Terms Used In Maryland Code, PUBLIC SAFETY 13A-908

• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Convening authority: includes :
  
  (1) the person who convened the court; and
  
  (2) (i) a commissioned officer commanding for the time being; or
  
  (ii) a successor in command to the convening authority. See
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Judge advocate: means a commissioned officer of the organized state military forces who is a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of a state:
  
  (1) (i) certified or designated as a judge advocate in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the Army, Air Force, Navy, or the Marine Corps or designated as a law specialist as an officer of the Coast Guard, or a reserve component of one of these; or
  
  (ii) certified as a non-federally recognized judge advocate, under regulations adopted pursuant to this provision, by the senior judge advocate of the commander of the force in the state military forces of which the accused is a member, as competent to perform such military justice duties required by this code; or
  
  (2) if no judge advocate certified under item (1) of this subsection is available, certified by a senior judge advocate of the commander of another force in the state military forces, as the convening authority directs. See
• 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.
• Military judge: means an official of a general or special court-martial detailed in accordance with § 13A-505 of this title. See
• Officer: means a commissioned or warrant officer. See
• Person: includes an individual, receiver, trustee, guardian, personal representative, fiduciary, representative of any kind, corporation, partnership, business trust, statutory trust, limited liability company, firm, association, or other nongovernmental entity. See
• state: means :
  
  (1) a state, possession, territory, or commonwealth of the United States; or
  
  (2) the District of Columbia. See