Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes > Chapter 560 > Article I - General Provisions, Definitions, and Probate Jurisdiction of Court

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• 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}
• 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 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
• 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
• Circumstantial evidence: All evidence except eyewitness testimony.
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• 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.
• 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
• Debt adjuster: means a person who for a profit engages in the business of acting as an intermediary between a debtor and the debtor's creditors for the purpose of settling, compromising, or in any way altering the terms of payment of any debts of the debtor and who:

  Receives money, property, or other thing of value from the debtor, or on behalf of the debtor, for distribution among the creditors of the debtor; or

  Otherwise arranges for payment to, or distribution among, the creditors of the debtor. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446-1

• Debtor: means an individual and includes two or more individuals who are jointly and severally or jointly or severally indebted. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446-1
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• 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.
• Degree: means a post-secondary credential, earned or honorary, conferring on the recipient the title or designation of "associate" "bachelor" "baccalaureate" "master" "doctor" or "doctorate" or any designation, mark, appellation, series of letters or words, or other symbol which signifies, purports, or is generally taken to signify satisfactory completion of the requirements of an academic or professional program of study beyond the secondary school level. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446E-1
• Degree granting institution: means a school, academy, institute, junior college, college, university, agency, individual, partnership, company, firm, society, trust, association, corporation, or any combination thereof that meets the following criteria:

  (1) Provides a post-secondary instructional program or course leading to a degree;

  (2) Uses in its name the term "college" "academy" "institute" "institution" or "university" or a similar term which implies that the organization or person is primarily engaged in the education of students at the post-secondary level; and

  (3) Charges a fee for its services. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446E-1

• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the director of commerce and consumer affairs. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446E-1
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Driver: means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Employee: means a person who is hired on an hourly or salaried basis for twenty or more hours per week. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446E-1
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• 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
• 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
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• 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
• Office: means space within a structure that is leased, subleased, rented, or owned by the unaccredited institution or one or more of its officers or directors for the exclusive use by the unaccredited institution, as evidenced by a written lease agreement, sublease agreement, rental agreement, or conveyance document, and shall not include an arrangement for mail forwarding services or mailbox rental. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446E-1
• Owner: means a person, other than a lien holder, having the property in or title to a vehicle. 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, partnership, corporation, firm, association, or any other legal entity. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446-1
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Presence: means offering courses, programs, or degrees or maintaining a campus, or an administrative, corporate, or other address in this State. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446E-1
• 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
• Probate: Proving a will
• Railroad: means a carrier of persons or property upon cars operated upon stationary rails. 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
• 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
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• 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
• School bus: means every motor vehicle as defined in § 286-181 and any regulations promulgated pursuant thereto by the department of education. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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
• 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
• Student: means a person who enrolls in or seeks to enroll in a course of instruction offered or conducted by an unaccredited institution. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446E-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.
• 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.
• Unaccredited institution: means a degree granting institution that is not accredited or a candidate for accreditation by at least one nationally recognized accrediting agency that is listed by the United States Secretary of Education. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 446E-1
• 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
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.