Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 48 > Chapter 1 > Part XIII - Operation and Technical Functions

• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Alternate: means an item on the bid form that may either increase or decrease the quantity of work or change the type of work within the scope of the project, material, or equipment specified in the bidding documents, or both. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• 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
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the 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}
• Bidding documents: means the advertisement, plans and specifications, bidding form, bidding instructions, addenda, special provisions, and all other instruments prepared by or on behalf of the department for use by prospective bidders on a public contract. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 48:251.9
• Bidding documents: means the bid notice, plans and specifications, bid form, bidding instructions, addenda, special provisions, and all other written instruments prepared by or on behalf of a public entity for use by prospective bidders on a public contract. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• Change order: means any contract modification that includes an alteration, deviation, addition, or omission as to a preexisting public work contract, which authorizes an adjustment in the contract price, contract time, or an addition, deletion, or revision of work. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• Change order outside the scope of the contract: means a change order which alters the nature of the thing to be constructed or which is not an integral part of the project objective. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Claimant: as used in this Chapter , means any person to whom money is due pursuant to a contract with the owner or a contractor or subcontractor for doing work, performing labor, or furnishing materials or supplies for the construction, alteration, or repair of any public works, or for transporting and delivering such materials or supplies to the site of the job by a for-hire carrier, or for furnishing oil, gas, electricity, or other materials or supplies for use in machines used in the construction, alteration, or repair of any public works, including persons to whom money is due for the lease or rental of movable property, used at the site of the immovable and leased to the contractor or subcontractor by written contract, and including registered or certified surveyors or engineers, or licensed architects, or their professional subconsultants, employed by the contractor or subcontractor in connection with the building of any public work. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 48:256.5
• 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.
• Commercial fishing boat: shall mean any water craft used in the occupation of fishing for profit. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:1690
• Commission: means the governing authority of St. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:1098.2
• 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.
• Contract: means any contract awarded by the department for construction or maintenance of transportation facilities or work authorized by Louisiana Revised Statutes 48:251.9
• contract: means any contract awarded by any public entity for the making of any public works or for the purchase of any materials or supplies. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• Contractor: means any individual, partnership, joint venture, firm, corporation, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, or any acceptable combination thereof contracting for performance of public work for the department. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 48:251.9
• Contractor: means any person or other legal entity who enters into a public contract. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• 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.
• Credit: includes every claim and demand for money, labor, merchandise and other valuable things. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:1702
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Electronic mail: includes electronic messages that are transmitted through a local, regional, or global computer network. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:4757
• Emergency: shall mean an unforeseen mischance bringing with it destruction or injury of life or property or the imminent threat of such destruction or injury, the result of an order from any judicial body to take immediate action which requires construction or maintenance without time to comply with the formalities of this Part. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 48:251.9
• Emergency: means an unforeseen mischance bringing with it destruction or injury of life or property or the imminent threat of such destruction or injury or as the result of an order from any judicial body to take any immediate action which requires construction or repairs absent compliance with the formalities of this Part, where the mischance or court order will not admit of the delay incident to advertising as provided in this Part. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• 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.
• extreme public emergency: means a catastrophic event which causes the loss of ability to obtain a quorum of the members necessary to certify the emergency prior to making the expenditure to acquire materials or supplies or to make repairs necessary for the protection of life, property, or continued function of the public entity. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• 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.
• farm machinery: shall mean and include all motor propelled or motor operated mechanical devices used on a farm in the tilling of the soil and the production of crops, but shall not include any vehicle licensed for use on the public highways of this state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:1690
• 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.
• Gasoline: shall mean any motor fuel which is subject to tax under Part I of Chapter 7 of Sub-title II of Title 47 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:1690
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• in writing: means the product of any method of forming characters on paper, other materials, or viewable screen, which can be read, retrieved, and reproduced, including information that is electronically transmitted and stored. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• 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.
• Last known address: means the mailing address or the electronic mail address provided by the lessee in the latest rental agreement or the mailing address or the electronic mail address provided by the lessee in a subsequent written notice of a change of address. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:4757
• 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}
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Lessee: means a person, his sublessee, successor, or assign, entitled to the use of storage space at a self-service storage facility under a rental agreement, to the exclusion of others. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:4757
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensed design professional: means the architect, landscape architect, or engineer who shall have the primary responsibility for the total design services performed in connection with a public works project. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Louisiana resident contractor: includes any person, partnership, association, corporation, or other legal entity and is defined as one of the following:

  (i)  An individual who has been a resident of Louisiana for two years or more immediately prior to bidding on work. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 48:251.9

• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Negotiate: means the process of making purchases and entering into contracts without formal advertising and public bidding with the intention of obtaining the best price and terms possible under the circumstances. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• Negotiate: means to participate in the process of entering into contracts or plan changes without formal advertising and public bidding with the intention of obtaining the best price and terms possible under the circumstances. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 48:251.9
• 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.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means the owner, operator, lessor, or sublessor of a self-service storage facility, his agent, or any other person authorized by him to manage the facility or to receive rent from a lessee under a rental agreement. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:4757
• Parish: means St. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:1098.2
• Participating parish: means any parish which has entered into a participation agreement with St. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:1098.2
• 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 a body of persons, whether incorporated or not. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:10
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plan change: means an alteration, deviation, addition, or omission as to a preexisting department construction or maintenance contract. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 48:251.9
• 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.
• 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.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable construction costs: means the estimate for the cost of the project as designed that is determined by the public entity or the designer. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• Property: includes every form, character and kind of property, real, personal, and mixed, tangible and intangible, corporeal and incorporeal, and every share, right, title or interest therein or thereto, and every right, privilege, franchise, patent, copyright, trade-mark, certificate, or other evidence of ownership or interest; bonds, notes, judgments, credits, accounts, or other evidence of indebtedness, and every other thing of value, in possession, on hand, or under the control, at any time during the calendar year for which taxes are levied, within the State of Louisiana, of any person, firm, partnership, association of persons, or corporation, foreign or domestic whether the same be held, possessed, or controlled, as owner, agent, pledgee, mortgagee, or legal representative, or as president, cashier, treasurer, liquidator, assignee, master, superintendent, manager, sequestrator, receiver, trustee, stakeholder, depository, warehouseman, keeper, curator, executor, administrator, legatee, heir, beneficiary, parent, attorney, usufructuary, mandatary, fiduciary, or other capacity, whether the owner be known or unknown; except in the cases of fire, life, or other insurance companies, the notes, judgments, accounts, and credits of nonresident persons, firms, corporations, partnerships, associations, or companies doing business in the State of Louisiana, originating from the business done in this state, are hereby declared to be property with its situs within this state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:1702
• Public entity: means and includes the state of Louisiana, or any agency, board, commission, department, or public corporation of the state, created by the constitution or statute or pursuant thereto, or any political subdivision of the state, including but not limited to any political subdivision as defined in Article VI Section 44 of the Constitution of Louisiana, and any public housing authority, public school board, or any public officer whether or not an officer of a public corporation or political subdivision. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• Public work: means the erection, construction, alteration, maintenance, improvement, or repair of any highway, bridge, transportation facility, or immovable property owned, used, or leased by the department or any public entity for which the department is acting pursuant to an agreement. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 48:251.9
• Public work: means the erection, construction, alteration, improvement, or repair of any public facility or immovable property owned, used, or leased by a public entity. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2211
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• 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}
• Refundable purposes: shall mean the operating or propelling of any aircraft, any commercial fishing boat, any vehicle used by a licensed commercial fisherman in the administration of business associated with commercial fishing, any boat used to transport children to or from public or parochial schools, any farm tractor or any farm machinery used in the actual tilling of the soil and production of crops or any stationary motor used for agricultural purposes. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:1690
• Rental agreement: means any agreement or lease, written or oral, entered into between the owner and a lessee, that establishes or modifies the terms, conditions, rules, or any other provisions concerning the use of self-service storage facility. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:4757
• Self-service storage facility: means any real property designed and used for the purpose of renting or leasing individual storage space to lessees who are to have access to such for the purpose of storing and removing movable property. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:4757
• 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.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subtitle: means and includes all the Chapters in Subtitle II of this Title 47 and any other Title of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 except the provisions of Chapter 1 of Subtitle IV of Title 47 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 and estate taxes for the assessment, collection, administration, and enforcement of taxes, fees, licenses, penalties, and interest due the state of Louisiana which have been delegated to the Department of Revenue. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:1501
• taxpayers: includes firms, companies, associations and corporations; all words importing the masculine gender apply to females also, and all words in the plural number apply to single individuals in all cases in which the spirit and intent of this Chapter require it. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:1702
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verified mail: means any method of mailing that is offered by the United States Postal Service or a private delivery service that provides evidence of mailing. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:4757
• Wireless telecommunications device: means a cellular telephone, a text messaging device, a personal digital assistant, a stand-alone computer, or any other substantially similar wireless device. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:4757
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.