Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 50 > Chapter 1 - General Provisions

• 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.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Boat: means a vessel. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• 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.
• convicted: means adjudication at trial or civil hearing and includes the entry of a plea of guilty, or nolo contendere, or the forfeiture of bail or collateral deposited to secure a defendant's appearance in court. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Crustacean: means all forms of crabs, shrimp, crayfish, stone crabs, lobsters, and other motile fish having a chitonized shell excluding snails and horseshoe crabs. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources unless otherwise stated. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• 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.
• 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.
• Fish: means finfish, shellfish including mollusks, crustaceans, horseshoe crabs, whelks (conchs), turtles, and terrapin or products thereof. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Fishing: means all activity and effort involved in taking or attempting to take fish. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• 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.
• Mile: means one nautical mile, being six thousand seventy-six feet. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Owner: means a person, other than a lienholder, who claims lawful possession of a vessel or outboard motor by virtue of legal title or equitable interest in it which entitled him to possession. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Person: means an individual, a partnership, a firm, a corporation, an association, or other legal entity. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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.
• privy: as used in this article shall be understood to include any and all buildings which are not connected with a system of sewage or with septic tanks of such construction and maintenance as are approved by the State Department of Health and Environmental Control and which are used for affording privacy in acts of urination or defecation. See South Carolina Code 44-55-210
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Saltwater gamefish: means a species of saltwater fish designated as a saltwater gamefish in this title. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Shoreline: means the line of mean high water along that portion of a land mass which is in direct contact with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Statutes at large: A chronological listing of the laws enacted each Congress. They are published in volumes numbered by Congress.
• Take: means to harass intentionally, hunt, capture, gather, harvest, remove, catch, wound, or kill or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, gather, harvest, remove, catch, wound, or kill. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Trap: is a n enclosed device used for taking fish, constructed to facilitate entry but prohibit or restrict exit of fish and is also called "pot". See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Use: means operate, navigate, or employ. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Watercraft: means anything used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on the water but does not include: a seaplane regulated by the federal government, water skis, aquaplanes, surfboards, windsurfers, tubes, rafts, and similar devices or anything that does not meet construction or operational requirements of the state or federal government for watercraft. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10