Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 11 > Chapter 51 - Superior Court

• 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.
• alcoholic liquors: include the 5 varieties of liquor defined in this section (alcohol, spirits, wine, beer and alcoholic cider) as well as every liquid or solid, patented or not, containing alcohol, spirits, wine, beer or alcoholic cider and capable of being consumed by a human being, and any liquid or solid containing more than 1 of the 5 varieties defined in this section is considered as belonging to that variety which usually has the higher percentage of alcohol. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• 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.
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Child: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Child: shall mean a person who has not yet reached their eighteenth birthday. See Delaware Code Title 11 Sec. 5132
• Commissioner: means the person appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate who serves as the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner for the State. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• 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.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Complaint: shall mean any civil action or miscellaneous action or any application for an extraordinary writ. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• courts: shall mean all constitutional or statutory courts of this State. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
• 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.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• District: means a reorganized school district. See Delaware Code Title 14 Sec. 2301
• 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}
• Establishment: means any place located physically in this State where alcoholic liquor of 1 or more varieties is stored, sold or used by authority of any law of this State, including a hotel, restaurant, tavern, beer garden, or club as defined in this section, or where alcoholic liquor of 1 or more varieties is manufactured by virtue of any law of this State. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• Evaluation detail component: is a site inspection template and assessment system that allows for individual district comment, incorporated within the facilities evaluation instrument, used to evaluate the areas of a school on a category by category basis. See Delaware Code Title 14 Sec. 2301
• Facilities evaluation instrument: means a document developed by the Department of Education that includes the evaluation detail component and the standard of good repair that is used to determine whether a school facility is in good repair. See Delaware Code Title 14 Sec. 2301
• Factually frivolous: shall mean a claim where the factual allegations of which are baseless, of little or no weight, value or importance, not worthy of serious attention or trivial. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
• Federal court: shall mean any federal court of competent jurisdiction over actions brought by prisoners as that term is defined in paragraph (9) of this section. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• 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.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• In forma pauperis: In the manner of a pauper. Permission given to a person to sue without payment of court fees on claim of indigence or poverty.
• 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.
• Inmate account: shall mean an account maintained by the Department of Correction in which money is held for prisoners of this State. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
• 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.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• Legally frivolous: shall mean a claim based on an indisputably meritless legal theory. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
• License: means any license or permit to manufacture, to sell, to purchase, to transport, to import or to possess alcoholic liquor authorized or issued by the Commissioner under the provisions of Chapter 5 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Malicious: shall mean a claim designed to vex, injure or harass, or one which is otherwise abusive of the judicial process or which realleges pending or previously litigated claims. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
• Manufacturer: means any person engaged in the manufacture of any alcoholic liquor and among others includes a distiller, a rectifier, a wine maker, a brewer, and includes a bottler or one who prepares alcoholic liquor for sale. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• Person: includes an individual, a partnership, a corporation, a club or any other association of individuals. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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:
• Prisoner: shall mean any individual subject to the supervision of the Department of Correction, including, but not limited to, those individuals housed in correctional facilities outside of the State. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
• Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
• real property: is synonymous with the phrase "lands, tenements and hereditaments. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Residence: means the place occupied by a person as a domicile or otherwise, either permanently or temporarily, and includes not only the premises occupied, but also every annex or dependency thereof held under the same title as the premises occupied. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• Restaurant: means any establishment which is regularly used and kept open principally for the purpose of serving complete meals to persons for consideration and which has seating at tables for 12 or more persons and suitable kitchen facilities connected therewith for cooking an assortment of foods under the charge of a chef or cook. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• Sale: means every act of selling as defined in this section. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• School board: means a board of education of a reorganized school district. See Delaware Code Title 14 Sec. 2301
• School facilities: means any permanent building, portable building or structure, or commercial space owned, rented, operated, or leased by boards of education, including donated space, used as a classroom or for child care or any other space for education services including classrooms, cafeterias, staff lounges, staff offices, auditoriums, gymnasiums, or libraries. See Delaware Code Title 14 Sec. 2301
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Standard of good repair: means that part of the facilities evaluation instrument which outlines the school facility systems and components, as specified in this section, that should be considered in the inspection of a school facility to ensure that it is maintained in a manner that assures it is clean, safe, and functional. See Delaware Code Title 14 Sec. 2301
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Taproom: means an establishment provided with special space and accommodations and operated primarily for the sale by the glass and for consumption on the premises of alcoholic liquors with the sale of food as a secondary object as distinguished from a restaurant where the sale of food is the primary object. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.