Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 11 > Chapter 9 > Article 1 - General Provisions

• 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.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the Department of Commerce. See South Carolina Code 11-56-20
• 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}
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• 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.
• Microenterprise: means any business, whether new or existing, with five or fewer employees, including startup, home-based, and self-employed businesses. See South Carolina Code 11-56-20
• Microloan: means any business loan up to twenty-five thousand dollars. See South Carolina Code 11-56-20
• Microloan delivery organization: means a community-based or nonprofit program that has developed a viable plan for providing training, access to financing, and technical assistance for microenterprises. See South Carolina Code 11-56-20
• 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.
• Operating costs: means the costs associated with administering a loan or a loan guaranty, administering a revolving loan program, or providing for business training and technical assistance to a microloan recipient. See South Carolina Code 11-56-20
• 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.
• Program: means the Microenterprise Partnership Program. See South Carolina Code 11-56-20
• 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.
• Statewide microlending support organization: means a community-based or nonprofit organization that has a demonstrated capacity and a plan for providing and administering grants or loans to microloan delivery organizations. See South Carolina Code 11-56-20