Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 1 > Chapter 1 - General Provisions

• Acknowledgment: means a declaration by an individual appearing before a notarial officer that the individual has willingly signed a record for the purposes stated in the record and, if the record is signed in a representative capacity, that the individual signed the record with proper authority and signed the record as the act of the individual or entity identified in the record. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• 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.
• Affidavit: means a sworn written declaration made before an officer authorized to administer oaths or an unsworn written declaration made under penalty of perjury as provided in 1-6-105. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Agency: means any board, bureau, commission, department, authority, or officer of the state or local government authorized by law to make rules, determine contested cases, or enter into contracts except:

  (a)the legislature and any branch, committee, or officer thereof;

  (b)the judicial branches and any committee or officer thereof;

  (c)the governor, except that an agency is not exempt because the governor has been designated as a member thereof; or

  (d)the state military establishment and agencies concerned with civil defense and recovery from hostile attack. See Montana Code 2-3-102

• Agency action: means the whole or a part of the adoption of an agency rule, the issuance of a license or order, the award of a contract, or the equivalent or denial thereof. See Montana Code 2-3-102
• 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.
• Appearing before: means :

  (a)being in the same physical location as another person and close enough to see, hear, communicate with, and exchange identification credentials with that individual; or

  (b)interacting with another individual by means of communication technology in compliance with this part. See Montana Code 1-5-602

• 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
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Business: includes a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, trust or foundation, or any other individual or organization carrying on a business, whether or not operated for profit. See Montana Code 2-2-102
• Caucus: From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of members of the legislature that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
• Certification of fact: means a notarial act in which a notary reviews public or vital records or other legally accessible data to ascertain or confirm any of the following facts:

  (a)date of birth, death, marriage, or divorce, or that an individual is alive;

  (b)name of parent, marital partner, offspring, or sibling;

  (c)that an event has occurred; or

  (d)any matter authorized by law or rule of this state for certification by a notary public. See Montana Code 1-5-602

• 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.
• codes: means the Montana Code Annotated, which is a reenactment of the Revised Codes of Montana, 1947, as provided in 1-11-103. See Montana Code 1-11-101
• Communication technology: means a real-time, two-way audiovisual electronic device or process that:

  (a)allows a notarial officer located in this state and a remotely located individual to communicate with each other simultaneously by sight and sound;

  (b)facilitates communication with a remotely located individual with a vision, hearing, or speech impairment when necessary under and consistent with applicable law; and

  (c)complies with this part and implementing rules. See Montana Code 1-5-602

• Compensation: means any money or economic benefit conferred on or received by any person in return for services rendered or to be rendered by the person or another. See Montana Code 2-2-102
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Congressional Record: The substantially verbatim account of daily proceedings in Congress. It is printed for each day Congress is in session. At the back of each daily issue is the "Daily Digest," which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities.
• 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.
• Credential analysis: means a process or service operating according to criteria approved by the secretary of state through which a third person affirms the validity of a government-issued identification credential through review of public and proprietary data sources. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Customary: means according to usage. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• 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.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Deposition: means a written declaration under oath or affirmation, made upon notice to the adverse party for the purpose of enabling the adverse party to attend and cross-examine. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• 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:
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Dynamic knowledge-based authentication assessment: means an identity assessment that is based on a set of questions formulated from public or private data sources that does not contain a question for which the principal provided a prior answer to the entity doing the assessment. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Electronic notarization system: means a set of applications, programs, hardware, software, or technologies designed to enable a notary public to perform electronic notarizations that renders every electronic notarial act tamper-evident through the use of a security procedure and that meets the requirements of this part and implementing rules. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Electronic signature: means an electronic symbol, sound, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by an individual with the intent to sign the record. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Enrolled bill: The final copy of a bill or joint resolution which has passed both chambers in identical form. It is printed on parchment paper, signed by appropriate officials, and submitted to the President/Governor for signature.
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• 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.
• Federal statute: means a federal statute that is in accord with the United States constitution and that imposes mandates on state or local governments. See Montana Code 2-1-403
• Female: means a member of the human species who, under normal development, has XX chromosomes and produces or would produce relatively large, relatively immobile gametes, or eggs, during her life cycle and has a reproductive and endocrine system oriented around the production of those gametes. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Folio: when used as a measure for computing fees, means 100 words, counting every two letters or numbers necessarily used as a word. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Identification credential: means a government-issued record evidencing an individual's identity. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Identity proofing: means a process or service by which a third person provides a notarial officer with a means to verify the identity of a principal by:

  (a)a review of personal information from public or proprietary data sources; or

  (b)biometric data including but not limited to facial recognition, voice analysis, or fingerprint analysis. See Montana Code 1-5-602

• In a representative capacity: means acting as:

  (a)an authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee, or other representative for a person other than an individual;

  (b)a public officer, personal representative, guardian, or other representative, in the capacity stated in a record;

  (c)an agent or attorney-in-fact for a principal; or

  (d)an authorized representative of another in any other capacity. See Montana Code 1-5-602

• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• 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.
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• Judicial officer: includes all judicial officers, justices, district court judges, and judges of the judicial branch of state government. See Montana Code 2-2-102
• Judicial officers: means justices of the supreme court, judges of the district courts, justices of the peace, municipal judges, and city judges. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• 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.
• Jurisprudence: The study of law and the structure of the legal system.
• Knowingly: means only a knowledge that the facts exist which bring the act or omission within the provisions of this code. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• 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 council: means the statutory committee established in 5-11-101. See Montana Code 2-1-403
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local government: means a municipality, a county, or a consolidated city-county government. See Montana Code 2-1-601
• Local government: means a county, a consolidated government, an incorporated city or town, a school district, or a special district. See Montana Code 2-2-102
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• Majority leader: means the leader of the majority party, elected by the caucus as provided in 5-2-221. See Montana Code 1-1-208
• Majority party: means the party with the most members in a house of the legislature, subject to subsection (2). See Montana Code 1-1-208
• Majority whip: See Whips.
• Male: means a member of the human species who, under normal development, has XY chromosomes and produces or would produce small, mobile gametes, or sperm, during his life cycle and has a reproductive and endocrine system oriented around the production of those gametes. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• meeting: means the convening of a quorum of the constituent membership of a public agency or association described in 2-3-203, whether corporal or by means of electronic equipment, to hear, discuss, or act upon a matter over which the agency has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power. See Montana Code 2-3-202
• Minority party: means the party with the second most members in a house of the legislature, subject to subsection (2). See Montana Code 1-1-208
• Notarial act: means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer may perform under the law of this state. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Notarial officer: means a notary public or other individual authorized to perform notarial acts. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• notary: means an individual commissioned to perform a notarial act by the secretary of state. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes an affirmation or declaration. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Oath or affirmation: means a solemn verbal promise by which a person knowingly and willingly attests to the truthfulness of a statement and that is administered by a notarial officer. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• 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.
• official action: means a vote, decision, recommendation, approval, disapproval, or other action, including inaction, that involves the use of discretionary authority. See Montana Code 2-2-102
• Official record: means a record or copy of a record attested by the officer or the officer's deputy with legal custody of the record that is accompanied by a certificate that the officer has custody of the record. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Official stamp: means a physical image affixed to or embossed on a tangible record or an electronic image attached to or logically associated with an electronic record. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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 an individual, corporation, business trust, statutory trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: means money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• 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.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Policy: means a formal or informal rule, order, ordinance, or policy, whether written or unwritten. See Montana Code 2-1-601
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• 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.
• Principal: means :

  (a)an individual whose signature is notarized; or

  (b)an individual taking an oath or affirmation from the notary public but not in the capacity of a credible or other witness for the notarial act. See Montana Code 1-5-602

• Printing: means the act of reproducing a design on a surface by any process. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Private interest: means an interest held by an individual that is:

  (a)an ownership interest in a business;

  (b)a creditor interest in an insolvent business;

  (c)an employment or prospective employment for which negotiations have begun;

  (d)an ownership interest in real property;

  (e)a loan or other debtor interest; or

  (f)a directorship or officership in a business. See Montana Code 2-2-102

• 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.
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Public employee: means :

  (a)any temporary or permanent employee of the state, including an employee of the judicial branch;

  (b)any temporary or permanent employee of a local government;

  (c)a member of a quasi-judicial board or commission or of a board, commission, or committee with rulemaking authority; and

  (d)a person under contract to the state. See Montana Code 2-2-102

• Public information: has the meaning provided in 2-6-1002. See Montana Code 2-2-102
• Public key certificate: means an electronic credential that is used to identify an individual who signed an electronic record with the credential and is issued and managed by a third-party provider utilizing public key infrastructure technology. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Public key infrastructure technology: means a method of enabling a user of an unsecured public network, including the internet, to securely and privately exchange data and money through a public and private cryptographic key pair that is obtained and shared through a trusted certificate authority that provides for:

  (a)a digital certificate that is able to identify an individual or organization; and

  (b)a directory service that is able to store and, if necessary, revoke a digital certificate. See Montana Code 1-5-602

• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Public officer: includes any state officer and any elected officer of a local government. See Montana Code 2-2-102
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Recodify: means to compile, arrange, rearrange, and prepare for publication. See Montana Code 1-11-101
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Remote notarization: means a notarial act performed by means of communication technology on a tangible record that meets the standards adopted under this part. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Remote online notarization: means a notarial act or notarization performed by means of communication technology and an electronic notarization system on an electronic record that meets the standards adopted under this part. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Remote presentation: means transmission to the notarial officer through communication technology of an image of a government-issued identification credential that is of sufficient quality to enable the notarial officer to:

  (a)identify the individual seeking the notarial officer's services; and

  (b)visually review the identity credential and its data; and

  (c)perform credential analysis. See Montana Code 1-5-602

• Rule: means any agency regulation, standard, or statement of general applicability that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or policy or describes the organization, procedures, or practice requirements of any agency. See Montana Code 2-3-102
• Security procedure: means a procedure employed for the purpose of verifying that an electronic signature, record, or performance is that of a specific person or for detecting changes or errors in the information in an electronic record. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• Several: means two or more. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Sex: means the organization of the body parts and gametes for reproduction in human beings and other organisms. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Sign: means , with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:

  (a)to execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or

  (b)to attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process. See Montana Code 1-5-602

• Signature: means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Signature witnessing: means the notarial act in which a notarial officer witnesses a principal execute a record knowingly and willingly for the purposes intended while appearing before the notarial officer. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Sole control: means at all times being in the direct physical custody of the notarial officer or safeguarded by the notarial officer with a password or other secure means of authentication or access. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Special district: means a unit of local government, authorized by law to perform a single function or a limited number of functions. See Montana Code 2-2-102
• Stamping device: means :

  (a)a physical device capable of affixing to or embossing on a tangible record an official stamp; or

  (b)an electronic device or process capable of attaching to or logically associating an official stamp with an electronic record. See Montana Code 1-5-602

• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• State agency: means an office, position, commission, committee, board, department, council, division, bureau, section, or any other entity or instrumentality of the executive branch of state government. See Montana Code 2-1-601
• State agency: includes :

  (i)the state;

  (ii)the legislature and its committees;

  (iii)all executive departments, boards, commissions, committees, bureaus, and offices;

  (iv)the university system; and

  (v)all independent commissions and other establishments of the state government. See Montana Code 2-2-102

• State letterhead: means an electronic or written document that contains the great seal of the state provided for in 1-1-501 or purports to be a document from the state, a state agency, or a local government. See Montana Code 2-2-102
• State officer: includes all elected officers and directors of the executive branch of state government as defined in 2-15-102 and all judicial officers, justices, district court judges, and judges of the judicial branch of state government. See Montana Code 2-2-102
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subscribing witness: means a person who sees a writing executed or hears it acknowledged and at the request of the party signs the person's name as a witness. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Tamper-evident: means that any change to a record must provide evidence of the change. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Third persons: means all persons who are not parties to the obligation or transaction concerning which the phrase is used. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Usage: means a reasonable and lawful public custom concerning transactions of the same nature as those which are to be affected thereby, existing at the place where the obligation is to be performed, and either known to the parties or so well established, general, and uniform that the parties must be presumed to have acted with reference thereto. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Usual: means according to usage. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.