Terms Used In U.S. Code > Title 29 > Chapter 18 > Subchapter III > Subtitle D - Liability

• 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.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• anadromous species: means species of fish which spawn in fresh or estuarine waters of the United States and which migrate to ocean waters. See 16 USC 1802
• 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.
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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
• 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.
• 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}
• bycatch: means fish which are harvested in a fishery, but which are not sold or kept for personal use, and includes economic discards and regulatory discards. See 16 USC 1802
• charter fishing: means fishing from a vessel carrying a passenger for hire (as defined in section 2101(30) of title 46) who is engaged in recreational fishing. See 16 USC 1802
• commercial fishing: means fishing in which the fish harvested, either in whole or in part, are intended to enter commerce or enter commerce through sale, barter or trade. See 16 USC 1802
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• conservation and management: refers to all of the rules, regulations, conditions, methods, and other measures (A) which are required to rebuild, restore, or maintain, and which are useful in rebuilding, restoring, or maintaining, any fishery resource and the marine environment. See 16 USC 1802
• Continental Shelf: means the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas adjacent to the coast, but outside the area of the territorial sea, of the United States, to a depth of 200 meters or, beyond that limit, to where the depth of the superjacent waters admits of the exploitation of the natural resources of such areas. See 16 USC 1802
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Council: means any Regional Fishery Management Council established under section 1852 of this title. See 16 USC 1802
• 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.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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.
• essential fish habitat: means those waters and substrate necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding or growth to maturity. See 16 USC 1802
• 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.
• exclusive economic zone: means the zone established by Proclamation Numbered 5030, dated March 10, 1983. See 16 USC 1802
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• fish: means finfish, mollusks, crustaceans, and all other forms of marine animal and plant life other than marine mammals and birds. See 16 USC 1802
• fishery: means &mdash. See 16 USC 1802
• fishery resource: means any fishery, any stock of fish, any species of fish, and any habitat of fish. See 16 USC 1802
• fishing: means &mdash. See 16 USC 1802
• fishing community: means a community which is substantially dependent on or substantially engaged in the harvest or processing of fishery resources to meet social and economic needs, and includes fishing vessel owners, operators, and crew and United States fish processors that are based in such community. See 16 USC 1802
• fishing vessel: means any vessel, boat, ship, or other craft which is used for, equipped to be used for, or of a type which is normally used for&mdash. See 16 USC 1802
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• foreign fishing: means fishing by a vessel other than a vessel of the United States. See 16 USC 1802
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• high seas: means all waters beyond the territorial sea of the United States and beyond any foreign nation's territorial sea, to the extent that such sea is recognized by the United States. See 16 USC 1802
• highly migratory species: means tuna species, marlin (Tetrapturus spp. See 16 USC 1802
• individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
• individual fishing quota: means a Federal permit under a limited access system to harvest a quantity of fish, expressed by a unit or units representing a percentage of the total allowable catch of a fishery that may be received or held for exclusive use by a person. See 16 USC 1802
• international fishery agreement: means any bilateral or multilateral treaty, convention, or agreement which relates to fishing and to which the United States is a party. See 16 USC 1802
• 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.
• large-scale driftnet fishing: means a method of fishing in which a gillnet composed of a panel or panels of webbing, or a series of such gillnets, with a total length of two and one-half kilometers or more, or with a mesh size of 14 inches or greater, is placed in the water and allowed to drift with the currents and winds for the purpose of entangling fish in the webbing. See 16 USC 1802
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• limited access system: means a system that limits participation in a fishery to those satisfying certain eligibility criteria or requirements contained in a fishery management plan or associated regulation. See 16 USC 1802
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Marine Fisheries Commission: means the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, or the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. See 16 USC 1802
• national standards: means the national standards for fishery conservation and management set forth in section 1851 of this title. See 16 USC 1802
• 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.
• observer: means any person required or authorized to be carried on a vessel for conservation and management purposes by regulations or permits under this chapter. See 16 USC 1802
• officer: includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office. See 1 USC 1
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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: means any individual (whether or not a citizen or national of the United States), any corporation, partnership, association, or other entity (whether or not organized or existing under the laws of any State), and any Federal, State, local, or foreign government or any entity of any such government. See 16 USC 1802
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• recreational fishing: means fishing for sport or pleasure. See 16 USC 1802
• regional fishery association: means an association formed for the mutual benefit of members&mdash. See 16 USC 1802
• regulatory discards: means fish harvested in a fishery which fishermen are required by regulation to discard whenever caught, or are required by regulation to retain but not sell. See 16 USC 1802
• 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.
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Commerce or his designee. See 16 USC 1802
• State: means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and any other Commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States. See 16 USC 1802
• stock of fish: means a species, subspecies, geographical grouping, or other category of fish capable of management as a unit. See 16 USC 1802
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• treaty: means any international fishery agreement which is a treaty within the meaning of section 2 of article II of the Constitution. See 16 USC 1802
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: when used in a geographical context, means all the States thereof. See 16 USC 1802
• United States fish processors: means facilities located within the United States for, and vessels of the United States used or equipped for, the processing of fish for commercial use or consumption. See 16 USC 1802
• United States harvested fish: means fish caught, taken, or harvested by vessels of the United States within any fishery regulated under this chapter. See 16 USC 1802
• 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
• vessel of the United States: means &mdash. See 16 USC 1802
• waters of a foreign nation: means any part of the territorial sea or exclusive economic zone (or the equivalent) of a foreign nation, to the extent such territorial sea or exclusive economic zone is recognized by the United States. See 16 USC 1802
• writing: includes printing and typewriting and reproductions of visual symbols by photographing, multigraphing, mimeographing, manifolding, or otherwise. See 1 USC 1