Terms Used In New York Laws > Education > Title 8 > Article 151 - Shorthand Reporting

• 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.
• Biological agent: means any micro-organism, virus, infectious substance, or biological product that may be engineered as a result of biotechnology, or any naturally occurring or bioengineered component of any such micro-organism, virus, infectious substance, or biological product, capable of causing:
  
  (a) death, disease, or other biological malfunction in a human, an animal, a plant, or another living organism;
  
  (b) deterioration of food, water, equipment, supplies, or material of any kind; or
  
  (c) deleterious alteration of the environment. See N.Y. Penal Law 490.05
• Biological weapon: means any biological agent, toxin, vector, or delivery system or combination thereof. See N.Y. Penal Law 490.05
• Chemical weapon: means the following, together or separately:
  
  (a) a toxic chemical or its precursors;
  
  (b) a munition or device specifically designed to cause death or other harm through the toxic properties of a toxic chemical or its precursors, which would be released as a result of the employment of such munition or device;
  
  (c) any equipment specifically designed for use directly in connection with the employment of munitions or devices; or
  
  (d) any device that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life. See N.Y. Penal Law 490.05
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• 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.
• Delivery system: means :
  
  (a) any apparatus, equipment, device, or means of delivery specifically designed to deliver or disseminate a biological agent, toxin, or vector; or
  
  (b) any vector. See N.Y. Penal Law 490.05
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• 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.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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).
• Select chemical agent: shall mean a chemical weapon which has been identified in regulations promulgated pursuant to subdivision twenty of § 206 of the public health law. See N.Y. Penal Law 490.05
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Toxin: means the toxic material of plants, animals, micro-organisms, viruses, fungi, or infectious substances, or a recombinant molecule, whatever its origin or method of production, including:
  
  (a) any poisonous substance or biological product that may be engineered as a result of biotechnology produced by a living organism; or
  
  (b) any poisonous isomer or biological product, homolog, or derivative of such a substance. See N.Y. Penal Law 490.05