Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 581 - Plant Industry

• Agent: means any person selling or distributing nursery stock under the partial or full control of a nurseryman. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• 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.
• 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
• Aquatic plant: means any plant, including a floating, immersed, submersed, or ditch bank species, growing in or closely associated with an aquatic environment, and includes any part or seed of such plant. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Arthropod: means any segmented invertebrate animal having jointed appendages and an exoskeleton, including insects, spiders, ticks, mites, and scorpions, but excluding crustaceans for the purpose of this chapter. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Authorized representative: means any designated employee, inspector, or collaborator of the division or the United States Department of Agriculture. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• 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}
• certificate: includes label, rubber stamp imprint, tag, permit, written statement, or any form of inspection and certification document which accompanies the movement of inspected and certified plant material and plant products. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Certificate of inspection: means an official document stipulating compliance with the requirements of this chapter. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Certificate of registration: means an official document issued by the division to nurseries, stock dealers, agents, and plant brokers as evidence of being properly registered with the division in compliance with the requirements of this chapter and of any of the rules promulgated hereunder. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Citrus: means all plants, plant parts, and plant products, including seed and fruit, of all genera, species, and varieties of the Rutaceous subfamilies Aurantioideae, Rutoideae, and Toddalioideae, unless specifically excluded by the rules of the department. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Collaborator: means a person cooperating with the division in some capacity, who has been officially designated to perform certain duties for the division. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Compliance agreement: means a written agreement between the department and any person engaged in growing, handling, or moving articles, plants, or plant products regulated under this chapter, wherein the person agrees to comply with stipulated requirements. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services of the state or its authorized representative. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Director: means the director of the Division of Plant Industry. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Distribution: means the movement of nursery stock from the property where it is grown or kept to any other noncontiguous property, regardless of the ownership of the properties concerned. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Division: means the Division of Plant Industry of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• 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}
• 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.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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}
• Invasive plant: means a naturalized plant that disrupts naturally occurring native plant communities. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Move: means to ship, offer for shipment, receive for transportation, carry, or otherwise transport. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• 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.
• Noxious aquatic plant: means any part, including, but not limited to, seeds or reproductive parts, of an aquatic plant that has the potential to hinder the growth of beneficial plants, interfere with irrigation or navigation, or adversely affect the public welfare or the natural resources of this state. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Noxious weed: means any living stage, including, but not limited to, seeds and productive parts, of a parasitic or other plant of a kind, or subdivision of a kind, which may be a serious agricultural threat in Florida or have a negative impact on the plant species protected under…. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Nursery: means any grounds or premises on or in which nursery stock is grown, propagated, or held for sale or distribution, except where aquatic plant species are tended for harvest in the natural environment. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Nursery stock: means all plants, trees, shrubs, vines, bulbs, cuttings, grafts, scions, or buds grown or kept for or capable of propagation or distribution, unless specifically excluded by the rules of the department. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Nurseryman: means any person engaged in the production of nursery stock for sale or distribution. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• 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.
• Official organ: means a printed document published by the division for notification to the public and industries in matters relating to division activities and in which official announcements may be made. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• 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
• Plant broker: means a person who transacts the transfer of plants from a seller to a buyer and who may or may not be in actual physical possession of the plants. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Plant pest: means any living stage of any insects, mites, nematodes, slugs, snails, protozoa, or other invertebrate animals, bacteria, fungi, other parasitic plants or their reproductive parts, or viruses, or any organisms similar to or allied with any of the foregoing, including any genetically engineered organisms, or any infectious substances which can directly or indirectly injure or cause disease or damage in any plants or plant parts or any processed, manufactured, or other plant products. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Plants and plant products: means trees, shrubs, vines, forage and cereal plants, and all other plants and plant parts, including cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, fruit, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, wood, lumber, and all products made from them, unless specifically excluded by the rules of the department. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• 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.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Quarantine: means an official order issued by the department that regulates the movement of articles, plants, or plant products to prevent the spread of disease or pests. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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}
• 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.
• 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.
• Stock dealer: means any person not a grower of nursery stock in this state who buys or otherwise acquires nursery stock for the purpose of reselling independently of any control of a nurseryman, agent, or plant broker, and who at any time maintains physical possession of such nursery stock. See Florida Statutes 581.011
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• 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