporation. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
  • Paper ballot: means a tangible ballot that is marked by a voter and then manually counted. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • 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.
  • Party to a merger: means any domestic or foreign limited liability company or other business entity that will merge under a plan of merger. See Virginia Code 13.1-1069.1
  • Person: means the term as defined in § 1-230. See Virginia Code 3.2-4400
  • Person: includes a protected series. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Person: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • Person: includes an individual and an entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • Person under disability: includes a person less than 18 years of age. See Virginia Code 1-232
  • Person with a disability: means a person with a disability as defined by the Virginians with Disabilities Act (§ 51. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Pretrial conference: A meeting of the judge and lawyers to discuss which matters should be presented to the jury, to review evidence and witnesses, to set a timetable, and to discuss the settlement of the case.
  • 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 limited liability company are located or, if there are no such offices, the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, so designated by the limited liability company. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Proceeding: includes civil suit and criminal, administrative and investigatory action conducted by a governmental agency. See Virginia Code 13.1-803
  • Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
  • Property: means all property, whether real, personal, or mixed or tangible or intangible, or any right or interest therein. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Public corporation: means the Commonwealth of Virginia or any political subdivision thereof or any incorporated municipality therein or any public agency of the Commonwealth or of any political subdivision thereof or of any municipality therein. See Virginia Code 1-219.1
  • 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
  • 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
  • Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
  • Rate service organization: means any organization or person, other than a joint underwriting association under § 38. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • rates: means any rate of premium, policy fee, membership fee or any other charge made by an insurer for or in connection with a contract or policy of insurance. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • 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
  • Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
  • Record: when used as a noun, 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. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. Source: FDIC
  • Referendum: means any election held pursuant to law to submit a question to the voters for approval or rejection. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • 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
  • Religion: includes any outward expression of religious faith, including adherence to religious dressing and grooming practices and the carrying or display of religious items or symbols. See Virginia Code 2.2-3901
  • 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.
  • Remainderman: One entitled to the remainder of an estate after a particular reserved right or interest, such as a life tenancy, has expired.
  • Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
  • 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.
  • Revenues: means any or all fees, tolls, taxes, rents, notes, receipts, assessments, moneys, and income derived by the local district and includes any cash contributions or payments made to the local district by the Commonwealth or any agency, department, or political subdivision thereof or by any other source. See Virginia Code 15.2-4602
  • Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
  • 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.
  • sexual orientation: when used in reference to discrimination in the Code and acts of the General Assembly, means a person's actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality. See Virginia Code 2.2-3901
  • Sign: means , with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record, to execute or adopt a tangible symbol or to attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Special election: means any election that is held pursuant to law to fill a vacancy in office or to hold a referendum. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • State: means any commonwealth, state, territory, district or insular possession of the United States. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Subscriber: means a person obligated under a reciprocal insurance agreement. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
  • Surplus to policyholders: means the excess of total admitted assets over the liabilities of an insurer, and shall be the sum of all capital and surplus accounts, including any voluntary reserves, minus any impairment of all capital and surplus accounts. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
  • sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
  • 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.
  • Tenancy by the entirety: A type of joint tenancy between husband and wife that is recognized in some States. Neither party can sever the joint tenancy relationship; when a spouse dies, the survivor acquires full title to the property.
  • Testate: To die leaving a will.
  • Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Tier-city: means an incorporated community within a consolidated county that (i) has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more, (ii) has been designated as a tier-city by the General Assembly, and (iii) has both the powers of a town and such additional powers as may be granted tier-cities by the General Assembly. See Virginia Code 1-252
  • 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
  • Town: means any town having a population of more than 1,000. See Virginia Code 15.2-4602
  • Transfer: includes an assignment, a conveyance, a sale, a lease, an encumbrance including a mortgage or security interest, a gift, and a transfer by operation of law. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Transportation improvements: means any and all real or personal property utilized in constructing and improving (i) any mass transportation project and (ii) any primary highway or portion thereof, located within any district created pursuant to § 15. See Virginia Code 15.2-4602
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. Source: OCC
  • 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
  • United States: includes a district, authority, bureau, commission, department, and any other agency of the United States. See Virginia Code 13.1-1002
  • Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
  • Voter: means a qualified voter as defined in § 24. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
  • 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
  • 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
  • Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.