Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes > Title 11 > Article 3-A > Part 1 - General Provisions and Definitions

• 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.
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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}
• 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.
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Health and Human Services. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 1-A
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Health and Human Services. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 1-A
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Division: means the division of environmental health within the Department of Health and Human Services. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 772
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• 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
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• health insurance: means insurance of human beings against bodily injury, disablement or death by accident or accidental means, or the expense thereof, or against disablement or expense resulting from sickness, and every insurance appertaining thereto, including provision for the mental and emotional welfare of human beings by defraying the costs of legal services only to the extent provided for in chapter 38. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 704
• in writing: include printing and other modes of making legible words. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
• 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.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Municipality: includes cities, towns and plantations, except that "municipality" does not include plantations in Title 10, chapter 110, subchapter IV; or Title 30?A, Part 2. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
• 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.
• 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.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Radon: means the radioactive gaseous element and its decay products produced by the disintegration of the element radium in air, water, soil or other media. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 22 Sec. 772
• Real estate: includes lands and all tenements and hereditaments connected therewith, and all rights thereto and interests therein. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes territories and the District of Columbia. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72