Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 54.1 > Subtitle II > Chapter 22 > Article 2 - Soil Scientists and Wetland Professionals.

• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• Board: means the Board for Professional Soil Scientists, Wetland Professionals, and Geologists. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• 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 Professional and Occupational Regulation. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Geology: means the science encompassing those principles and methods related to (i) the earth and its history in general; (ii) the investigation, prediction, evaluation, and location of materials and structures that compose the earth; (iii) the natural processes that cause changes in the earth; and (iv) the application of knowledge of the earth, its processes, and its constituent rocks, minerals, liquids, gases, and other natural materials. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• 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 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
• 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
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Practice of soil evaluation: means the evaluation of soil by accepted principles and methods including, observation, investigation, and consultation on measured, observed, and inferred soils and their properties; analysis of the effects of these properties on the use and management of various kinds of soil; and preparation of soil descriptions, maps, reports, and interpretive drawings. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Practice of wetland delineation: means the delineation of wetlands by accepted principles and methods including, observation, investigation, and consultation on soil, vegetation, and hydrologic parameters; and preparation of wetland delineations, descriptions, reports, and interpretive drawings. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Sheriff: shall include deputy sheriffs and such other persons designated in § Virginia Code 8.01-2
• Soil: means the groups of natural bodies occupying the unconsolidated portion of the earth's surface which are capable of supporting plant life and have properties caused by the combined effects, as modified by topography and time, of climate and living organisms upon parent materials. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Soil evaluation: means plotting soil boundaries, describing and evaluating the kinds of soil, and predicting their suitability for and response to various uses. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Soil science: means the science dealing with the physical, chemical, mineralogical, and biological properties of soils as natural bodies. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Soil scientist: means a person having special knowledge of soil science and the methods and principles of soil evaluation as acquired by education and experience in the formation, description, and mapping of soils. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• 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
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• 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: 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
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Virginia certified professional wetland delineator: means a person who possesses the qualifications required for certification by the provisions of this chapter and the regulations of the Board and who is granted certification by the Board. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Wetland delineation: means delineating wetland limits in accordance with prevailing state and federal regulatory guidance and describing wetland types. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Wetland professional: means a person having special knowledge of wetland science and the methods and principles of wetland delineation as acquired by education and experience in the formation, description, and mapping of wetlands. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Wetland science: means the science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological properties of wetland systems integrated through ecological and morphological relationships. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Wetlands: means the same as that term is defined in §§ Virginia Code 54.1-2200