Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes > Chapter 444 - Contractors

• Accounting period: means a calendar year unless another twelve-month period is selected by a fiduciary. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 557A-102
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• 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.
• Affiliate of a developer: means a person that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, the developer. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Alley: means a street or highway intended to provide access to the rear or side of lots or buildings and not intended for the purpose of through vehicular traffic. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Association: means the unit owners' association organized under section 514B-102 or under prior condominium property regime statutes. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Authorized emergency vehicle: includes fire department vehicles, police vehicles, ambulances, ocean safety vehicles, law enforcement vehicles, and conservation and resources enforcement vehicles authorized and approved pursuant to section 291-31. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• 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}
• Beneficiary: includes , in the case of a decedent's estate, an heir and devisee and, in the case of a trust, an income beneficiary and a remainder beneficiary. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 557A-102
• Bicycle: means :
  (1) A vehicle propelled solely by human power upon which any person may ride, having two tandem wheels, and including any vehicle generally recognized as a bicycle though equipped with two front or two rear wheels except a toy bicycle; or
  (2) A low-speed electric bicycle, as defined under title 15 United States Code § 2085. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Bicycle lane: means that portion of any highway which has been set aside for the preferential or exclusive use of bicycles. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Bicycle path: means any facility set aside for the preferential or exclusive use of bicycles and physically separated from a highway. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Bicycle route: means any highway that is designated to be shared by bicycles and pedestrians or motor vehicles, or both. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Bikeway: means a bicycle lane, bicycle path, or bicycle route, or any traffic control device, shelter, parking facility, or other support facility to serve bicycles and persons using bicycles. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Board: means the contractors license board. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 444-1
• board of directors: means the body, regardless of name, designated in the declaration or bylaws to act on behalf of the association. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Bodily injury: means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Bus: means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than ten passengers and used for the transportation of persons; and every motor vehicle, other than a school bus or a taxicab, designed and used for the transportation of persons for compensation. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Business district: means the territory contiguous to and including a highway when within any six hundred feet along such highway there are buildings in use for business or industrial purposes, including but not limited to hotels, banks, or office buildings, and public buildings which occupy at least three hundred feet of frontage on one side or three hundred feet collectively on both sides of the highway. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• CFC: means any member of the family of substances containing carbon, fluorine, and chlorine, including, without limitation, those compounds known as CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-13, CFC-14, CFC-113, CFC-114, CFC-115, CFC-116, CFC-500, CFC-502, and CFC-503, and any combination or mixture containing any of these chlorofluorocarbon compounds. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 444-1
• Commission: means the real estate commission of the State. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Common elements: means :

  (1) All portions of a condominium other than the units; and

  (2) Any other interests in real estate for the benefit of unit owners that are subject to the declaration. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3

• Common expenses: means expenditures made by, or financial liabilities of, the association for operation of the property, and shall include any allocations to reserves. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Common interest: means the percentage of undivided interest in the common elements appurtenant to each unit, as expressed in the declaration, and any specified percentage of the common interest means such percentage of the undivided interests in the aggregate. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Condominium: means real estate, portions of which are designated for separate ownership and the remainder of which is designated for common ownership solely by the owners of those portions. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contractor: means any person who by oneself or through others offers to undertake, or holds oneself out as being able to undertake, or does undertake to alter, add to, subtract from, improve, enhance, or beautify any realty or construct, alter, repair, add to, subtract from, improve, move, wreck, or demolish any building, highway, road, railroad, excavation, or other structure, project, development, or improvement, or do any part thereof, including the erection of scaffolding or other structures or works in connection therewith. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 444-1
• Controlled-access highway: means every highway, street, or roadway in respect to which owners or occupants of abutting lands and other persons have no legal right of access to or from the same except at such points only and in such manner as may be determined by the public authority having jurisdiction over such highway, street, or roadway. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• 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.
• county: includes the city and county of Honolulu. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-22
• Crosswalk: means :
  (1) That part of a roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway; or
  (2) Any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Declaration: means any instrument, however denominated, that creates a condominium, including any amendments to the instrument. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of commerce and consumer affairs. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 444-1
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Developer: means a person who undertakes to develop a real estate condominium project, including a person who succeeds to the interest of the developer by acquiring a controlling interest in the developer or in the project. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Development rights: means any right or combination of rights reserved by a developer in the declaration to:

  (1) Add real estate to a condominium;

  (2) Create units, common elements, or limited common elements within a condominium;

  (3) Subdivide units, combine units, or convert units into common elements;

  (4) Withdraw real estate from a condominium;

  (5) Merge projects or increments of a project; or

  (6) Otherwise alter the condominium. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3

• Director: means the director of commerce and consumer affairs. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 444-1
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Driver: means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Electric foot scooter: means a device:
  (1) Weighing less than seventy-five pounds;
  (2) With two or three wheels;
  (3) With handlebars;
  (4) With either:

  (A) A floorboard that can be stood upon while riding; or

  (B) A seat or saddle for the use of the rider and stationary footrests;
  (5) That is powered by an electric motor or human power; and
  (6) Whose maximum speed, with or without human propulsion on a paved level surface, does not exceed fifteen miles per hour. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• 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.
• 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.
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• 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.
• 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}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• 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.
• HCFC: means any member of the family of substances containing hydrogen, carbon, fluorine, and chlorine, including, without limitation, those compounds known as HCFC-22 and HCFC-123 and any combination or mixture containing any of three hydrochlorofluorocarbon compounds. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 444-1
• Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained and those private streets, as defined in § 46-16, over which the application of this chapter has been extended by ordinance, when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• House trailer: means :
  (1) A trailer or semitrailer which is designed, constructed, and equipped as a dwelling place, living abode, or sleeping place (either permanently or temporarily) and is equipped for use as a conveyance on streets and highways; or
  (2) A trailer or a semitrailer whose chassis and exterior shell is designed and constructed for use as a house trailer, as defined in paragraph (1), but which is used instead permanently or temporarily for the advertising, sales, display, or promotion of merchandise or services, or for any other commercial purpose except the transportation of property for hire or the transportation of property for distribution by a private carrier. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Income: means money or property a fiduciary receives as the current return from a principal asset. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 557A-102
• Income interest: means an income beneficiary's right to receive all or part of the net income, whether the terms of the trust require it to be distributed or authorize it to be distributed in the trustee's discretion. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 557A-102
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intersection: means the area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curb lines, or, if none, then the lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two highways which join one another at, or approximately at, right angles, or the area within which vehicles traveling upon different highways joining at any other angle may come in conflict. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Investigator: means any person employed by the department of commerce and consumer affairs to investigate matters relating to any person who furnishes commodities or services for which a license is required from the department or any board or commission thereunder. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 444-1
• 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.
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• 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 common element: means a portion of the common elements designated by the declaration or by operation of § 514B-35 for the exclusive use of one or more but fewer than all of the units. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• majority of the unit owners: means the owners of units to which are appurtenant more than fifty per cent of the common interests. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Managing agent: means any person retained, as an independent contractor, for the purpose of managing the operation of the property. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Mandatory income interest: means an income beneficiary's right to receive net income that the terms of the trust require the fiduciary to distribute. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 557A-102
• master lease: means any deed or lease showing the extent of the interest of the person submitting the property to the condominium property regime. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• month: means a calendar month; and the word "year" a calendar year. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-20
• Moped: means a device upon which a person may ride that has :
  (1) Two or three wheels in contact with the ground;
  (2) A motor having a maximum power output capability measured at the motor output shaft, in accordance with SAE International standards, of two horsepower (one thousand four hundred ninety-two watts) or less and, if it is a combustion engine, a maximum piston or rotor displacement of 3. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Motor vehicle: means every vehicle which is self-propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power but not operated upon rails but excludes a moped. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Net income: means the total receipts allocated to income during an accounting period minus the disbursements made from income during the period. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 557A-102
• 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.
• Operation of the property: means the administration, fiscal management, and physical operation of the property, and includes the maintenance, repair, and replacement of, and the making of any additions and improvements to, the common elements. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Owner: means a person, other than a lien holder, having the property in or title to a vehicle. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• parking: means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading merchandise or passengers. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• 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.
• Pedestrian: means any person afoot, in an invalid chair, or in a vehicle propelled by a person afoot. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Person: means an individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association, trust, or other legal entity, or any combination thereof. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 557A-102
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Police officer: means every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• 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.
• Principal: means property held in trust for distribution to a remainder beneficiary when the trust terminates. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 557A-102
• Private road or driveway: means every way or place in private ownership and used for vehicular travel by the owner and those having express or implied permission from the owner, but not by other persons. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Project: means a real estate condominium project; a plan or project whereby a condominium of two or more units located within the condominium property regime are created. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Property: includes parcels with or without upper or lower boundaries, and spaces that may be filled with air or water. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Railroad: means a carrier of persons or property upon cars operated upon stationary rails. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Railroad sign or signal: means any sign, signal, or device erected by authority of a public body or official or by a railroad and intended to give notice of the presence of railroad tracks or the approach of a railroad train. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Railroad train: means a steam engine, electric or other motor, with or without cars coupled thereto, operated upon rails. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• recording: means to record in the bureau of conveyances in accordance with chapter 502, or to register in the land court in accordance with chapter 501. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Refrigerant recovery and recycling equipment: means a device used to recover and to purify CFCs from a device for later reuse. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 444-1
• Residence district: means the territory contiguous to and including a highway not comprising a business district when the property on the highway for a distance of three hundred feet or more is in the main improved with residences or residences and buildings in use for business. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Resident manager: means any person retained as an employee by the association to manage, on-site, the operation of the property. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Right-of-way: means the right of one vehicle or pedestrian to proceed in a lawful manner in preference to another vehicle or pedestrian approaching under such circumstances of direction, speed, and proximity as to give rise to danger of collision unless one grants precedence to the other. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Safety zone: means the area or space officially set apart within a roadway for the exclusive use of pedestrians and which is protected or is so marked or indicated by adequate signs as to be plainly visible at all times while set apart as a safety zone. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Sale: means any arrangement between two or more persons as a result of which there is, or is to be, a transfer of property for a consideration. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 444-1
• 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.
• Sidewalk: means that portion of a street between the curb lines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and the adjacent property lines, intended for use of pedestrians. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• standing: means the halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in receiving or discharging passengers. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• 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.
• Street: means the entire width between boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Through highway: means every highway or portion thereof on which vehicular traffic is given preferential right-of-way, and at the entrances to which vehicular traffic from intersecting highways is required by law to yield the right-of-way to vehicles on such through highway in obedience to a stop sign, yield sign, or other official traffic-control device, when such signs or devices are erected as provided by law. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• 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.
• Toy bicycle: means every device propelled solely by human power upon which any person may ride, having two tandem wheels, including any device generally recognized as a bicycle though equipped with two front or two rear wheels, which has a seat height of not more than twenty-five inches from the ground when the seat is adjusted to its highest position; or a scooter or similar device regardless of seat height. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Traffic-control signal: means any device, whether manually, electrically, or mechanically operated, by which traffic is alternately directed to stop and permitted to proceed. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Trustee: includes an original, additional, or successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by a court. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 557A-102
• Unit: means a physical or spatial portion of the condominium designated for separate ownership or occupancy, the boundaries of which are described in the declaration or pursuant to § 514B-35, with an exit to a public road or to a common element leading to a public road. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Unit owner: means the person owning, or the persons owning jointly or in common, a unit and its appurtenant common interest; provided that to such extent and for such purposes as provided by recorded lease, including the exercise of voting rights, a lessee of a unit shall be deemed to be the unit owner. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Vehicle: means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a roadway or highway, including mopeds and bicycles, but excluding toy bicycles, devices other than bicycles moved by human power, and devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1