Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 1 > Chapter 7 > Article 1 - Attorney General and Assistants

• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• 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.
• Affordable housing: means in the case of dwelling units for sale, housing in which mortgage, amortization, taxes, insurance, and condominium or association fees, if any, constitute no more than twenty-eight percent of the annual household income for a household earning no more than eighty percent of the area median income, by household size, for the metropolitan statistical area as published from time to time by the U. See South Carolina Code 6-29-1110
• Agency: means an authority, board, branch, commission, committee, department, division, or other instrumentality of the executive department of state government, including administrative bodies and bodies corporate and politic established as an instrumentality of the State. See South Carolina Code 1-6-10
• 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.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• 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
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assessment: means a charge against the real property of an owner within an improvement district created pursuant to this chapter which may be based on assessed value, front footage, area, per parcel basis, the value of improvements to be constructed within the district, or any combination of them, as the basis is determined by the governing body of the municipality. See South Carolina Code 5-37-20
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• building: includes manufactured buildings but not manufactured housing or buildings heated to less than fifty degrees Fahrenheit. See South Carolina Code 6-10-20
• Building codes enforcement officer: means a person employed by a local jurisdiction, who is responsible for administering a building inspection department, enforcement or rendering interpretations of building, residential, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, fuel gas and energy conservation codes, performing building plan reviews, or performing inspections on one or more building systems. See South Carolina Code 6-8-10
• Capital offense: A crime punishable by death.
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Construction: means the erection, fabrication, reconstruction, alteration, conversion, or repair of a building, or the installation of equipment in a building. See South Carolina Code 6-10-20
• Construction trade discipline: means a discipline, other than any activity regulated by Chapter 13 of Title 46, related to the construction of a building including, but not limited to, building, electrical, gas, plumbing, mechanical, or energy services. See South Carolina Code 6-8-10
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contract inspector: means a person certified to perform a building inspection, other than a special inspection, in a construction trade discipline within a local jurisdiction on a contract basis. See South Carolina Code 6-8-10
• 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.
• County area: means a county and municipalities within the geographical boundaries of the county. See South Carolina Code 6-4-5
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Dower: A widow
• Employee: includes an individual who contracts with an agency for personal services. See South Carolina Code 1-6-10
• Equipment: means components associated with plumbing, heating, electrical, ventilating, air conditioning, lighting and refrigerating systems, and elevators, dumbwaiters, escalators, boilers, and pressure vessels. See South Carolina Code 6-10-20
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• General registration: means a current authorization issued by the South Carolina Building Codes Council for a person certified in multiple construction trade disciplines by a code organization recognized and approved by the council. See South Carolina Code 6-8-10
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: means the municipal council or other governing body in which the general governing powers of the municipality are vested. See South Carolina Code 5-37-20
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Improvement district: means any area within the municipality designated by the governing body pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and within which an improvement plan is to be accomplished. See South Carolina Code 5-37-20
• Improvement plan: means an overall plan by which the governing body proposes to effect improvements within an improvement district to preserve property values, prevent deterioration of urban areas, and preserve the tax base of the municipality, and includes an overall plan by which the governing body proposes to effect improvements within an improvement district in order to encourage and promote private or public development within the improvement district. See South Carolina Code 5-37-20
• Improvements: include open or covered malls, parkways, parks and playgrounds, recreation facilities, athletic facilities, pedestrian facilities, parking facilities, parking garages, and underground parking facilities, and facade redevelopment, the widening and dredging of existing channels, canals, and waterways used specifically for recreational or other purposes provided that the municipality, the State, or other public entity owns fee simple title or an easement for maintenance in these channels, canals, or waterways, the relocation, construction, widening, and paving of streets, roads, and bridges, including demolition of them, underground utilities, all activities authorized by Chapter 1 of Title 31 (State Housing Law), a building or other facilities for public use, a public works eligible for financing pursuant to the provisions of § 6-21-50, services or functions which a municipality in accordance with state law may by law provide, and all things incidental to the improvements, including planning, engineering, administration, managing, promotion, marketing, and acquisition of necessary easements and land, and may include facilities for lease or use by a private person, firm, or corporation. See South Carolina Code 5-37-20
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local jurisdiction: means a municipality or county of this State. See South Carolina Code 6-8-10
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• municipality: as used in this chapter shall be construed to mean any incorporated city or town located within this State. See South Carolina Code 5-3-290
• municipality: shall mean any incorporated city or town in this State. See South Carolina Code 5-29-20
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• off-street parking facilities: shall mean motor vehicular parking facilities of all sorts, including parking lots, buildings or ramps. See South Carolina Code 5-29-20
• on-street parking facilities: shall mean any system of parking meters, curb line or other, regulating the parking of motor vehicles on any street within the corporate limits of any municipality, requiring the payment of a charge for the right to make use of any portion of any street set apart for motor vehicular parking. See South Carolina Code 5-29-20
• Ordinance: means an ordinance adopted pursuant to § 6-29-530. See South Carolina Code 6-4-5
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means any person twenty-one years of age, or older, or the proper legal representative for any person younger than twenty-one years of age, and any firm or corporation, who or which owns legal title to a present possessory interest in real estate equal to a life estate or greater (expressly excluding leaseholds, easements, equitable interests, inchoate rights, dower rights, and future interest) and who owns, at the date of the petition or written consent, at least an undivided one-tenth interest in a single tract and whose name appears on the county tax records as an owner of real estate, and any duly organized group whose total interest is at least equal to a one-tenth interest in a single tract. See South Carolina Code 5-37-20
• 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.
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Political subdivision: includes a county, city, municipality, town, village, township, district, authority, special purpose district, school district, other local government entity, or other public corporation or entity whether organized and existing under charter or general law. See South Carolina Code 1-6-10
• 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.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Refunding Revenue Bond Act: shall mean §§ 6-17-10 through 6-17-320, as the same are now constituted, or as the same shall hereafter be amended. See South Carolina Code 5-29-20
• 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.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Revenue Bond Act: shall mean §§ 6-21-10 through 6-21-570, as the same are now constituted, or as the same shall hereafter be amended. See South Carolina Code 5-29-20
• 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.
• Special inspector: means a person certified to perform special inspections in one or more construction trade disciplines pursuant to the International Building Code. See South Carolina Code 6-8-10
• Special registration: means a current authorization issued by the South Carolina Building Codes Council for a person who holds a certification by a recognized code organization, approved by the council, in no more than one construction trade discipline. See South Carolina Code 6-8-10
• State officer: means any of the following:
  
  (a) the Governor;
  
  (b) the Lieutenant Governor;
  
  (c) the Secretary of State;
  
  (d) the State Comptroller General;
  
  (e) the State Treasurer;
  
  (f) the Attorney General;
  
  (g) the Superintendent of Education;
  
  (h) the Commissioner of Agriculture; or
  
  (i) the Adjutant General. See South Carolina Code 1-6-10
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subdivision: means all divisions of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots, building sites, or other divisions for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale, lease, or building development, and includes all division of land involving a new street or change in existing streets, and includes re-subdivision which would involve the further division or relocation of lot lines of any lot or lots within a subdivision previously made and approved or recorded according to law; or, the alteration of any streets or the establishment of any new streets within any subdivision previously made and approved or recorded according to law, and includes combinations of lots of record; however, the following exceptions are included within this definition only for the purpose of requiring that the local planning agency be informed and have a record of the subdivisions:
  
  (a) the combination or recombination of portions of previously platted lots where the total number of lots is not increased and the resultant lots are equal to the standards of the governing authority;
  
  (b) the division of land into parcels of five acres or more where no new street is involved and plats of these exceptions must be received as information by the planning agency which shall indicate that fact on the plats; and
  
  (c) the combination or recombination of entire lots of record where no new street or change in existing streets is involved. See South Carolina Code 6-29-1110
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• 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.
• Traditional neighborhood design: means development designs intended to enhance the appearance and functionality of the new development so that it functions like a traditional neighborhood or town. See South Carolina Code 6-29-1110
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• 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.
• Utility-related costs: means costs related to power, heat, gas, light, water, and sewage. See South Carolina Code 6-4-5
• Workforce housing: means residential housing for rent or sale that is appropriately priced for rent or sale to a person or family whose income falls within thirty percent and one hundred twenty percent of the median income for the local area, with adjustments for household size, according to the latest figures available from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). See South Carolina Code 6-4-5
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.