Terms Used In Minnesota Statutes > Chapter 626A - Wire, Electronic, or Oral Communications; Interception

• 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.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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
• Aural transfer: means a transfer containing the human voice at any point between and including the point of origin and the point of reception. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01
• Bureau: means the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01
• Chair: includes chairman, chairwoman, and chairperson. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Communications common carrier: means any individual, partnership, corporation, or association which provides telephone or telegraph service to subscribers or users pursuant to tariffs on file with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission or the Federal Communications Commission. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01
• Contents: when used with respect to any wire, electronic, or oral communication, includes any information concerning the substance, purport, or meaning of that communication. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01
• 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.
• court administrator: means the court administrator of the court in which the action or proceeding is pending, and "court administrator's office" means that court administrator's office. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• 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.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Electronic communication: means transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photooptical system but does not include:

  (1) a wire or oral communication;

  (2) a communication made through a tone-only paging device; or

  (3) a communication from a tracking device, defined as an electronic or mechanical device which permits the tracking of the movement of a person or object. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01

• Electronic communication service: means a service that provides to users of the service the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01
• Electronic storage: means :

  (1) a temporary, intermediate storage of a wire or electronic communication incidental to the electronic transmission of the communication; and

  (2) a storage of communication described in clause (1) by an electronic communication service for purposes of backup protection of the communication. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01

• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• estimated market value: has the meaning given in section 273. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• 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.
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• 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.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intercept: means the aural or other acquisition of the contents of any wire, electronic, or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01
• Investigative or law enforcement officer: means any officer of the United States or of a state or political subdivision thereof, or a University of Minnesota peace officer who is empowered by law to conduct investigations of or to make arrests for offenses enumerated in this chapter, or any attorney authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of such offenses. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01
• 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}
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Majority: means with respect to an individual the period of time after the individual reaches the age of 18. See Minnesota Statutes 645.451
• Manufacturer: means any person who is engaged in the business of manufacturing electronic, mechanical or other devices, or who otherwise produces any such device for sale or distribution. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01
• Oath: includes "affirmation" in all cases where by law an affirmation may be substituted for an oath; and in like cases "swear" includes "affirm" and "sworn" "affirmed. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• 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.
• Oral communication: means any oral communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying such expectation, but the term does not include any electronic communication. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01
• 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: means any individual, partnership, corporation, joint stock company, trust, or association, including but not limited to, the subscriber to the telephone or telegraph service involved and any law enforcement officer. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01
• Person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Readily accessible to the general public: means , with respect to a radio communication, that the communication is not:

  (1) scrambled or encrypted;

  (2) transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential parameters have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of the communication;

  (3) carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiary to a radio transmission;

  (4) transmitted over a communication system provided by a common carrier, unless the communication is a tone-only paging system communication; or

  (5) transmitted on frequencies allocated under part 25, subpart D, E, or F of part 74, or Part 94 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, unless in the case of a communication transmitted on a frequency allocated under Part 74 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations that is not exclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication is a two-way voice communication by radio. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01

• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• seal: includes an impression thereof upon the paper alone, as well as an impression on a wafer, wax, or other substance thereto attached. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• state: extends to and includes the District of Columbia and the several territories. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Tax: means any fee, charge, exaction, or assessment imposed by a governmental entity on an individual, person, entity, transaction, good, service, or other thing. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• User: means a person or entity who:

  (1) uses an electronic communication service; and

  (2) is duly authorized by the provider of the service to engage in the use. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01

• verified: when used in reference to writings, means supported by oath or affirmation. See Minnesota Statutes 645.45
• Wire communication: includes any electronic storage of the communication. See Minnesota Statutes 626A.01