Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 61 > Chapter 10 - Size -- Weight -- Load

• 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.
• 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.
• Axle: means a transverse beam that is the common axis of rotation of one or more wheels and that, to receive credit for allowable total gross loading, must be capable of continuously transmitting a proportionate share of the total gross load to the roadway when the axle is in operation. See Montana Code 61-10-104
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bus: means a motor vehicle designed for carrying more than 10 passengers and used for the transportation of persons and any other motor vehicle, other than a taxicab, designed and used for the transportation of persons for compensation. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Camper: means a structure designed to be mounted in the cargo area of a truck or attached to an incomplete vehicle for the purpose of providing shelter for persons. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Combination length: means the total length of a combination of vehicles, such as a truck tractor-semitrailer-trailer combination, measured from the front bumper of the motor vehicle to the back bumper or rear extremity of the last trailer, including the connection tongues. See Montana Code 61-10-104
• Combined trailer length: means the total length of a combination of trailers measured from the front of the first trailer, or the front bunk on a pole trailer, to the back of the last trailer, including the connection tongues and rear overhang. See Montana Code 61-10-104
• Commission: means the state transportation commission. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• 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.
• Dealer: means a person that, for commission or profit, engages in whole or in part in the business of buying, selling, exchanging, or accepting on consignment new or used motor vehicles, trailers, semitrailers, pole trailers, travel trailers, motorboats, sailboats, snowmobiles, off-highway vehicles, or special mobile equipment that is not registered in the name of the person. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of justice acting directly or through its duly authorized officers or agents. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Driver: means a person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• 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.
• farmer: means a person who operates a farm or who is directly involved in the cultivation of land or crops or the raising of livestock owned by or under the direct control of that person;

  (ii)"gross combination weight rating" means the value specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a combination or articulated vehicle;

  (iii)"gross vehicle weight rating" means the value specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a single vehicle; and

  (iv)"school bus" has the meaning provided in 49 C. See Montana Code 61-1-101

• For hire: means an action performed for remuneration of any kind, whether paid or promised, either directly or indirectly, or received or obtained through leasing, brokering, or buy-and-sell arrangements from which a remuneration is obtained or derived for transportation service. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Gross vehicle weight: means the weight of a vehicle without load plus the weight of any load on the vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Hazardous material: means :

  (a)any material that has been designated as hazardous under 49 U. See Montana Code 61-1-101

• housetrailer: has the meaning provided in 15-24-201. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Implement of husbandry: means a vehicle that is designed for agricultural purposes and exclusively used by the owner of the vehicle in the conduct of the owner's agricultural operations. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• 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.
• 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
• length: means the total length of the vehicle combination beginning at the front of the front bumper of the truck or truck tractor and extending to the most distant end of the logs being hauled. See Montana Code 61-10-104
• Manufacturer: includes any person engaged in the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers, semitrailers, pole trailers, travel trailers, motorboats, sailboats, snowmobiles, or off-highway vehicles as a regular business. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Motor carrier: means a person or corporation or its lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by a court that are operating motor vehicles on a public highway in this state for the transportation of property for hire on a commercial basis. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Motor vehicle: means :

  (i)a vehicle propelled by its own power and designed or used to transport persons or property on the highways of the state;

  (ii)a quadricycle if it is equipped for use on the highways as prescribed in chapter 9; or

  (iii)a golf cart only if it is equipped for use on the highways as prescribed in chapter 9 and is operated pursuant to 61-8-391 or by a person with a low-speed restricted driver's license. See Montana Code 61-1-101

• motortruck: means a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Nonresident: means a person who is not a Montana resident. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Operator: means a person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Owner: means each person who holds the legal title to a vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Peace officer: has the meaning as defined in 46-1-202. See Montana Code 1-1-207
• person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, state agency, local government unit, another state government, the United States, a political subdivision of this or another state, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Pole trailer: means a vehicle without power designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach or pole or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads such as poles, pipes, or structural members capable generally of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• 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.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• public highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every publicly maintained way when any part of the publicly maintained way is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Recreational vehicle: includes a motor home, travel trailer, or camper. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Registration receipt: means a paper record that is produced and issued or, if authorized by the department, an electronic record that is transmitted by the department, its authorized agent, or a county treasurer to the owner of a vehicle that identifies a vehicle, based on information maintained in the electronic record of title for the vehicle, and that provides evidence of the payment of all fees required to be paid for the registration of the vehicle for the registration period indicated in the receipt. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• 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.
• Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Rocky Mountain double: means a combination of vehicles that includes a truck tractor pulling a long semitrailer and a shorter trailer. See Montana Code 61-10-104
• Semitrailer: means a vehicle, with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and constructed so that some part of its weight and that of its load rests on or is carried by another vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Special mobile equipment: means a vehicle not designed for the transportation of persons or property on the highways but incidentally operated or moved over the highways, including road construction or maintenance machinery, ditch-digging apparatus, and well-boring apparatus. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• 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
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Steering axle: means an axle that pivots at the hub to allow the wheel to follow the travel of the vehicle. See Montana Code 61-10-104
• Stinger-steered automobile transporter: means a truck tractor-semitrailer combination that has a fifth wheel on a drop frame located behind and below the rear axle of the truck tractor and that is designed and used for the transportation of vehicles. See Montana Code 61-10-104
• Stinger-steered boat transporter: means a truck tractor-semitrailer combination that has a fifth wheel on a drop frame located behind and below the rear axle of the truck tractor and that is designed and used for the transportation of assembled boats or boat hulls. See Montana Code 61-10-104
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Temporary registration permit: means a paper record:

  (a)issued by the department, an authorized agent, a county treasurer, or a person, using a department-approved electronic interface after an electronic record has been transmitted to the department, that contains:

  (i)required vehicle and owner information; and

  (ii)the purpose for which the record was generated; and

  (b)that, when placed in a durable license-plate style plastic pouch approved by the department and displayed as prescribed in 61-3-224, authorizes a person to operate the described motor vehicle, motorboat, sailboat that is 12 feet in length or longer, snowmobile, or off-highway vehicle for:

  (i)40 days from the date the record is issued or until the vehicle is registered under Title 23 or this title, whichever first occurs; or

  (ii)90 days from the date the record is issued for a permit issued pursuant to 61-3-303(4)(b). See Montana Code 61-1-101

• Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highways for purposes of travel. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Trailer: means a vehicle, with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and constructed so that no part of its weight rests on the towing vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Truck tractor: means a motor vehicle designed and used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not constructed to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and load drawn. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Vehicle: means a device in, on, or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn on a public highway, except devices moved by animal power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Wholesaler: means a person that for a commission or with intent to make a profit or gain of money or other thing of value sells, exchanges, or attempts to negotiate a sale or exchange of an interest in a used motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer, travel trailer, motorboat, snowmobile, off-highway vehicle, or special mobile equipment only to dealers and auto auctions licensed under chapter 4, part 1. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Willfully: when applied to the intent with which an act is done or omitted, means a purpose or willingness to commit the act or make the omission referred to. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203