Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 16 > Chapter 15 - Offenses Against Morality and Decency

• 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.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Board: means the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Transportation Infrastructure Bank. See South Carolina Code 11-43-510
• Bonds: means bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness except as otherwise provided in Article 3 of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 11-43-130
• Claims: means a claim which was asserted by the plaintiffs in either suit, and any other claim which could have been asserted by the Catawba Indian Tribe or a Catawba Indian of a right, title, or interest in property, to trespass or property damages, or of a hunting, fishing, or other right to natural resources, if the claim is based upon aboriginal title, recognized title, or title by grant, patent, or treaty, including the Treaty of Pine Tree Hill of 1760, the Treaty of Augusta of 1763, or the Treaty of Nation Ford of 1840. See South Carolina Code 27-16-30
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Conservation easement: means a nonpossessory interest of a holder in real property imposing limitations or affirmative obligations, the purposes of which include one or more of the following:
  
  (a) retaining or protecting natural, scenic, or open-space aspects of real property;
  
  (b) ensuring the availability of real property for agricultural, forest, recreational, educational, or open-space use;
  
  (c) protecting natural resources;
  
  (d) maintaining or enhancing air or water quality;
  
  (e) preserving the historical, architectural, archaeological, or cultural aspects of real property. See South Carolina Code 27-8-20
• 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.
• Department of the Interior: refers to the United States Department of the Interior. See South Carolina Code 27-16-30
• 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.
• Existing Reservation: means that tract of approximately six hundred thirty acres conveyed to the State in trust for the Tribe by J. See South Carolina Code 27-16-30
• Federal implementing legislation: means all appropriate federal legislation necessary to enact and effect the terms, provisions, and conditions of the Settlement Agreement. See South Carolina Code 27-16-30
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• 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.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• 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.
• Holder: means :
  
  (a) a governmental body empowered to hold an interest in real property under the laws of this State or the United States; or
  
  (b) a charitable, not-for-profit or educational corporation, association, or trust the purposes or powers of which include one or more of the purposes listed in subsection (1). See South Carolina Code 27-8-20
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• 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.
• knowingly: means having general knowledge of the content of the subject material or performance, or failing after reasonable opportunity to exercise reasonable inspection which would have disclosed the character of the material or performance. See South Carolina Code 16-15-305
• 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}
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• patently offensive: means obviously and clearly disagreeable, objectionable, repugnant, displeasing, distasteful, or obnoxious to contemporary standards of decency and propriety within the community. See South Carolina Code 16-15-305
• person: means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, firm, club, or other legal or commercial entity. See South Carolina Code 16-15-305
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• prurient interest: means a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion and is reflective of an arousal of lewd and lascivious desires and thoughts. See South Carolina Code 16-15-305
• Real property: includes surface waters. See South Carolina Code 27-8-20
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Revenues: means , when used with respect to the bank, any receipts, fees, income, or other payments received or to be received by the bank including, without limitation, receipts and other payments deposited in the bank and investment earnings on its funds and accounts. See South Carolina Code 11-43-130
• Secretary: means the Secretary of the Department of the Interior or his designee, and "Department" or "Department of the Interior" refers to the United States Department of the Interior. See South Carolina Code 27-16-30
• 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.
• Settlement Agreement: means the written "Agreement in Principle" reached between the State and the Tribe and attached to the copy of the act enacting this chapter signed by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State. See South Carolina Code 27-16-30
• sexual conduct: means :
  
  (a) vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse, whether actual or simulated, normal or perverted, whether between human beings, animals, or a combination thereof;
  
  (b) masturbation, excretory functions, or lewd exhibition, actual or simulated, of the genitals, pubic hair, anus, vulva, or female breast nipples including male or female genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal or covered male genitals in a discernably turgid state;
  
  (c) an act or condition that depicts actual or simulated bestiality, sado-masochistic abuse, meaning flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in undergarments or in a costume which reveals the pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or female breast nipples, or the condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained on the part of the one so clothed;
  
  (d) an act or condition that depicts actual or simulated touching, caressing, or fondling of, or other similar physical contact with, the covered or exposed genitals, pubic or anal regions, or female breast nipple, whether alone or between humans, animals, or a human and an animal, of the same or opposite sex, in an act of actual or apparent sexual stimulation or gratification; or
  
  (e) an act or condition that depicts the insertion of any part of a person's body, other than the male sexual organ, or of any object into another person's anus or vagina, except when done as part of a recognized medical procedure. See South Carolina Code 16-15-305
• State: means South Carolina. See South Carolina Code 27-16-30
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Third-party right of enforcement: means a right provided by the grantor of the conservation easement to enforce selected terms of the conservation easement which is granted to a governmental body, a charitable, not-for-profit, or educational corporation, association, or trust, which though not the holder of the easement, is eligible to be the holder of such easement. See South Carolina Code 27-8-20
• Transportation infrastructure bonds: means all general obligation bonds of this State designated as transportation infrastructure bonds, which are now outstanding and which may hereafter be issued pursuant to the authorizations of this article. See South Carolina Code 11-43-510
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Tribe: means the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina as constituted in aboriginal times, which was party to the Treaty of Pine Tree Hill in 1760 as confirmed by the Treaty of Augusta in 1763, which was party also to the Treaty of Nation Ford in 1840, and which was the subject of the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Division of Assets Act, enacted September 29, 1959, codified at 25 U. See South Carolina Code 27-16-30
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.