Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 47 > Chapter 9 > Article 7 - Equine Liability Immunity

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Engages in an equine activity: means riding, training, providing, or assisting in providing medical treatment of, driving, or being a passenger upon an equine, mounted or unmounted, or a person assisting a participant or show management. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
• Equine: means a horse, pony, mule, donkey, or hinny. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
• Equine activity: means :
  
  (a) an equine show, fair, competition, performance, parade, or trail riding that involves a breed of equine and an equine discipline, including, but not limited to, dressage, hunter and jumper horse shows, grand prix jumping, three-day events, combined training, rodeos, driving, pulling, cutting, polo, steeplechasing, English and Western performance riding, trail riding and Western games, and hunting. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
• Equine activity sponsor: means an individual, a group, a club, a partnership, or a corporation, whether the sponsor is operating for profit or nonprofit, which sponsors, organizes, or provides the facilities for an equine activity, including, but not limited to, a pony club, 4-H club, hunt club, riding club, school and college-sponsored class, program, and activity, therapeutic riding program, and an operator, instructor, and promoter of an equine facility, including, but not limited to, a stable, clubhouse, ponyride string, fair, and an arena at which the activity is held or a landowner who has given permission for the use of his land in an equine activity either by easement or other means. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
• Equine professional: means a person engaged for compensation in:
  
  (a) instructing a participant or renting to a participant an equine for the purpose of riding, driving, or being a passenger upon the equine;
  
  (b) renting equipment or tack to a participant; or
  
  (c) examining or administering medical treatment to an equine as a veterinarian. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
• 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.
• Inherent risk of equine activity: means those dangers or conditions which are an integral part of equine activities, including, but not limited to:
  
  (a) the propensity of an equine to behave in ways that may result in injury, harm, or death to a person on or around the equine;
  
  (b) the unpredictability of an equine's reaction to sound, sudden movement, an unfamiliar object, a person, or another animal;
  
  (c) certain hazards such as surface and subsurface conditions;
  
  (d) collisions with other equines or objects; and
  
  (e) the potential of a participant to act in a negligent manner that may contribute to injury to the participant or others, as failing to maintain control over the animal or not acting within the participant's ability. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
• 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.
• Participant: means a person, amateur or professional, who engages in an equine activity, whether or not a fee is paid to participate in the equine activity. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
• 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.
• 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.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.