Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 3 > Chapter 12 - Small Claims Courts

• 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
• 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.
• 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

• Department: means a principal functional and administrative entity that:

  (a)is created by this chapter within the executive branch of state government;

  (b)is one of the 20 principal departments permitted under the constitution; and

  (c)includes its units. See Montana Code 2-15-102

• 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
• Director: means a department head specifically referred to as a director in this chapter and does not mean a commission, board, commissioner, or constitutional officer. See Montana Code 2-15-102
• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Montana Code 1-5-602
• 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}
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• 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

• 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.
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• 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

• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201