Terms Used In Oregon Statutes > Chapter 28 > Declaratory Judgments

• Adjournment sine die: The end of a legislative session "without day." These adjournments are used to indicate the final adjournment of an annual or the two-year session of legislature.
• 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.
• 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.
• association: means an association, group or agency composed of owners of forestlands, organized for the purpose of protecting such forestlands from fire. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• 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.
• 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}
• Board: means the State Board of Forestry. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• City: includes any incorporated village or town. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• clearing: means any grassland, improved area, lake, meadow, mechanically or manually cleared area, road, rocky area, stream or other similar forestland opening that is surrounded by or contiguous to forestland and that has been included in areas classified as forestland under ORS § 526. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• County court: includes board of county commissioners. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the State Forestry Department. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• District: means a forest protection district organized under ORS § 477. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• 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}
• Every reasonable effort: means the use of the reasonably available personnel and equipment under the supervision and control of an owner or operator, which are needed and effective to fight the fire in the judgment of the forester and which can be brought to bear on the fire in a timely fashion. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• 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.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fire protection equipment: means any apparatus, machinery or appliance intended for use by a fire service unit in fire prevention or suppression activities, excepting forest fire protection equipment. See Oregon Statutes 476.005
• Fire season: means a period designated pursuant to ORS § 477. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• 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.
• Fiscal year: means the period beginning on July 1 of any year and ending on June 30 of the next year. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• 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}
• Forest patrol assessment: means the costs levied and assessed under ORS § 477. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• Forester: means the State Forester or authorized representative. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• Forestland: means any woodland, brushland, timberland, grazing land or clearing that, during any time of the year, contains enough forest growth, slashing or vegetation to constitute, in the judgment of the forester, a fire hazard, regardless of how the land is zoned or taxed. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governmental subdivisions: means a city, county or rural fire protection district in this state whose functions include regulation of building use and occupancy and the administration of fire safety laws, ordinances and regulations. See Oregon Statutes 476.005
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• local government: means all cities, counties and local service districts located in this state, and all administrative subdivisions of those cities, counties and local service districts. See Oregon Statutes 174.116
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Open fire: means any outdoor fire that occurs in such a manner that combustion air is not effectively controlled and combustion products are not effectively vented through a stack or chimney. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• Operation: means any industrial activity, any development or any improvement on forestland inside or within one-eighth of one mile of a forest protection district, including but not limited to the harvesting of forest tree species, the clearing of land, the use of power-driven machinery and the use of fire, excluding, however, the culture and harvesting of agricultural crops. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• Operation area: means the area on which an operation is being conducted and the area on which operation activity may have resulted in the ignition of a fire. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• Operator: means any person who, either personally or through employees, agents, representatives or contractors, is carrying on or has carried on any operation. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• Owner: means an individual, a combination of individuals, a partnership, a corporation, the State of Oregon or a political subdivision thereof, or an association of any nature that holds an ownership interest in land. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• 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.
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• public notice: means any legal publication which requires an affidavit of publication as required in ORS § 193. See Oregon Statutes 174.104
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• Slashing: means the forest debris or refuse on any forestland resulting from the cutting, killing, pruning, severing or removal of brush, trees or other forest growth. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• State Forester: means the person appointed State Forester pursuant to ORS § 526. See Oregon Statutes 477.001
• State Treasury: includes those financial assets the lawful custody of which are vested in the State Treasurer and the office of the State Treasurer relating to the custody of those financial assets. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• Violate: includes failure to comply. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Warden: means a fire warden appointed under ORS § 477. See Oregon Statutes 477.001