Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 22 > Chapter 3 > Part 9 - Repatriation of Human Remains and Funerary Objects

• Agency: means any department, bureau, commission, board, council, or political subdivision of the state of Montana, except an entity that is a cemetery board or has authority over a cemetery. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• 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.
• Board: means the burial preservation board established in 22-3-804. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• Burial site: has the meaning provided in 22-3-803. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• Claimant: means a claimant for repatriation under 22-3-912 and includes a tribal group, lineal descendant, or next of kin. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• Control: means having a legal interest in human skeletal remains or funerary objects sufficient to lawfully permit an agency or museum to treat the object as part of its collection for purposes of this part whether or not the human skeletal remains or funerary objects are in the physical custody of the agency or museum. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• 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.
• Cultural affiliation: means the existence of a shared group identity that can reasonably be traced historically or anthropologically between a tribal group and an identifiable earlier tribe. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• 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.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Funerary objects: means objects that, as part of a death rite or ceremony, are reasonably believed to have been placed with human skeletal remains at a specific burial site either at the time of death or later and which human skeletal remains are currently in the possession or control of an agency, museum, or person, either along with the human skeletal remains or that can be identified by a preponderance of the evidence to be related to specific known human skeletal remains not currently in the possession or control of the agency, museum, or person. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• Human skeletal remains: has the meaning provided in 22-3-803. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• Inventory: means an itemized list that summarizes the collection of human skeletal remains and funerary objects in the possession or control of an agency or museum. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• 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.
• Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
• Museum: means an entity or state or local government agency, including an educational institution, that receives state funding. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• 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.
• Person: includes a corporation, partnership, joint venture, estate, and any other legal entity, as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• Possessing entity: means an agency, museum, or person from whom repatriation is requested. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• Possession: means having physical custody of human skeletal remains or funerary objects with a sufficient legal interest to lawfully treat the human skeletal remains or funerary objects as part of a collection. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Right of possession: means :

  (a)possession obtained of nonculturally affiliated human skeletal remains or funerary objects; or

  (b)possession obtained with the voluntary consent of a group or individual that had authority of alienation over the human skeletal remains or funerary object. See Montana Code 22-3-903

• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Tribal group: has the meaning provided in 22-3-803. See Montana Code 22-3-903
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201