Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 4-13.1 - Regulation of Vicious Dogs

• Alcoholic: means a person who habitually lacks self-control as to the use of alcoholic beverages, or uses alcoholic beverages to the extent that his or her health is substantially impaired or endangered or his or her social or economic function is substantially disrupted;

  (2)  "Approved private treatment facility" means a private agency meeting the standards prescribed in Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.10-2

• 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.
• Approved public treatment facility: means a treatment agency operating under the direction and control of the department or providing treatment under this chapter through a contract with the department under Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.10-2
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Artificially produced radioactive material: means any radioactive material other than by-product material, special nuclear material, and source material which is produced by any unnatural process such as through the bombardment of material with high energy atomic particles. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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.
• By-product material: means any radioactive material except special nuclear material yielded in or made radioactive by exposure to the radiation incident to the process of producing or utilizing special nuclear material. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1
• Code: means a standard body of rules for safety and health formulated, adopted, and issued by the commission under the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.1-1
• Committee membership: Legislators are assigned to specific committees by their party. Seniority, regional balance, and political philosophy are the most prominent factors in the committee assignment process.
• 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.
• 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.
• Department: means department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals;

  (5)  "Director" means the director of the department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals;

  (6)  "Incapacitated by alcohol" means a person, who as a result of the use of alcohol is intoxicated to such an extent that he or she is unconscious or has his or her judgment otherwise so impaired that he or she is incapable of realizing and making a rational decision with respect to his or her need for treatment;

  (7)  "Incompetent person" means a person who has been adjudged incompetent by the probate court of the city and town in which the person resides, or any other court of competent jurisdiction;

  (8)  "Intoxicated person" means a person whose mental or physical functioning is substantially impaired as a result of the use of alcohol;

  (9)  "Treatment" means the broad range of emergency, outpatient, intermediate, and inpatient services and care, including diagnostic evaluation, medical, psychiatric, psychological, and social service care, vocational rehabilitation and career counseling, which may be extended to alcoholics and intoxicated persons. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.10-2

• Department: means the department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Director: means the director of health or his or her duly authorized representative. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.1-1
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Electronic product: means any manufactured product or device or component part of a product or device that has an electronic circuit which during operation can generate or emit a physical field of radiation. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Employ: means the use of any services of an employee for compensation and includes to suffer or permit to work. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.1-1
• Employee: means an individual who is employed by an employer. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.1-1
• Employer: means a person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, receiver, or trustee in bankruptcy having one or more persons in his, her, or its employ, a state agency, or an agency of a political subdivision of the state, or any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.1-1
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• 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
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• 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}
• Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
• Naturally occurring radioactive material: means any radioactive material that is not otherwise defined in this section and whose origin is wholly the result of natural processes. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• 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.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Person: means any individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, trust, estate, public or private institution, group, agency, political subdivision of this state, any other state or political subdivision or agency of any other state, and any legal successor, representative, agent or agency of these, and other than federal government agencies licensed by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or any successor to the commission. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Radiation: means :

  (i)  Ionizing radiation including gamma rays, x-rays, alpha particles, beta particles, and other atomic or nuclear particles or rays; and

  (ii)  Any electromagnetic radiation that can be generated during the operation of a microwave oven. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1

• Radiation source: means any material or electronic product capable of emitting radiation. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1
• Radioactive material: means any material, solid, liquid, or gas, that emits ionizing radiation spontaneously. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Registration: means the proper completion and filing with the state radiation control agency of a form provided by the agency, and containing information that the agency may require by its regulations. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1
• 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.
• Source material: means :

  (i)  Uranium, thorium, or any other material which the director of health declared by order to be a source material after the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or any successor to the commission, has determined the material to be source material; or

  (ii)  Ores containing one or more of the materials listed in paragraph (i), in a concentration that the director of health declared by order to be source material after the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or any successor to the commission, has determined the material in that concentration to be source material. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1

• Special nuclear material: means :

  (i)  Plutonium, uranium 233, uranium enriched in the isotope 233 or in the isotope 235, and any other material which the director of health declared by order to be special nuclear material after the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or any successor to the commission, has determined the material to be special nuclear material, but does not include source material; or

  (ii)  Any material artificially enriched by any of the material listed in paragraph (i), but does not include source material. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1

• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• 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
• 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
• 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: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8
• Unnecessary radiation: means radiation used in a manner that may present a hazard to the health of the people or the industrial or agricultural potentials or the ecology or wildlife of the state. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.3-1
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writ of certiorari: An order issued by the Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case for which it will hear on appeal.