Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 7-6 - Rhode Island Nonprofit Corporation Act

• 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.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Articles of incorporation: means the original or restated articles of incorporation or articles of consolidation and all amendments to it, including articles of merger and special acts of the general assembly creating corporations and/or entities. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Authorized representative: means a person who is duly authorized by a nonprofit corporation's board of directors to act on behalf of the nonprofit corporation. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board of directors: means the group of persons vested with the management of the affairs of the corporation (including, without being limited to, a board of trustees) regardless of the name by which the group is designated. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• Bylaws: means the code or codes of rules adopted for the regulation or management of the affairs of the corporation regardless of the name, or names, by which the rules are designated. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• 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.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means a member of a board of directors. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Domestic corporation: means a nonprofit corporation subject to the provisions of this chapter, except a foreign corporation. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• Electronic transmission: means any form of communication, not directly involving the physical transmission of paper, that creates a record that may be retained, retrieved, and reviewed by a recipient thereof and that may be directly reproduced in paper form by such a recipient through an automated process. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• Entity: includes a domestic or foreign business corporation, domestic or foreign nonprofit corporation, domestic or foreign unincorporated entity, estate, trust, state, the United States, a foreign government, or a governmental subdivision. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• 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}
• 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.
• executed: means an original signature, facsimile, or an electronically transmitted signature submitted through a medium provided and authorized by the secretary of state. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• Filing: means delivered to the secretary of state in either paper format or electronic transmission through a medium provided and authorized by the secretary of state. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• Foreign corporation: means a nonprofit corporation organized under laws other than the laws of this state. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• 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.
• 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
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Insolvent: means inability of a corporation to pay its debts as they become due in the usual course of its affairs. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Member: means one having membership rights in a corporation in accordance with the provisions of its articles of incorporation or bylaws regardless of the name by which the person is designated. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• Nonprofit corporation: means a corporation of which no part of the income or profit is distributable to its members, directors, or officers, except as otherwise expressly permitted by this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2
• 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.
• 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
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• 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.
• real estate: may be construed to include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and rights thereto and interests therein. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-10
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• seal: shall be construed to include an impression of the seal made with or without the use of wax or wafer on the paper. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-15
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• 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
• Volunteer: means an individual performing services for a nonprofit corporation without compensation. See Rhode Island General Laws 7-6-2