Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 481 > Part I - Architecture and Interior Design

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Architecture: means the rendering or offering to render services in connection with the design and construction of a structure or group of structures which have as their principal purpose human habitation or use, and the utilization of space within and surrounding such structures. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• Board: means the Board of Architecture and Interior Design. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• Business organization: means a partnership, a limited liability company, a corporation, or an individual operating under a fictitious name. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• Certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth: means a certificate issued to record and memorialize the birth of a stillborn child. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Certificate of registration: means a license or registration issued by the department to a natural person to engage in the practice of architecture or interior design. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• certified: means a document containing all or a part of the exact information contained on the original vital record, and which, when issued by the State Registrar, has the full force and effect of the original vital record. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• 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.
• Dead body: means a human body or such parts of a human body from the condition of which it reasonably may be concluded that death recently occurred. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Department: means the Department of Health. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Department: means the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Dissolution of marriage: includes an annulment of marriage. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• 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.
• Fetal death: means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction of a product of human conception from its mother if the 20th week of gestation has been reached and the death is indicated by the fact that after such expulsion or extraction the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Final disposition: means the burial, interment, entombment, cremation, removal from the state, anatomical donation, or other authorized disposition of a dead body or a fetus as described in subsection (8). See Florida Statutes 382.002
• 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.
• 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.
• Interior decorator services: includes the selection or assistance in selection of surface materials, window treatments, wallcoverings, paint, floor coverings, surface-mounted lighting, surface-mounted fixtures, and loose furnishings not subject to regulation under applicable building codes. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• Interior design: includes , but is not limited to, reflected ceiling plans, space planning, furnishings, and the fabrication of nonstructural elements within and surrounding interior spaces of buildings. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• 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.
• Legal age: means a person who is not a minor, or a minor who has had the disability of nonage removed as provided under chapter 743. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Live birth: means the complete expulsion or extraction of a product of human conception from its mother, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such expulsion, breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, and definite movement of the voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Markup: The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
• minor: includes any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Nonviable birth: means an unintentional, spontaneous fetal demise occurring after the completion of the 9th week of gestation but prior to the 20th week of gestation of a pregnancy that has been verified by a health care practitioner. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• 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.
• 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: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• 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.
• political subdivision: include counties, cities, towns, villages, special tax school districts, special road and bridge districts, bridge districts, and all other districts in this state. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• 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.
• records: means certificates or reports of birth, death, fetal death, marriage, dissolution of marriage, name change filed pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• registered architect: means a natural person who is licensed under this part to engage in the practice of architecture. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• Registered interior designer: means a natural person who holds a valid certificate of registration to practice interior design. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• Registrant: means the child entered on a birth certificate, the deceased entered on a death certificate, and the husband or wife entered on a marriage or dissolution of marriage record. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• Responsible supervising control: means the exercise of direct personal supervision and control throughout the preparation of documents, instruments of service, or any other work requiring the seal and signature of a licensee under this part. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• Space planning: means the analysis, programming, or design of spatial requirements, including preliminary space layouts and final planning. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Townhouse: means a single-family dwelling unit not exceeding three stories in height which is constructed in a series or group of attached units with property lines separating such units. See Florida Statutes 481.203
• Vital statistics: means a system of registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital records, the collection of other reports required by this act, and activities related thereto, including the tabulation, analysis, and publication of data obtained from vital records. See Florida Statutes 382.002
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01