Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 10 > Chapter 81 - Personal Actions

• 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.
• 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.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Board of Pardons: means that Board as established by the Constitution and laws. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Child: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Commissioner of the Department: means Commissioner of the Department of Correction. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Community notification: means notice which is provided by any method devised specifically to notify members of the public who are likely to encounter a sex offender. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4121
• Community service: means the performance of work or service for a nonprofit or other tax-supported entity by an offender without pay for a specified period of time. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Conditional release: means the release of an offender from incarceration to the community by reason of diminution of the period of confinement through merit and good behavior credits. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• convicted: shall include , in addition to their ordinary meanings, adjudications of delinquency and persons who enter a plea of guilty, or are found guilty but mentally ill or not guilty by reason of insanity, as provided in § 401 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4121
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Court: means Superior Court, Family Court, Court of Common Pleas, or Justices of the Peace Courts. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Correction. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• 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.
• 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.
• 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}
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Infancy: means an age of less than 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Judge: means any judge of any court as herein defined. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
• Law: means the laws of this State, including any ordinance of any subdivision or municipality. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Merit and good behavior credits: means that diminution of the period of confinement, as provided by law, by reason of industrious and cooperative conduct. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Offender: means any person who has been brought within the jurisdiction of the Superior Court, Family Court, or Court of Common Pleas or within the scope of duties of the Board of Parole or the Board of Pardons. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parole: means the release by the Parole Board of an offender from incarceration to the community prior to the expiration of the offender's term, subject to the supervision and guidance of the Department. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Parole Board: means the duly established Board of Parole as the paroling authority of the State. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• 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.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Plea agreement: An arrangement between the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the defendant in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for special considerations. ^Source:
• 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.
• Presentence investigation: means the procedure by which the court, subsequent to conviction but prior to sentencing, obtains information concerning the offender sufficient to evaluate the offender's conduct and to determine the offender's potentialities for rehabilitation, with appropriate recommendations for judicial disposition. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Presentence report: A report prepared by a court's probation officer, after a person has been convicted of an offense, summarizing for the court the background information needed to determine the appropriate sentence. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• 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.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Probation: means the sentencing without imprisonment of an offender by judgment of the court following establishment of guilt, subject to the conditions imposed by the court, including the supervision and guidance of the Department's field services. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Probation and parole officer: means an employee of the Department with the qualifications, and having powers and responsibilities pertaining to investigation, supervision and otherwise, provided by law or determined by the Department within the scope of this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4302
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• 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.
• 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.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Searchable records available to the public: means records regarding every sex offender who has been convicted and who is thereafter designated to Risk Assessment Tier II or III pursuant to this section. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4121
• 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.
• Sex offender: means any person who is, or has been:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 4121

• 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.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• 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.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Victim Impact Statement: A written or spoken statement by the victim or his or her representative about the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a crime on the victim. The statement is given to the court before sentencing.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Year: means a calendar year, and is equivalent to the words "year of our Lord. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302