Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 32 > Chapter 1 > Part VII - Procedure and Reports

• Accessory: includes an accessory after the fact and also a principal, as those terms are defined by the Louisiana Criminal Code. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• 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: means an authorization by the legislature to a budget unit for a program to expend from public funds a sum of money, for purposes designated, under the procedure prescribed in this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Board: means the Crime Victims Reparations Board. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• Child: means an unmarried person under eighteen years of age, and includes a natural child, adopted child, stepchild, child born outside of marriage, any of the above who is a student not over twenty-three years of age, and a child conceived prior to but born after the personal injury or death of the victim. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• Claimant: means a victim or a dependent of a deceased victim, or the legal representative of either, an intervenor, the healthcare provider who provides healthcare services associated with a forensic medical examination as defined in Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• Combination of vehicles: means every group of two or more vehicles howsoever joined together which are drawn or propelled by a single motor vehicle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Commissioner: means the secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Credit bureau: An agency that collects individual credit information and sells it for a fee to creditors so they can make a decision on granting loans. Typical clients include banks, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and other financing companies. (Also commonly referred to as consumer-reporting agency or credit-reporting agency.) ^{Source: OCC}
• 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 Transportation and Development. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Dependent: means a spouse or any person who is a dependent of a victim within the meaning of Section 152 of the United States Internal Revenue Code (Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Driver: means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Functions: means duties, jurisdiction, powers, rights, and obligations, conferred or imposed upon, or vested in, any agency by law, or exercised, performed, or discharged by any agency without contravention of any provision of law. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Fund: means an independent fiscal and accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts recording cash or other resources together with all related liabilities, obligations, reserves, and equities which are segregated for the purpose of carrying on specific activities or attaining certain objectives in accordance with regulations, restrictions, and limitations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:2
• Gross weight: means the weight of a vehicle and/or combination of vehicles without load on all axles including the steering axle plus the weight of any load thereon. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Healthcare provider: means a physician or other healthcare practitioner licensed, certified, registered, or otherwise authorized to perform specified healthcare services consistent with state law. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• Healthcare services: means services, items, supplies, or drugs for the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, cure, or relief of a health condition, illness, injury, or disease ancillary to a sexually oriented offense. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place of whatever nature publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for the purpose of vehicular travel, including bridges, causeways, tunnels and ferries; synonymous with the word "street". See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Intervenor: means a person who goes to the aid of another and is killed or injured in the good faith effort to prevent a crime covered by this Chapter, to apprehend a person reasonably suspected of having engaged in such a crime, or to aid a peace officer. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• Load: means a weight or quantity of anything resting upon something else regarded as its support. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Louisiana resident: means a person who maintained a place of permanent abode in this state at the time the crime was committed for which reparations are sought. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• Motor vehicle: means every vehicle which is self-propelled, and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon rails, but excluding a motorized bicycle and an electric-assisted bicycle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Municipality: means an incorporated village, town, or city created under the authority of the constitution or laws of this state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Operator: means every person, other than a chauffeur, who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising control over or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Owner: means a person who holds a legal title to a vehicle or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale, lease, or transfer of possession thereof with the right of purchase upon the performance of the conditions stated in the agreement, with the right of immediate possession in the vendee, lessee, possessor, or in the event such similar transaction is had by means of mortgage and the mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee, lessee, possessor, or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purposes of this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• 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 Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Peace officer: shall include commissioned police officers, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, marshals, deputy marshals, correctional officers, constables, wildlife enforcement agents, and probation and parole officers. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• Pecuniary loss: means the amount of expense reasonably and necessarily incurred by reason of personal injury, as a consequence of death, or a catastrophic property loss, and includes:

              (a) For personal injury:

              (i) Medical, hospital, nursing, or psychiatric care or counseling, and physical therapy. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802

• 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.
• Police officer: means every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Reparations: means payment of compensation in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter for pecuniary loss resulting from physical injury, death, or catastrophic property loss by reason of a crime enumerated in this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development or his delegated or authorized representative. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• 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.
• Stop: means , when required, the complete cessation from movement. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Vehicle: means every device by which persons or things may be transported upon a public highway or bridge, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Victim: means :

              (a) Any person who suffers personal injury, death, or catastrophic property loss as a result of a crime committed in this state and covered by this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1802