Terms Used In U.S. Code > Title 20 > Chapter 3 - Smithsonian Institution, National Museums and Art Galleries

• additional services: means &mdash. See 47 USC 769
• 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.
• Administration: means the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. See 47 USC 702
• advanced automobile propulsion system: means an energy conversion system, including engine and drive train, which utilizes advanced technology and is suitable for use in an advanced automobile. See 15 USC 2702
• advanced communications services: means &mdash. See 47 USC 153
• 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.
• affiliate: means a person that (directly or indirectly) owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with, another person. See 47 USC 153
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• amateur station: means a radio station operated by a duly authorized person interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest. See 47 USC 153
• analog television service: means television service provided pursuant to the transmission standards prescribed by the Commission in section 73. See 47 USC 153
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• association: when used in reference to a corporation, shall be deemed to embrace the words "successors and assigns of such company or association" in like manner as if these last-named words, or words of similar import, were expressed. See 1 USC 5
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Balanced budget: A budget in which receipts equal outlays.
• 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.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the Climate Program Policy Board. See 15 USC 2903
• Board of Regents: means the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. See 20 USC 80q-14
• Board of Trustees: means the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian. See 20 USC 80q-14
• broadcasting: means the dissemination of radio communications intended to be received by the public, directly or by the intermediary of relay stations. See 47 USC 153
• burial site: means a natural or prepared physical location, whether below, on, or above the surface of the earth, into which, as a part of a death rite or ceremony of a culture, individual human remains are deposited. See 20 USC 80q-14
• cable service: has the meaning given such term in section 522 of this title. See 47 USC 153
• cable system: has the meaning given such term in section 522 of this title. See 47 USC 153
• carrier: means any person engaged as a common carrier for hire, in interstate or foreign communication by wire or radio or interstate or foreign radio transmission of energy, except where reference is made to common carriers not subject to this chapter. See 47 USC 153
• Caucus: From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of members of the legislature that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
• 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.
• Civil forfeiture: The loss of ownership of property used to conduct illegal activity.
• Commission: means the Federal Communications Commission. See 47 USC 769
• Committee: means the Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences established under section 2932 of this title. See 15 USC 2921
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• communication by wire: means the transmission of writing, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds of all kinds by aid of wire, cable, or other like connection between the points of origin and reception of such transmission, including all instrumentalities, facilities, apparatus, and services (among other things, the receipt, forwarding, and delivery of communications) incidental to such transmission. See 47 USC 153
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Comptroller General: means the Comptroller General of the United States. See 31 USC 7501
• COMSAT: means the corporation established pursuant to subchapter III of this chapter, or the successor in interest to such corporation. See 47 USC 769
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• corporation: includes any corporation, joint-stock company, or association. See 47 USC 153
• corporation: means the corporation authorized by subchapter III of this chapter. See 47 USC 702
• Council: means the Federal Coordinating Council on Science, Engineering, and Technology. See 15 USC 2921
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• county: includes a parish, or any other equivalent subdivision of a State or Territory of the United States. See 1 USC 2
• customer premises equipment: means equipment employed on the premises of a person (other than a carrier) to originate, route, or terminate telecommunications. See 47 USC 153
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• dialing parity: means that a person that is not an affiliate of a local exchange carrier is able to provide telecommunications services in such a manner that customers have the ability to route automatically, without the use of any access code, their telecommunications to the telecommunications services provider of the customer's designation from among 2 or more telecommunications services providers (including such local exchange carrier). See 47 USC 153
• digital television service: means television service provided pursuant to the transmission standards prescribed by the Commission in section 73. See 47 USC 153
• Director: means the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. See 31 USC 6201
• Director: means the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. See 31 USC 7501
• disability: has the meaning given such term under section 12102 of title 42. See 47 USC 153
• 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:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• exchange access: means the offering of access to telephone exchange services or facilities for the purpose of the origination or termination of telephone toll services. See 47 USC 153
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Federal awards: means Federal financial assistance and Federal cost-reimbursement contracts that non-Federal entities receive directly from Federal awarding agencies or indirectly from pass-through entities. See 31 USC 7501
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Federal financial assistance: means assistance that non-Federal entities receive or administer in the form of grants, loans, loan guarantees, property, cooperative agreements, interest subsidies, insurance, food commodities, direct appropriations, or other assistance, but does not include amounts received as reimbursement for services rendered to individuals in accordance with guidance issued by the Director. See 31 USC 7501
• Federal program: means all Federal awards to a non-Federal entity assigned a single number in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance or encompassed in a group of numbers or other category as defined by the Director. See 31 USC 7501
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• fuel: means any energy source capable of propelling an automobile. See 15 USC 2702
• fuel economy: refers to the average distance traveled in representative driving conditions by an automobile per unit of fuel consumed, as determined by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with test procedures which shall be established by rule and shall require that fuel economy tests be conducted in conjunction with the exhaust emissions tests mandated by section 7525 of title 42. See 15 USC 2702
• funerary object: means an object that, as part of a death rite or ceremony of a culture, is intentionally placed with individual human remains, either at the time of burial or later. See 20 USC 80q-14
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• generally accepted government auditing standards: means the government auditing standards issued by the Comptroller General. See 31 USC 7501
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• global change: means changes in the global environment (including alterations in climate, land productivity, oceans or other water resources, atmospheric chemistry, and ecological systems) that may alter the capacity of the Earth to sustain life. See 15 USC 2921
• global change research: means study, monitoring, assessment, prediction, and information management activities to describe and understand&mdash. See 15 USC 2921
• GMDSS: means the automated ship-to-shore distress alerting system which uses satellite and advanced terrestrial systems for international distress communications and promoting maritime safety in general. See 47 USC 769
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Headquarters Agreement: means the International Telecommunication ¹ Satellite Organization Headquarters Agreement (November 24, 1976) (TIAS 8542, 28 UST 2248). See 47 USC 769
• Heye Museum: means the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. See 20 USC 80q-14
• ICO: means the company known, as of March 17, 2000, as ICO Global Communications, Inc. See 47 USC 769
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• independent auditor: means &mdash. See 31 USC 7501
• Indian: means a member of an Indian tribe. See 20 USC 80q-14
• Indian tribe: means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaskan Native village or regional or village corporation (as defined in, or established under, the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act) that is recognized by the United States as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians. See 31 USC 7501
• Indian tribe: has the meaning given that term in section 5304 of title 25. See 20 USC 80q-14
• information service: means the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications, and includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use of any such capability for the management, control, or operation of a telecommunications system or the management of a telecommunications service. See 47 USC 153
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inmarsat: means the International Mobile Satellite Organization established pursuant to the Convention on the International Maritime Organization. See 47 USC 769
• Inmarsat Convention: means the Convention on the International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat) (TIAS 9605, 31 UST 1). See 47 USC 769
• INTELSAT: means the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization established pursuant to the Agreement Relating to the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT). See 47 USC 769
• INTELSAT Agreement: means the Agreement Relating to the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization ("INTELSAT"), including all its annexes (TIAS 7532, 23 UST 3813). See 47 USC 769
• interconnected VoIP service: has the meaning given such term under Section 9. See 47 USC 153
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• interLATA service: means telecommunications between a point located in a local access and transport area and a point located outside such area. See 47 USC 153
• internal controls: means a process, effected by an entity's management and other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of objectives in the following categories:

  (A) Effectiveness and efficiency of operations. See 31 USC 7501

• International Telecommunication Union: means the intergovernmental organization that is a specialized agency of the United Nations in which member countries cooperate for the development of telecommunications, including adoption of international regulations governing terrestrial and space uses of the frequency spectrum as well as use of the geostationary satellite orbit. See 47 USC 769
• Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
• land station: means a station, other than a mobile station, used for radio communication with mobile stations. See 47 USC 153
• LATA: means a contiguous geographic area&mdash. See 47 USC 153
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• license: means that instrument of authorization required by this chapter or the rules and regulations of the Commission made pursuant to this chapter, for the use or operation of apparatus for transmission of energy, or communications, or signals by radio, by whatever name the instrument may be designated by the Commission. See 47 USC 153
• licensee: means the holder of a radio station license granted or continued in force under authority of this chapter. See 47 USC 153
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• local exchange carrier: means any person that is engaged in the provision of telephone exchange service or exchange access. See 47 USC 153
• local government: means any unit of local government within a State, including a county, borough, municipality, city, town, township, parish, local public authority, special district, school district, intrastate district, council of governments, any other instrumentality of local government and, in accordance with guidelines issued by the Director, a group of local governments. See 31 USC 7501
• Magistrate judges: Judicial officers who assist U.S. district judges in getting cases ready for trial, who may decide some criminal and civil trials when both parties agree to have the case heard by a magistrate judge instead of a judge.
• major program: means a Federal program identified in accordance with risk-based criteria prescribed by the Director under this chapter, subject to the limitations described under subsection (b). See 31 USC 7501
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
• mobile service: means a radio communication service carried on between mobile stations or receivers and land stations, and by mobile stations communicating among themselves, and includes (A) both one-way and two-way radio communication services, (B) a mobile service which provides a regularly interacting group of base, mobile, portable, and associated control and relay stations (whether licensed on an individual, cooperative, or multiple basis) for private one-way or two-way land mobile radio communications by eligible users over designated areas of operation, and (C) any service for which a license is required in a personal communications service established pursuant to the proceeding entitled "Amendment to the Commission's Rules to Establish New Personal Communications Services" (GEN Docket No. See 47 USC 153
• mobile station: means a radio-communication station capable of being moved and which ordinarily does move. See 47 USC 153
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• municipality: means any subcounty unit of general local government that received Federal assistance in the fiscal year that is the subject of the report. See 31 USC 6201
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• National Museum: means the National Museum of the American Indian established by section 80q-1 of this title. See 20 USC 80q-14
• national security agency: means the National Security Agency, the Director of Central Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Coast Guard. See 47 USC 769
• Native American: means an individual of a tribe, people, or culture that is indigenous to the Americas and such term includes a Native Hawaiian. See 20 USC 80q-14
• Native Hawaiian: means a member or descendant of the aboriginal people who, before 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that now comprises the State of Hawaii. See 20 USC 80q-14
• network element: means a facility or equipment used in the provision of a telecommunications service. See 47 USC 153
• non-core services: means , with respect to INTELSAT provision, services other than public-switched network voice telephony and occasional-use television, and with respect to Inmarsat provision, services other than global maritime distress and safety services or other existing maritime or aeronautical services for which there are not alternative providers. See 47 USC 769
• non-Federal entity: means a State, local government, or nonprofit organization. See 31 USC 7501
• nonprofit organization: means any corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization that&mdash. See 31 USC 7501
• number portability: means the ability of users of telecommunications services to retain, at the same location, existing telecommunications numbers without impairment of quality, reliability, or convenience when switching from one telecommunications carrier to another. See 47 USC 153
• Office: means the National Climate Program Office. See 15 USC 2903
• Operating Agreement: means &mdash. See 47 USC 769
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• own: means to own an equity interest (or the equivalent thereof) of more than 10 percent. See 47 USC 153
• 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.
• pass-through entity: means a non-Federal entity that provides Federal awards to a subrecipient to carry out a Federal program. See 31 USC 7501
• permit for construction: means that instrument of authorization required by this chapter or the rules and regulations of the Commission made pursuant to this chapter for the construction of a station, or the installation of apparatus, for the transmission of energy, or communications, or signals by radio, by whatever name the instrument may be designated by the Commission. See 47 USC 153
• person: includes an individual, partnership, association, joint-stock company, trust, or corporation. See 47 USC 153
• person: includes municipalities, electric cooperatives, industrial development agencies, nonprofit organizations, and Indian tribes, as well as the entities included within such term under section 1 of title 1. See 30 USC 1511
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plan: means the National Global Change Research Plan developed under section 2934 of this title, or any revision thereof. See 15 USC 2921
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• port: means any place to which ships may resort for shelter or to load or unload passengers or goods, or to obtain fuel, water, or supplies. See 47 USC 153
• 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}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Program: means the National Climate Program. See 15 USC 2903
• Program: means the United States Global Change Research Program established under section 2933 of this title. See 15 USC 2921
• program-specific audit: means an audit of one Federal program. See 31 USC 7501
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• radio broadcast station: means a radio station equipped to engage in broadcasting as herein defined. See 47 USC 153
• Ranking minority member: The highest ranking (and usually longest serving) minority member of a committee or subcommittee.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• recipient: means a non-Federal entity that receives awards directly from a Federal agency to carry out a Federal program. See 31 USC 7501
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• rural telephone company: means a local exchange carrier operating entity to the extent that such entity&mdash. See 47 USC 153
• safety convention: means the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea in force and the regulations referred to therein. See 47 USC 153
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Commerce. See 15 USC 2903
• separated entity: means a privatized entity to whom a portion of the assets owned by INTELSAT or Inmarsat are transferred prior to full privatization of INTELSAT or Inmarsat, including in particular the entity whose structure was under discussion by INTELSAT as of March 25, 1998, but excluding ICO. See 47 USC 769
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• single audit: means an audit, as described under section 7502(d), of a non-Federal entity that includes the entity's financial statements and Federal awards. See 31 USC 7501
• space segment: means the satellites, and the tracking, telemetry, command, control, monitoring and related facilities and equipment used to support the operation of satellites owned or leased by INTELSAT, Inmarsat, or a separated entity or successor entity. See 47 USC 769
• State: means any State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 15 USC 2702
• State: means any State, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. See 31 USC 6201
• State: means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, any instrumentality thereof, any multi-State, regional, or interstate entity which has governmental functions, and any Indian tribe. See 31 USC 7501
• State: includes the District of Columbia and the Territories and possessions. See 47 USC 153
• State commission: means the commission, board, or official (by whatever name designated) which under the laws of any State has regulatory jurisdiction with respect to intrastate operations of carriers. See 47 USC 153
• station: means a station equipped to engage in radio communication or radio transmission of energy. See 47 USC 153
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• subrecipient: means a non-Federal entity that receives Federal awards through another non-Federal entity to carry out a Federal program, but does not include an individual who receives financial assistance through such awards. See 31 USC 7501
• subscription: includes a mark when the person making the same intended it as such. See 1 USC 1
• telecommunication: means any transmission, emission or reception of signs, signals, writings, images, and sounds or intelligence of any nature by wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. See 47 USC 702
• telecommunications: means the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user's choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received. See 47 USC 153
• telecommunications carrier: means any provider of telecommunications services, except that such term does not include aggregators of telecommunications services (as defined in section 226 of this title). See 47 USC 153
• telecommunications equipment: means equipment, other than customer premises equipment, used by a carrier to provide telecommunications services, and includes software integral to such equipment (including upgrades). See 47 USC 153
• telecommunications service: means the offering of telecommunications for a fee directly to the public, or to such classes of users as to be effectively available directly to the public, regardless of the facilities used. See 47 USC 153
• telephone exchange service: means (A) service within a telephone exchange, or within a connected system of telephone exchanges within the same exchange area operated to furnish to subscribers intercommunicating service of the character ordinarily furnished by a single exchange, and which is covered by the exchange service charge, or (B) comparable service provided through a system of switches, transmission equipment, or other facilities (or combination thereof) by which a subscriber can originate and terminate a telecommunications service. See 47 USC 153
• telephone toll service: means telephone service between stations in different exchange areas for which there is made a separate charge not included in contracts with subscribers for exchange service. See 47 USC 153
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• 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: means the several States and Territories, the District of Columbia, and the possessions of the United States, but does not include the Canal Zone. See 47 USC 153
• Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• vehicle: includes every description of carriage or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on land. See 1 USC 4
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• vessel: includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance, except aircraft, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water, whether or not it is actually afloat. See 47 USC 153
• vessel: includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water. See 1 USC 3
• whoever: include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals. See 1 USC 1