Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 26 > Chapter 2 - Electronic Notaries Public

• 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.
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Ascendant: means an individual who precedes another individual in lineage, in the direct line of ascent from the other individual. See South Carolina Code 15-61-320
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• clerk: as used in this title , signifies the clerk of the court where the action is pending and, in the Supreme Court or the court of appeals, the clerk of the county mentioned in the title of the complaint or in another county to which the court may have changed the place of trial, unless otherwise specified. See South Carolina Code 15-1-60
• Collateral: means an individual who is related to another individual under the law of intestate succession of this State, but who is not the other individual's ascendant or descendant. See South Carolina Code 15-61-320
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Descendant: means an individual who follows another individual in lineage, in the direct line of descent from the other individual. See South Carolina Code 15-61-320
• Determination of value: means a court order determining the fair market value of heirs' property under § 15-61-360 or § 15-61-400 or adopting the valuation of the property agreed to by all cotenants. See South Carolina Code 15-61-320
• 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.
• 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.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit 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.
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Manifest injury: means a result that is obviously unfair or shocking to the conscience and is direct, obvious, and observable when considering the factors under § 15-61-390(A). See South Carolina Code 15-61-320
• Partition by allotment: means a court-ordered partition of the heirs' property where ownership to all or a portion of the heirs' property is granted to one or more cotenants proportionate in value to their interests in the entire heirs' property parcel, with adjustments being made for payment to compensate other cotenants for the value of their respective interests in the heirs' property. See South Carolina Code 15-61-320
• Partition by sale: means a court-ordered sale of the entire heirs' property, whether by auction, sealed bids, or open-market sale, conducted under § 15-61-400. See South Carolina Code 15-61-320
• Partition in kind: means the division of heirs' property into physically distinct and separately titled parcels. See South Carolina Code 15-61-320
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• property: as used in this Title , includes both real and personal property. See South Carolina Code 15-1-50
• real estate: as used in this Title are coextensive with lands, tenements and hereditaments. See South Carolina Code 15-1-30
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See South Carolina Code 15-61-320
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Relative: means an ascendant, descendant, or collateral, or an individual otherwise related to another individual by blood, marriage, adoption, or law of this State other than this article, and for purposes of this article, who owned or owns an interest in the heirs' property. See South Carolina Code 15-61-320
• Sole ownership: The type of property ownership in which one individual holds legal title to the property and has full control of it.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.