Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 39-14 - Taxicabs and Limited Public Motor Vehicles

• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Certificate: means a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued to a common carrier. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
• Common carrier: means any person who holds himself, herself, or itself out to the general public as engaging in the transportation by motor vehicle of passengers for compensation in a taxicab or in a limited public motor vehicle. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
• Company: means and includes a person, firm, partnership, corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, association, joint-stock association or company, and his, her, its, or their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
• 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.
• Division: means the division of public utilities and carriers. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
• Driver: means any person operating a motor vehicle used for the transportation of passengers which he or she owns or is operating with the expressed or implied consent of the owner. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
• 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.
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• 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.
• 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}
• Limited public motor vehicle: means and includes every motor vehicle for hire, other than a jitney, as defined in § 39-13-1, or a taxicab, as defined in this chapter, equipped with a taximeter used for transporting members of the general public for compensation only from a designated location on private property to such points as may be directed by the passenger. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
• Motor carrier: means a common carrier by motor vehicle. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
• 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 and includes any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or company, and his, her, or its lessee, trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative, and, where the context requires, "driver" as defined in this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
• Taxicab: means and includes every motor vehicle for hire, other than a jitney as defined in § 39-13-1, equipped with a taximeter, used for transporting members of the general public for compensation to any place within this state as may be directed by a passenger on a call-and-demand basis, when the solicitation or acceptance of the passenger occurs within the location named in the certificate; provided, that the vehicle's driver may, if and when solicited on a public highway at any location at which he or she is discharging a passenger, which location is not shown in the certificate, provide transportation from the location only to a place named in the certificate. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
• Taximeter: means any instrument or device by which the charge for transportation in any taxicab or limited public motor vehicle is mechanically calculated and indicated by means of figures, either for distances traveled or for waiting time, or for both. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-14-1
• town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.