Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 4-14 - Damage by Animals

• Adoptee: means a person who was born in this state and who has had an original birth certificate sealed due to an adoption. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Adoptee vital records file: means a file operated by the division of vital records that maintains adoptees' birth certificates, makes available the contact preference forms, and provides adoptees with non-certified copies of their birth certificates. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Adult adoptee: means an adoptee eighteen years of age or older. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• 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.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Apparently usable: means that a product meets all quality and labeling standards imposed by federal and state laws and regulations even if the product may not be readily marketable. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-4.14-1
• 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.
• 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.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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}
• 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.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consumer lease: means a lease that a lessor regularly engaged in the business of leasing or selling makes to a lessee who is an individual and who takes under the lease primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• Contact preference form: means the form prepared and maintained by the division that birth parent(s) of adoptees may file to express his or her preference regarding contact with the adoptee. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• 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.
• Dead body: means a lifeless human body or parts of a lifeless human body or its bones from the state of which it reasonably may be concluded that death recently occurred. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• 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 vital records as defined in this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Employer: means those individuals or corporations with employees who have the potential to be exposed to blood-borne pathogens through a needlestick or other contaminated sharps;

  (2)  "Engineering controls" means controls including sharps disposal containers, self-sheathing needles, safer medical devices such as sharps with engineered sharps injury protections and needleless systems that isolate or remove the blood-borne pathogen hazard from the workplace;

  (3)  "Exposure control plan" is a document, which shall be produced and reviewed and updated at least annually and whenever necessary to reflect new or modified tasks, and procedures, which affect occupational exposure and reflect employee positions concerning occupational exposure;

  (4)  "Needleless system" means a device that does not use needles for: (i) the collection of bodily fluids or withdrawal of body fluids after initial venous or arterial access is established; (ii) the administration of medication or fluids; or (iii) any other procedure involving the potential for occupational exposure to blood-borne pathogens due to percutaneous injuries from contaminated sharps;

  (5)  "Sharps with engineered sharps injury protections" means a non-needle sharps or a needle device used for withdrawing body fluids, accessing a vein or artery, or administering medications or other fluids with a built-in safety feature or mechanism that effectively reduces the risk of an exposure incident. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.11-1

• 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}
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Exposure control plan: is a document, which shall be produced and reviewed and updated at least annually and whenever necessary to reflect new or modified tasks, and procedures, which affect occupational exposure and reflect employee positions concerning occupational exposure;

  (4)  "Needleless system" means a device that does not use needles for: (i) the collection of bodily fluids or withdrawal of body fluids after initial venous or arterial access is established; (ii) the administration of medication or fluids; or (iii) any other procedure involving the potential for occupational exposure to blood-borne pathogens due to percutaneous injuries from contaminated sharps;

  (5)  "Sharps with engineered sharps injury protections" means a non-needle sharps or a needle device used for withdrawing body fluids, accessing a vein or artery, or administering medications or other fluids with a built-in safety feature or mechanism that effectively reduces the risk of an exposure incident. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.11-1

• Fetal death: means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy; the death is indicated by the fact that after the expulsion or extraction the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of the voluntary muscles. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Filing: means the presentation of a certificate, report, or other record provided for in this chapter, of a birth, death, fetal death, adoption, marriage, or divorce for registration by the division of vital records. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Final disposition: means the burial, interment, cremation, or other disposition of a dead body or fetus. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• 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.
• Goods: means all things that are movable at the time of identification to the lease contract, or are fixtures (§?6A-2. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• 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.
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• 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
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Institution: means any establishment, public or private, that provides in-patient medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment, or nursing, custodial or domiciliary care to two (2) or more unrelated individuals, or to which persons are committed by law. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• 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.
• Lease: means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a term in return for consideration, but a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or retention or creation of a security interest is not a lease. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• 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}
• Lease agreement: means the bargain, with respect to the lease, of the lessor and the lessee in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances including course of dealing or usage of trade or course of performance as provided in this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• Lease contract: means the total legal obligation that results from the lease agreement as affected by this chapter and any other applicable rules of law. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• Leasehold interest: means the interest of the lessor or the lessee under a lease contract. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• Legal representative: means an individual's attorney, personal representative, or conservator and includes a guardian appointed by the court to make decisions regarding the person of an adult. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Lessee: means a person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• Lessor: means a person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Lien: means a charge against or interest in goods to secure payment of a debt or performance of an obligation, but the term does not include a security interest. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Live birth: means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, that, after that expulsion or extraction, breathes or shows any other evidences of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of the voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Person: means an individual and does not mean an association of individuals or a legal entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-4.14-1
• Physician: means a person authorized or licensed to practice medicine pursuant to chapter 37 of Title 5. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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}
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Purchase: includes taking by sale, lease, mortgage, security interest, pledge, gift, or any other voluntary transaction creating an interest in goods. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: may be construed to include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and rights thereto and interests therein. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-10
• Registration: means the acceptance by the division of vital records and the incorporation in its official records of certificates, reports, or other records provided for in this chapter, or births, deaths, fetal deaths, adoptions, marriages, or divorces. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• 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.
• seal: shall be construed to include an impression of the seal made with or without the use of wax or wafer on the paper. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-15
• Signature: means the application of either a hand signature to a paper record or an electronic process approved by the state registrar of vital records. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• 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.
• Sublease: means a lease of goods the right to possession and use of which was acquired by the lessor as a lessee under an existing lease. See Rhode Island General Laws 6A-2.1-103
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• System of vital records: means the registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital statistics records, and activities related to them including the tabulation, analysis, and publication of statistical data derived from those records. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• 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
• 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
• Vital records: means records of birth, death, fetal death, marriage, divorce, and data related to those records. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.