Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 2 > Chapter 15 - Legislative Audit Council

• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Annual percentage rate: The cost of credit at a yearly rate. It is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan so borrowers can compare loans. Lenders are required by law to disclose a card account's APR. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• 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
• Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assessment lien: means :
  
  (a) a lien for delinquent assessments as to timeshare estates; or
  
  (b) a lien for unpaid taxes and special assessments. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• association: means an entity developed to manage and maintain a planned community or horizontal property regime for which there is a declaration requiring a person, by virtue of his ownership of a separate property within the planned community or horizontal property regime, to pay assessments for a share of real estate taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance, or improvement of, or services or other expenses related to, common elements and other real estate described in that declaration. See South Carolina Code 27-30-120
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Bailee: means the person who by a warehouse receipt, bill of lading or other document of title acknowledges possession of goods and contracts to deliver them. See South Carolina Code 36-7-102
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• 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}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Carrier: means a person who issues a bill of lading. See South Carolina Code 36-7-102
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Claim of lien: means a claim of a recorded assessment lien. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• 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.
• Commission: means the South Carolina Real Estate Commission. See South Carolina Code 27-50-10
• 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.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consignee: means the person named in a bill of lading to whom or to whose order the bill promises delivery. See South Carolina Code 36-7-102
• Consignor: means the person named in a bill of lading as the person from whom the goods have been received for shipment. See South Carolina Code 36-7-102
• Consumer: means consumer as defined in § 37-1-301(10). See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• conversion of rental units to condominium ownership: means the establishment of a horizontal property regime encompassing a preexisting building which, at anytime prior to the recording of the master deed or master lease, was wholly or partially occupied by persons as their residence on a permanent or at least a continuing basis other than persons who, at the time of such recording, had contractual rights to acquire condominium ownership within the building. See South Carolina Code 27-31-410
• 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.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Credit bureau: An agency that collects individual credit information and sells it for a fee to creditors so they can make a decision on granting loans. Typical clients include banks, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and other financing companies. (Also commonly referred to as consumer-reporting agency or credit-reporting agency.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Credit counseling organization: means a person providing or offering to provide to consumers credit counseling services for a fee, compensation, or gain, or in the expectation of a fee, compensation, or gain, including debt management plans. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• Credit counseling service: means :
  
  (a) receiving or offering to receive funds from a consumer for the purpose of distributing the funds among the consumer's creditors in full or partial payment of the consumer's debts;
  
  (b) improving or offering to improve a consumer's credit record, history, or rating;
  
  (c) negotiating or offering to negotiate to defer or reduce a consumer's obligations with respect to credit extended by others. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• Credit counselor: means an employee or agent of a credit counseling organization engaging in services described in item (3). See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• Creditor: means the person who grants credit in a consumer credit transaction or, except as otherwise provided, an assignee of a creditor's right to payment, but the term does not in itself impose on an assignee an obligation of his assignor. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• Cross examine: Questioning of a witness by the attorney for the other side.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Debtor: means the person or persons for whom the credit counseling service is performed. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Declarant: means a person or group of persons acting in concert who:
  
  (a) as part of a common promotional plan, subdivide and offer to dispose of an interest the person or group has in a unit in real property; or
  
  (b) reserve or succeed to a special declarant right, which means a right created under the declaration or bylaws for the person or group to retain or exercise authority in addition to regular declarant rights in a unit of real property. See South Carolina Code 27-30-120
• Declaration: means the recorded instruments, however denominated, that create a homeowners association, including amendments to those instruments. See South Carolina Code 27-30-120
• 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.
• Delivery order: means a record that contains an order to deliver goods directed to a warehouse, carrier or other person that in the ordinary course of business issues warehouse receipts or bills of lading. See South Carolina Code 36-7-102
• Department: means the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Disclosure statement: means a residential property condition disclosure statement written on a form as required by this article and as promulgated by regulations of the commission. See South Carolina Code 27-50-10
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• DMP: means a program in which an organization agrees to engage in debt settlement or debt pooling and distribution services on behalf of a consumer with the consumer's creditors and under which the consumer gives money or control of his funds to the organization for distribution to the consumer's creditors. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• Document: means document of title as defined in the general definitions in Chapter 1 of this title. See South Carolina Code 36-7-102
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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 Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{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.
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Goods: means all things that are treated as movable for the purposes of a contract for storage or transportation. See South Carolina Code 36-7-102
• Governing documents: means declaration, master deeds, or bylaws, or any amendments to the declaration, master deeds, or bylaws. See South Carolina Code 27-30-120
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Homeowner: means a declarant or other person who owns a unit in a homeowners association, but does not include a person having an interest in such a unit solely as security for an obligation. See South Carolina Code 27-30-120
• 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.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• 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}
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Issuer: means a bailee who issues a document of title or, in the case of an unaccepted delivery order, the person who orders the possessor of goods to deliver. See South Carolina Code 36-7-102
• Joint session: When both chambers of a legislature adopt a concurrent resolution to meet together.
• Junior interest holder: means any person who has a lien or interest of record prior to the recording of the notice of sale against a timeshare estate in the county in which the timeshare estate is located which is inferior to the mortgage lien or assessment lien being foreclosed under this article. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• 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}
• Legal tender: coins, dollar bills, or other currency issued by a government as official money. ^{Source: U.S. Mint}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensee: means a person licensed pursuant to this chapter. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Lienholder: means a holder of an assessment lien or a holder of a mortgage lien, as applicable. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
• Listing agent: means a real estate licensee who represents an owner of real property in the sale, lease, or other transfer of the subject real property through the use of a written listing agreement as required by law. See South Carolina Code 27-50-10
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage lien: means a security interest in a timeshare estate created by a mortgage encumbering the timeshare estate. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagee: means a person holding a mortgage lien. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Mortgagor: means a person granting a mortgage lien. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• Nonprofit organization: means a person exempt from taxation pursuant to 26 U. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• Notice address: means :
  
  (a) as to an assessment lien, the address of the current obligor of a timeshare estate as reflected by the books and records of the timeshare plan. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• 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.
• Obligor: means either the mortgagor, the person obligated under a claim of lien, or the record owner of the timeshare estate as the context requires. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• Open-end credit: A credit agreement (typically a credit card) that allows a customer to borrow against a preapproved credit line when purchasing goods and services. The borrower is only billed for the amount that is actually borrowed plus any interest due. (Also called a charge account or revolving credit.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means each person having a recorded present or future interest in real estate who is identified in a real estate contract subject to this article, but does not include the owner or holder of a mortgage, deed of trust, mechanic's or materialman's lien, or other lien or security interest in the real property. See South Carolina Code 27-50-10
• 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: means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, unincorporated organization, or other form of entity, however organized, including a nonprofit organization. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
• 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.
• 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.
• Power of sale: means :
  
  (a) an express written agreement in a mortgage identifying the mortgagor, mortgagee, and the trustee; or
  
  (b) an express written provision in a timeshare instrument identifying the managing entity and the trustee which authorizes the trustee to sell the timeshare estate without judicial action at a foreclosure sale regularly conducted and duly held in accordance with this article. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• 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.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Purchaser: means each person or entity named as a purchaser, buyer, or tenant in a real estate contract subject to this article. See South Carolina Code 27-50-10
• Real estate contract: means a contract for the transfer of ownership of real property. See South Carolina Code 27-50-10
• Real estate licensee: means an individual licensed under Title 40, Chapter 57. See South Carolina Code 27-50-10
• Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act: Federal law that, among other things, requires lenders to provide "good faith" estimates of settlement costs and make other disclosures regarding the mortgage loan. RESPA also limits the amount of funds held in escrow for real estate taxes and insurance. ^{Source: OCC}
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Real property: means the lot or parcel and the dwelling unit described in a real estate contract subject to this article. See South Carolina Code 27-50-10
• 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}
• 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.
• Rental management company: means a licensed property manager-in-charge or broker-in-charge and their associates and employees who manage vacation rentals. See South Carolina Code 27-50-230
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Residential property: means an apartment, condominium, single family home, townhouse, cottage, or other property devoted to residential use or occupancy by one or more persons for a definite or indefinite period. See South Carolina Code 27-50-230
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Right of rescission: Right to cancel, within three business days, a contract that uses the home of a person as collateral, except in the case of a first mortgage loan. There is no fee to the borrower, who receives a full refund of all fees paid. The right of rescission is guaranteed by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). ^{Source: OCC}
• Selling agent: means a real estate licensee who represents a purchaser of real property through the use of a written agency agreement as required by law, a real estate licensee who is a subagent as defined by law who represents the owner, or a dual agent as defined by law who represents both the purchaser and owner. See South Carolina Code 27-50-10
• 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.
• Shipper: means a person that enters into a contract of transportation with a carrier. See South Carolina Code 36-7-102
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• 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
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Timeshare instrument: means the document or documents which provide the legal framework for the establishment of the method of interval ownership of the timeshare estate and is or are recorded at the office of Register of Deeds in the county in which the timeshare estate is located. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• 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.
• 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.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Trustee: means any person entitled to exercise a power of sale. See South Carolina Code 27-32-310
• Truth in Lending Act: The Truth in Lending Act is a federal law that requires lenders to provide standardized information so that borrowers can compare loan terms. In general, lenders must provide information on ^{Source: OCC}
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• Unit: means an apartment in a horizontal property regime, or a lot in a subdivision. See South Carolina Code 27-30-120
• Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. ^{Source: OCC}
• Vacation rental: means the lease, sublease, or other rental of residential property for a period of fewer than ninety days, except that it does not include rental of residential property on a weekly or monthly basis pursuant to Chapter 40 of this title, the South Carolina Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. See South Carolina Code 27-50-230
• Vacation rental agreement: means a written agreement between an owner or the owner's rental management company and a tenant, in which the tenant rents residential property belonging to the owner for a vacation rental. See South Carolina Code 27-50-230
• Vacation rental management agreement: means a written agreement between an owner and the owner's rental management company, in which the rental management company manages residential property belonging to the owner for a vacation rental. See South Carolina Code 27-50-230
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Warehouse: means a person engaged in the business of storing goods for hire. See South Carolina Code 36-7-102
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.