Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 51.5 > Chapter 9 - Rights of Persons with Disabilities

• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• 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
• City: means both cities and counties, and city-specific terms such as "mayor" shall be deemed to also include the equivalent county term. See Virginia Code 15.2-5301
• 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.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• 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}
• Federal government: means the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America. See Virginia Code 15.2-5301
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Government: means the Commonwealth and the federal government and any subdivision, agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of either of them. See Virginia Code 15.2-5301
• Hearing dog: means a dog trained to alert its owner by touch to sounds of danger and sounds to which the owner should respond. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• hospital authority: means a body corporate organized in accordance with the provisions of this chapter for the purposes, with the powers and subject to the restrictions hereinafter set forth. See Virginia Code 15.2-5301
• 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: 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}
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Mental impairment: means (i) a disability attributable to intellectual disability, autism, or any other neurological disability closely related to intellectual disability and requiring treatment similar to that required by individuals with intellectual disability or (ii) an organic or mental impairment that has substantial adverse effects on an individual's cognitive or volitional functions, including central nervous system disorders or significant discrepancies among mental functions of an individual. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Otherwise disabled person: means any person who has a physical, sensory, intellectual, developmental, or mental disability or a mental illness. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• 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 with a disability: means any person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his major life activities or who has a record of such impairment. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Place of public accommodation: means a facility that a private entity owns, leases or leases to, or operates and whose operations affect commerce. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Private entity: means any entity other than a public entity. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• project: means any and all medical facilities and approaches thereto and appurtenances thereof. See Virginia Code 15.2-5301
• Public entity: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1

• Public facilities: means (i) airports, landing fields, and air navigation facilities; (ii) educational facilities; (iii) flood control, bank and shore protection, watershed protection, and dams; (iv) hospital facilities; (v) judicial and court facilities; (vi) correctional facilities, including jails and penitentiaries; (vii) library facilities; (viii) military installations; (ix) parks so designated by the Commonwealth or by the locality in its comprehensive plan; (x) properties of historical significance so designated by the Commonwealth; (xi) law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and rescue facilities; (xii) sanitary sewer, water or stormwater facilities; (xiii) transportation facilities including highways, roads, streets, and bridges, traffic signals, related easements and rights-of-way, mass transit, ports, and any components of federal, state, or local transportation facilities; (xiv) waste management facilities for hazardous, radioactive, or other waste; (xv) office facilities occupied by a public corporation; and (xvi) such other facilities that are necessary to the construction, maintenance, or operation of a public facility as listed in clauses (i) through (xv) and directly related thereto. See Virginia Code 1-219.1
• Readily achievable: means easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• 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.
• 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.
• Service dog: means a dog trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a mobility-impaired or otherwise disabled person. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• 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 § Virginia Code 1-206
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Three-unit service dog team: means a team consisting of a trained service dog, a person with a disability, and a person who is an adult and who has been trained to handle the service dog. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• 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
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.