Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 8.01 > Chapter 3 > Article 2 - Actions on Contracts Generally

• Abducted child: means a child (i) whose whereabouts are unknown, (ii) who is believed to have been abducted, (iii) who is 17 years of age or younger or is currently enrolled in a secondary school in the Commonwealth, regardless of age, and (iv) whose disappearance poses a credible threat as determined by law enforcement to the safety and health of the child and under such other circumstances as deemed appropriate by the Virginia State Police. See Virginia Code 52-34.1
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Advisory Council: means the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program Advisory Council. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• 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.
• affiliated interest: when used in this chapter shall mean and include the following:

  1. See Virginia Code 56-76

• Alcohol: means the product known as ethyl or grain alcohol obtained by distillation of any fermented liquor, rectified either once or more often, whatever the origin, and shall include synthetic ethyl alcohol, but shall not include methyl alcohol and alcohol completely denatured in accordance with formulas approved by the government of the United States. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Alcoholic beverages: includes alcohol, spirits, wine, and beer, and any one or more of such varieties containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, including mixed alcoholic beverages, and every liquid or solid, powder or crystal, patented or not, containing alcohol, spirits, wine, or beer and capable of being consumed by a human being. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Amber Agreement: means the voluntary agreement between law-enforcement officials and members of the media whereby a child will be declared abducted, and the public will be notified, and includes all other incidental conditions of the partnership as found appropriate by the Virginia State Police. See Virginia Code 52-34.1
• Amber Alert: means the notice of child abduction provided to the public by the media or other methods under an Amber Agreement. See Virginia Code 52-34.1
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Associated facility: means any facility utilized for gas or oil operations in the Commonwealth, other than a well or a well site. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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 Virginia Solar Energy Development and Energy Storage Authority established pursuant to this article. See Virginia Code 45.2-1901
• Authority: means the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority created pursuant to this subtitle. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Authority: means the Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority established pursuant to Article 2 (§ 45. See Virginia Code 45.2-1800
• Authority: means the Southwest Virginia Energy Research and Development Authority established pursuant to this article. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• 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.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Beer: means any alcoholic beverage obtained by the fermentation of an infusion or decoction of barley, malt, and hops or of any similar products in drinkable water and containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Board: means the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Board: means the Virginia Gas and Oil Board. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Bond with surety: includes the payment in cash of the full amount of the required bond and, in such case, no surety shall be required. See Virginia Code 1-205
• Chief: means the Chief of the Division of Mines of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-100
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• 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.
• Coal claimant: means a person identified as possessing an interest in production royalties when a drilling unit is force-pooled or who asserts or possesses a claim to funds that are held in escrow, for a force-pooled coalbed methane gas well, or in suspense, for a voluntarily pooled coalbed methane gas well, by virtue of owning an interest in the coal estate contained within the drilling unit subject to the pooling order or agreement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coal mine methane: means methane gas captured and produced from an underground gob area associated with a mined-out coal seam that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Coal operator: means any person who operates or has the right to operate a coal mine. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coal owner: means any person who owns, leases, mines and produces, or has the right to mine and produce a coal seam. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coal seam: includes a stratum of less than 20 inches in thickness if it (i) is being commercially worked or (ii) in the judgment of the Department could foreseeably be commercially worked and will require protection if a well is drilled through it. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coalbed methane gas: means occluded natural gas produced from coalbeds and rock strata associated with it. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coalbed methane gas well: means a well capable of producing coalbed methane gas. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coalbed methane gas well operator: means any person who operates or has been designated to operate a coalbed methane gas well. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• coastal energy: includes wave or tidal action, currents, offshore winds, thermal differences, and methane hydrates. See Virginia Code 45.2-1715
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 52-36
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 56-1
• 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.
• Community correctional facility: means any group home, halfway house or other physically unrestricting facility used for the housing, treatment or care of adult offenders established or operated with funds appropriated to the Department of Corrections from the state treasury and maintained or operated by any political subdivision, combination of political subdivisions or privately operated agency within the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 53.1-1
• company: includes all corporations created by acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, or under the general incorporation laws of this Commonwealth, or doing business therein, and shall exclude all municipal corporations, other political subdivisions, and public institutions owned or controlled by the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Competitive local exchange telephone company: means (i) a competing telephone company, excluding a city, town, or county, that was granted a certificate on or after January 1, 1996, pursuant to § 56-265. See Virginia Code 56-54.2
• Competitive telephone company: means (i) an incumbent local exchange telephone company whose residential dial tone lines (a) were deemed competitive by the Commission throughout the company's incumbent service territory prior to January 1, 2014, or (b) are declared competitive by the Commission throughout its incumbent service territory on or after January 1, 2014, in a proceeding pursuant to § 56-235. See Virginia Code 56-54.2
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Confidential court records: means court records maintained by a clerk of a court of record, as defined in § 1-212, or a court not of record, as defined in § 16. See Virginia Code 17.1-292
• Consortium: means the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium established pursuant to Article 5 (§ 45. See Virginia Code 45.2-1700
• Container: means any barrel, bottle, carton, keg, vessel, or other receptacle used for holding alcoholic beverages. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contracting entity: means any public body as defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• contractor: means any entity, including a local government, entering into or offering or proposing to enter into a contractual agreement to provide any correctional services to inmates under the custody of the Commonwealth or federal inmates under the custody of the prison contractor, while in the Commonwealth of Virginia. See Virginia Code 53.1-261
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Coordinator: means the position of the Gaming Enforcement Coordinator established pursuant to § 52-54. See Virginia Code 52-53
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Correctional services: means the following functions, services and activities when provided within a prison or otherwise:

  1. See Virginia Code 53.1-261

• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Court records: means any record maintained by the clerk in a civil, traffic, or criminal proceeding in the court, and any appeal from a district court. See Virginia Code 17.1-292
• Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
• Courts of record: means the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the circuit courts. See Virginia Code 1-212
• Critically missing adult: means an adult, including an adult who has a developmental disability, intellectual disability, or mental illness as those terms are defined in § 37. See Virginia Code 52-34.10
• Critically missing adult alert: means the notice of a critically missing adult provided to the public by the media or other methods under a Critically Missing Adult Alert Agreement. See Virginia Code 52-34.10
• Critically Missing Adult Alert Agreement: means a voluntary agreement between law-enforcement officials and members of the media whereby an adult will be declared missing, and the public will be notified by media outlets, and includes all other incidental conditions of the partnership as found appropriate by the Virginia State Police. See Virginia Code 52-34.10
• Critically Missing Adult Alert Program: means the procedures and Critically Missing Adult Alert Agreements to aid in the identification and location of a critically missing adult. See Virginia Code 52-34.10
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dealer: means a motor vehicle dealer licensed pursuant to Chapter 15 of Title 46. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• 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.
• Department: means the Department of State Police. See Virginia Code 52-53
• DEQ: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Developer: means any private developer of a solar energy project or an energy storage project. See Virginia Code 45.2-1901
• Developer: means any private developer of an energy development project. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Developer: means any private developer of an offshore wind energy project. See Virginia Code 45.2-1803
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Corrections. See Virginia Code 53.1-1
• 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:
• Division: means the Division of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-1700
• Division: means the Division of Offshore Wind in the Department as established pursuant to § 45. See Virginia Code 45.2-1800
• Division: means the Division of Geology and Mineral Resources. See Virginia Code 45.2-107
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Drilling unit: means the acreage on which one gas or oil well may be drilled. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Electric motor vehicle: includes fuel cell electric vehicles. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Electronic filing of court records: means the networks or systems maintained by a clerk of the circuit court, or the clerk's designated application service providers, for the submittal of instruments for electronic filing of court records in accordance with this title, the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, and the secure remote access standards developed by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. See Virginia Code 17.1-295
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• En banc: In the bench or "full bench." Refers to court sessions with the entire membership of a court participating rather than the usual quorum. U.S. courts of appeals usually sit in panels of three judges, but may expand to a larger number in certain cases. They are then said to be sitting en banc.
• Energy conservation measures: means the use of methods and techniques, the application of knowledge, or the installation of devices, including an alteration or betterment of an existing facility, that reduces energy consumption or operating costs and includes:

  1. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702

• Energy cost savings: means a measured reduction in fuel, energy, or operation and maintenance costs created from the implementation of one or more energy conservation measures when compared with an established baseline for previous fuel, energy, or operation and maintenance costs. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• Energy development project: means any activity that generates, produces, or stores energy, any energy efficiency system, and any supporting ancillary activities located within Southwest Virginia and includes interests in land, improvements, and ancillary facilities and research, development, commercialization, and deployment activities designated by the Authority to the nonprofit collaborative. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Energy performance-based contract: means a contract for the evaluation, recommendation, and implementation of energy conservation measures that includes, at a minimum:

  1. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702

• Energy storage project: means an energy storage facility located within the Commonwealth and includes interests in land, improvements, and ancillary facilities. See Virginia Code 45.2-1901
• Enhanced recovery: means (i) any activity involving injection of any air, gas, water, or other fluid into the productive strata; (ii) the application of pressure, heat, or other means for the reduction of viscosity of the hydrocarbons; or (iii) the supplying of additional motive force other than normal pumping to increase the production of gas or oil from any well or pool. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• 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}
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Establishment: means any place where alcoholic beverages of one or more varieties are lawfully manufactured, sold, or used. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• 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
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Exploratory well: means any well drilled to (i) find and produce gas or oil in an unproven area, (ii) find a new reservoir in a field previously found to be productive of gas or oil in another reservoir, or (iii) extend the limits of a known gas or oil reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Extradition: The formal process of delivering an accused or convicted person from authorities in one state to authorities in another state.
• 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
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Field rules: means rules established by order of the Board that define a pool, drilling units, production allowables, or other requirements for gas or oil operations within an identifiable area. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• First point of sale: means , for oil, the point at which the oil is (i) sold, exchanged, or transferred for value from one person to another person or (ii) when used by the original owner of the oil, transported off the permitted site and delivered to another facility for use by the original owner. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fund: means the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program Fund. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Gaming laws: means the laws regulating gambling under Article 1 (§ 18. See Virginia Code 52-53
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Gas claimant: means a person who is identified as possessing an interest in production royalties when a drilling unit is forced-pooled or who asserts or possesses a claim to funds that are held in escrow, for a force-pooled coalbed methane gas well, or in suspense, for a voluntarily pooled coalbed methane gas well, by virtue of owning an interest in the gas estate contained within the drilling unit subject to the pooling order or agreement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gas or oil operations: means any (i) activity relating to drilling, redrilling, deepening, stimulating, production, enhanced recovery, converting from one type of a well to another, combining or physically changing to allow the migration of fluid from one formation to another, or plugging or replugging any well; (ii) ground-disturbing activity relating to the development, construction, operation, or abandonment of a gathering pipeline; (iii) development, operation, maintenance, or restoration of any site involved with gas or oil operations; or (iv) work undertaken at a facility used for gas or oil operations. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gas or oil operator: means any person who operates or has been designated to operate any gas or oil well or gathering pipeline. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gas or oil owner: means any person who owns, leases, has an interest in, or has the right to explore for, drill, or operate a gas or oil well as principal or lessee. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gathering pipeline: means a pipeline that is used or intended for use in the transportation of gas or oil from the well to (i) a transmission pipeline regulated by the U. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• geophysical operation: means any activity in search of gas or oil that breaks or disturbs the surface of the earth, including road construction or core drilling. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Geophysical operator: means a person who has the right to explore for gas or oil using ground-disturbing geophysical exploration. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Gob: means the de-stressed zone associated with any full-seam extraction of coal that extends above and below the mined-out coal seam. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Ground-disturbing: means any changing of land that could result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state waters, including clearing, grading, excavating, drilling, and transporting and filling of land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Hampton Roads region: means the same as that term is defined in § 22. See Virginia Code 45.2-1800
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Incumbent local exchange telephone company: means a public service corporation that was providing local exchange telephone service prior to January 1, 1996, or a successor entity to such a public service corporation. See Virginia Code 56-54.2
• Incumbent territory: means the area in which an incumbent local exchange telephone company was providing local exchange telephone service prior to July 1, 2002, except as its incumbent certificate may have been amended by the Commission after that date pursuant to subdivision B 1 of § 56-265. See Virginia Code 56-54.2
• 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}
• 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.
• Injection well: means any well used to inject or otherwise place any substance associated with gas or oil operations into the earth or underground strata for disposal, storage, or enhanced recovery. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inspector: means the Virginia Gas and Oil Inspector appointed by the Director pursuant to § 45. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Insurance fraud: means any commission or attempted commission of the criminal acts and practices defined in § 18. See Virginia Code 52-36
• Insurance policy: means a contract or other written instrument between an insured and insurer setting forth the obligations and responsibilities of each party. See Virginia Code 52-36
• Insurance professional: means adjusters, agents, managing general agents, surplus lines brokers, reinsurance intermediaries, insurance consultants, brokers, and attorneys-in-fact. See Virginia Code 52-36
• Insured: means any person covered by an insurance policy. See Virginia Code 52-36
• Insurer: means any person subject to regulation pursuant to Title 38. See Virginia Code 52-36
• Internet: means the international computer network of interoperable packet-switched data networks. See Virginia Code 17.1-292
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Intoxicated: means a condition in which a person has drunk enough alcoholic beverages to observably affect his manner, disposition, speech, muscular movement, general appearance, or behavior. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• 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.
• Land records: means any writing authorized by law to be recorded on paper or in electronic format that the clerk records affecting title to real property, including but not limited to instruments, orders, or any other writings recorded under this title, Article 5 (§ 8. See Virginia Code 17.1-292
• Law-enforcement agency: means a law-enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the search for a suspect in a case involving the death or serious injury of a law-enforcement officer or an agency employing a law-enforcement officer who is missing in the line of duty. See Virginia Code 52-34.7
• Law-enforcement officer: means any full-time or part-time employee of the Department of State Police or a police department or sheriff's office that is a part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, and any campus police officer appointed under Article 3 (§ 23. See Virginia Code 52-34.7
• 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}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Legal tender: coins, dollar bills, or other currency issued by a government as official money. ^{Source: U.S. Mint}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensed: means the holding of a valid license granted by the Authority. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Licensee: means any person to whom a license has been granted by the Authority. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local correctional facility: means any jail, jail farm or other place used for the detention or incarceration of adult offenders, excluding a lock-up, which is owned, maintained, or operated by any political subdivision or combination of political subdivisions of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 53.1-1
• Local exchange telephone service: means telephone service provided in a geographical area established for the administration of communication services and consists of one or more central offices together with associated facilities which are used in providing local exchange service. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Log: includes electrical survey records or electrical survey logs. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Mail: includes electronic mail and other forms of electronic communication when the customer has requested or authorized electronic bill delivery or other electronic communications. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Maintenance savings: means the operating expenses eliminated and future capital replacement expenditures avoided as a result of new equipment installed or services performed by the performance contractor. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• map: means a map, drawing, or print showing the location of a well, mine, or quarry, or other information required under this chapter. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Markup: The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
• Media: means print, radio, television, and Internet-based communication systems or other methods of communicating information to the public. See Virginia Code 52-34.1
• Media: means print, radio, television, and Internet-based communication systems or other methods of communicating information to the public. See Virginia Code 52-34.4
• Media: means print, radio, television, and Internet-based communication systems or other methods of communicating information to the public. See Virginia Code 52-34.10
• Media: means print, radio, television, and Internet-based communication systems or other methods of communicating information to the public. See Virginia Code 52-34.13
• Mine: includes all of the land or property of the mining plant, including both the surface and subsurface, that is used in or contributes directly or indirectly to the mining, concentration, or handling of the mineral resources, including all roads. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Mineral: means the same as that term is defined in § 45. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Mineral owner: means any person who owns minerals, leases minerals, mines and produces minerals, or has the right to mine and produce minerals and to appropriate such minerals that he produces from it, either for himself or for himself and others. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Missing person with autism: means any person (i) whose whereabouts are unknown; (ii) who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as defined in § 38. See Virginia Code 52-34.13
• Missing Person with Autism Alert: means the notice of a missing person with autism provided to the public by the media or other methods under a Missing Person with Autism Alert Agreement. See Virginia Code 52-34.13
• Missing Person with Autism Alert Agreement: means a voluntary agreement between law-enforcement officials and members of the media whereby a person with autism will be declared missing, and the public will be notified by media outlets, and includes all other incidental conditions of the partnership as found appropriate by the Virginia State Police. See Virginia Code 52-34.13
• Missing senior adult: means an adult whose whereabouts are unknown and who is over 60 years of age and suffers a cognitive impairment to the extent that he is unable to provide care to himself without assistance from a caregiver, including a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease or dementia, and whose disappearance poses a credible threat as determined by a law-enforcement agency to the health and safety of the adult and under such other circumstances as deemed appropriate by the Virginia State Police. See Virginia Code 52-34.4
• Mistrial: An invalid trial, caused by fundamental error. When a mistrial is declared, the trial must start again from the selection of the jury.
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• municipal corporation: shall include an authority created by a governmental unit exempt from the referendum requirement of § 15. See Virginia Code 56-1
• natural gas: means all natural gas, whether hydrocarbon, nonhydrocarbon, or any combination or mixture thereof, including hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulfide, helium, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, casing head gas, and all other fluids not defined as oil pursuant to this section. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Nonparticipating operator: means a gas or oil owner of a tract that is included in a drilling unit who elects to share in the operation of the well on a carried basis by agreeing to have his proportionate share of the costs allocable to his interest charged against his share of production from the well. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Nonprofit collaborative: means a multi-site nonprofit innovative energy technology testbed established as a collaborative effort of the Department of Energy, the Authority, and the Authority's business partners to support the Authority's purpose through energy technology research, development, commercialization, and deployment. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Notary: means notary public. See Virginia Code 1-226
• 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.
• Offshore wind energy project: means a wind-powered electric energy facility, including tower, turbine, and associated equipment, located off the coast of the Commonwealth beyond the Commonwealth's three-mile jurisdictional limit, and includes interests in land, improvements, and ancillary facilities. See Virginia Code 45.2-1803
• Oil: means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and are not the result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Operational expenses: means expenses of the clerk of court used to maintain the clerk's office and includes, but is not limited to, (i) computer support, maintenance, enhancements, upgrades, and replacements and office automation and information technology equipment, including software and conversion services; (ii) preserving, maintaining, and enhancing court records, including, but not limited to, the costs of repairs, maintenance, consulting services, service contracts, redaction of social security numbers from certain records, and system replacements or upgrades; and (iii) improving public access to records maintained by the clerk, including locating technology in an offsite facility for such purposes or for implementation of a disaster recovery plan. See Virginia Code 17.1-295
• Orphaned well: means any well abandoned prior to July 1, 1950, or for which no records exist concerning its drilling, plugging, or abandonment. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Participating dealer: means a dealer who is participating in the Program. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Participating operator: means a gas or oil owner who elects to (i) bear a share of the risks and costs of drilling, completing, equipping, operating, plugging, and abandoning a well on a drilling unit and (ii) receive a share of production from the well equal to the proportion that the acreage in the drilling unit he owns or holds under lease bears to the total acreage of the drilling unit. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• 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.
• Performance guarantee bond: means the performance bond provided by the energy performance contractor for each year of the energy program in an amount equal to, but no greater than, the guaranteed measured and verifiable annual savings set forth in the program. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• Permittee: means any gas, oil, or geophysical operator holding a permit for gas, oil, or geophysical operations issued under authority of this chapter. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Person: shall include individuals, a trust, an estate, a partnership, an association, an order, a corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity;

  6. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

• Person: includes individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations. See Virginia Code 56-1
• 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 under a disability: means the same as that term is defined in § 8. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• 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
• Pipeline: means any pipe above or below the ground used or to be used to transport gas or oil. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plan: means the Virginia Energy Plan prepared pursuant to Article 4 (§ 45. See Virginia Code 45.2-1700
• Pool: means an underground accumulation of gas or oil in a single and separate natural reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• 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.
• 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.
• Principal stockholder: means any person who individually or in concert with his spouse and immediate family members beneficially owns or controls, directly or indirectly, five percent or more of the equity ownership of any person that is a licensee of the Authority, or who in concert with his spouse and immediate family members has the power to vote or cause the vote of five percent or more of any such equity ownership. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• prison facility: means any institution operated by or under authority of the Department and shall include, whether obtained by purchase, lease, construction, reconstruction, restoration, improvement, alteration, repair or other means, any physical betterment or improvement related to the housing of inmates or any preliminary plans, studies or surveys relative thereto; land or rights to land; and any furnishings, machines, vehicles, apparatus, or equipment for use in connection with any prison facility. See Virginia Code 53.1-261
• 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.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Program: means the procedures and Amber Agreements to aid in the identification and location of abducted children. See Virginia Code 52-34.1
• Program: means the procedures and Senior Alert Agreements to aid in the identification and location of a missing senior adult. See Virginia Code 52-34.4
• Program: means the procedures and Missing Person with Autism Alert Agreements to aid in the identification and location of a missing person with autism. See Virginia Code 52-34.13
• Program: means the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program established pursuant to this article. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public access: means that the clerk of the circuit court has made available to subscribers that are other than governmental agencies, secure remote access to records maintained by the clerk in accordance with § 17. See Virginia Code 17.1-295
• 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 law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• public service company: when used in this chapter shall mean every person, firm, corporation or association, or their lessees, trustees or receivers, other than a municipal corporation, now or hereafter engaged in business in this Commonwealth as a public utility and subject to regulation as to rates and service by the State Corporation Commission under the provisions of Chapter 10 (§ 56-232 et seq. See Virginia Code 56-55
• public service company: when used in this chapter shall mean every person, firm, corporation or association, or their lessees, trustees or receivers, other than a municipal corporation, now or hereafter engaged in business in this Commonwealth as a public utility and subject to regulation as to rates and service by the State Corporation Commission under the provisions of Chapter 10 (§ 56-232 et seq. See Virginia Code 56-76
• public service company: includes gas, pipeline, electric light, heat, power and water supply companies, sewer companies, telephone companies, and all persons authorized to transport passengers or property as a common carrier. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Purchase: means the purchase or lease of a new or used electric motor vehicle. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Rate: means rate charged for any service rendered or to be rendered. See Virginia Code 56-1
• 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.
• regulation: include joint rates, joint charges and joint regulations, respectively. See Virginia Code 56-1
• 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.
• 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).
• Residence: means any building or part of a building or structure where a person resides, but does not include any part of a building that is not actually and exclusively used as a private residence, nor any part of a hotel or club other than a private guest room thereof. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Restoration: means all activity required to return a permitted site to other use after gas, oil, or geophysical operations have ended, as approved in the operations plan for the permitted site. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Royalty owner: means any owner of gas or oil in place, or owner of gas or oil rights, who is eligible to receive payment based on the production of gas or oil. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Secure remote access to court records: means public access by electronic means on a network or system to court records maintained by the clerk of the circuit court or the clerk's designated application service providers, in compliance with this title, the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, and the secure remote access standards developed by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. See Virginia Code 17.1-295
• Secure remote access to land records: means public access by electronic means on a network or system to land records maintained by the clerk of the circuit court or the clerk's designated application service providers, in compliance with the Secure Remote Access Standards developed by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. See Virginia Code 17.1-295
• Senior alert: means the notice of a missing senior adult provided to the public by the media or other methods under a Senior Alert Agreement. See Virginia Code 52-34.4
• Senior Alert Agreement: means a voluntary agreement between law-enforcement officials and members of the media whereby a senior adult will be declared missing, and the public will be notified by media outlets, and includes all other incidental conditions of the partnership as found appropriate by the Virginia State Police. See Virginia Code 52-34.4
• 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.
• Solar energy project: means an electric generation facility located within the Commonwealth and includes interests in land, improvements, and ancillary facilities. See Virginia Code 45.2-1901
• Southwest Virginia: means the region of the Commonwealth designated as Southwest Virginia in § 22. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Special agent: means an employee of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority whom the Board has designated as a law-enforcement officer pursuant to § 4. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Spirits: means any beverage that contains alcohol obtained by distillation mixed with drinkable water and other substances, in solution, and includes, among other things, brandy, rum, whiskey, and gin, or any one or more of the last four named ingredients, but shall not include any such liquors completely denatured in accordance with formulas approved by the United States government. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 1-206
• State Board: means the State Board of Local and Regional Jails. See Virginia Code 53.1-1
• State correctional facility: means any correctional center or correctional field unit used for the incarceration of adult offenders established and operated by the Department of Corrections, or operated under contract pursuant to § 53. See Virginia Code 53.1-1
• State waters: means all water, on the surface and under the ground, that is wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction and that affects the public welfare. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Stimulation: means any action taken by a gas or oil operator to increase the inherent productivity of a gas or oil well, including fracturing, shooting, or acidizing, but excluding (i) cleaning out, bailing, or workover operations and (ii) the use of surface-tension reducing agents, emulsion breakers, paraffin solvents, or other agents that affect the gas or oil being produced, as distinguished from the producing formation. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Storage well: means any well used for the underground storage of gas. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Subscriber: means any person who has entered into a subscriber agreement with the clerk of the circuit court authorizing the subscriber to have secure remote access to land records or secure remote access to court records maintained by the clerk or the clerk's designated application service providers. See Virginia Code 17.1-295
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Superintendent: means the Superintendent of State Police. See Virginia Code 52-53
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• Surface owner: means any person who is the owner of record of the surface of the land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• 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.
• 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
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• 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
• Used electric motor vehicle: means a previously owned or leased electric motor vehicle that is more than two years old and not more than seven years old. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Water well: means any well drilled, bored, or dug into the earth for the sole purpose of extracting from it potable, fresh, or usable water for household, domestic, industrial, agricultural, or public use. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Well: means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored, or dug into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction, injection, or placement of any gaseous or liquid substance or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction, injection, or placement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Wine: includes any wine to which wine spirits have been added, as provided in the Internal Revenue Code, to make products commonly known as "fortified wine" which do not exceed an alcohol content of 21 percent by volume. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.