Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 2-27 - Forest Conservation Act

• Accused: means a person accused of a sexual assault. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• 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.
• 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.
• Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Child Safe Zone: means the following entities:

  (i)  Any private, municipal, county, or state fair or carnival;

  (ii)  Any children's arcade, amusement center having coin-or token-operated devices for entertainment, movie theatre, or facilities providing programs or services intended primarily for minors;

  (iii)  A public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school, child care facility, or public library:

  (iv)  Any place intended primarily for use by minors including, but not limited to, a playground, a children's play area, recreational or sport-related activity area, a swimming or wading pool, or a beach; and

  (v)  Any healthcare facility intended primarily for minors. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37.3-1

• commission: means the commission established pursuant to § 2-27-3. See Rhode Island General Laws 2-27-2
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of environmental management. See Rhode Island General Laws 2-27-2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Director: means the director of the department of environmental management, unless otherwise specified. See Rhode Island General Laws 2-27-2
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Employee: means an individual hired directly by the entity; a contractual employee of the entity; an individual hired by a third party who has contracted with the entity; an independent contractor of the entity; or a volunteer of the entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37.3-1
• 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.
• Force or coercion: means when the accused does any of the following:

  (i)  Uses or threatens to use a weapon, or any article used or fashioned in a manner to lead the victim to reasonably believe it to be a weapon. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1

• Forest land: means any tract or contiguous tracts of land, ten (10) acres or larger bearing a dense growth of trees, including any underbrush, and having either the quality of self-perpetuation, or being dependent upon its development by the planting and replanting of trees in stands of closely growing timber. See Rhode Island General Laws 2-27-2
• Fund: means the forest land conservation fund established pursuant to § 2-27-6. See Rhode Island General Laws 2-27-2
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• 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.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intimate parts: means the genital or anal areas, groin, inner thigh, or buttock of any person or the breast of a female. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Mentally disabled: means a person who has a mental impairment which renders that person incapable of appraising the nature of the act. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
• Mentally incapacitated: means a person who is rendered temporarily incapable of appraising or controlling his or her conduct due to the influence of a narcotic, anesthetic, or other substance administered to that person without his or her consent, or who is mentally unable to communicate unwillingness to engage in the act. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
• Minor: means a person under the age of eighteen (18) years old. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37.3-1
• 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.
• oath: includes affirmation; the word "sworn" includes affirmed; and the word "engaged" includes either sworn or affirmed. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-11
• 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.
• Offender: means a person who is, or is required to be, registered as a sex offender in this state or any other jurisdiction and whose victim was a minor. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37.3-1
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Physically helpless: means a person who is unconscious, asleep, or for any other reason is physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an act. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• 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.
• 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.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Sequester: To separate. Sometimes juries are sequestered from outside influences during their deliberations.
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Sexual contact: means the intentional touching of the victim's or accused's intimate parts, clothed or unclothed, if that intentional touching can be reasonably construed as intended by the accused to be for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification, or assault. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
• Sexual penetration: means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, and anal intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight, by any part of a person's body or by any object into the genital or anal openings of another person's body, or the victim's own body upon the accused's instruction, but emission of semen is not required. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
• Spouse: means a person married to the accused at the time of the alleged sexual assault, except that such persons shall not be considered the spouse if the couple are living apart and a decision for divorce has been granted, whether or not a final decree has been entered. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8
• Victim: means the person alleging to have been subjected to sexual assault. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1