Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 5 > Chapter 37 - Municipal Improvements Act of 1999

• 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.
• Agency: means the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• 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.
• 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.
• Applicant: means the person who or nonprofit corporate entity that desires to form a charter school and files the necessary application with the South Carolina Public Charter School District Board of Trustees, the local school board of trustees in which the charter school is to be located, or the board of trustees or area commission of a public or independent institution of higher learning. See South Carolina Code 59-40-40
• 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.
• 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.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Boat: means a vessel. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Charter committee: means the governing body of a charter school formed by the applicant to govern through the application process and until the election of a board of directors is held. See South Carolina Code 59-40-40
• Charter fishing vessel: means a vessel used to transport recreational saltwater fishermen for hire and includes charter, party, and head boats. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• charter school: means a public, nonreligious, nonhome-based, nonprofit corporation forming a school that operates by sponsorship of a public school district, the South Carolina Public Charter School District, or a public or independent institution of higher learning, but is accountable to the board of trustees, or in the case of technical colleges, the area commission, of the sponsor which grants its charter. See South Carolina Code 59-40-40
• Charter school contract: means a fixed term, renewable contract between a charter school and a sponsor that outlines the roles, powers, responsibilities, and performance expectations for each party to the contract. See South Carolina Code 59-40-40
• 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.
• Commercial equipment: means :
  
  (a) any trawl, haul seine, gill net, channel net, bull rake, seed fork, grabs, escalator, or dredge; and
  
  (b) any net, seine, trap, pot, tongs, rake, fork, trotline, or other device or appliance when used for taking or attempting to take fish for a commercial purpose. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Commercial purpose: means :
  
  (a) being engaged in buying or selling fish;
  
  (b) taking or attempting to take fish in order to derive income or other consideration;
  
  (c) using commercial equipment; and
  
  (d) otherwise being engaged in the fisheries industry with the intent to derive income. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Commission: means the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• Commissioner: means the Chief Executive Officer of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, or a person designated by the commissioner to administer the provisions of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• 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
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Degree: includes , but is not limited to, any academic credential or designation not less than, but including associate, bachelor, master, doctor, or fellow, whether earned or honorary, which signifies, purports, or is generally taken to signify partial or satisfactory completion of the requirements of an academic, occupational, business, or other program of study beyond the secondary school level. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• Department: means the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources unless otherwise stated. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Department: means the Department of Natural Resources. See South Carolina Code 48-9-15
• 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:
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Dower: A widow
• Drop net: means a net mounted to a rigid frame with its diameter or diagonal width being eight feet or less and designed to be fished vertically by hand. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Elver: means all American eels (Anguilla rostrata) less than or equal to six inches in total length. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Entity: includes , but is not limited to, a person or group of persons. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• 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}
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• 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.
• 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
• Fork length: means the length of a fish laid flat and measured from the tip of the closed mouth (snout) to the center of the fork of the tail. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Gig: means a device used to spear fish by hand; to take fish by hand by use of a prong, spear, or similar device and includes bow and arrow. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Gill net: means a net which is designed to hang vertically and capture fish by entanglement usually of the head, gill covers, or preopercles, and does not include gill net for taking shad unless specified. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• 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
• 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.
• Herring: means all life stages of the river herrings being blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) and alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus). See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• 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
• 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.
• 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.
• License: means an agency permit, approval, or some similar form of written permission. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• 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.
• Live rock: means living saltwater organisms or an assemblage of them attached to a hard substrate including dead coral or rock. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Local school district: means any school district in the State except the South Carolina Public Charter School District and does not include special school districts. See South Carolina Code 59-40-40
• Mariculture: means controlled cultivation in confinement of marine and estuarine organisms in salt waters. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Marina: means a facility which provides mooring or dry storage for watercraft. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Marine resource: means any live, fresh, processed, or frozen whole, part, or portion of any marine organism, anadromous fish, or catadromous fish, to include shell deposits occurring upon or within state-owned bottoms and those lying above the mean high water mark if created by processes of natural accretion upon state-owned lands or bottoms. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Mile: means one nautical mile, being six thousand seventy-six feet. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• Nonpublic educational institution: includes , but is not limited to, any educational entity operating or soliciting in South Carolina and is not owned or operated in whole or in part by the State of South Carolina offering resident or correspondence courses beyond the secondary school level to students upon the payment of tuition or fees. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• 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.
• Operate: means to navigate, steer, drive, or be in control. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Operating or soliciting: means having actual presence within the State and includes for the purposes of application of this chapter:
  
  (a) an instructional site within South Carolina whether owned, leased, rented, or provided without charge;
  
  (b) instruction whether theoretical or clinical within or originating from South Carolina utilizing teachers, trainers, counselors, advisors, sponsors, or mentors;
  
  (c) an agent, recruiter, in-state liaison personnel, institution, or business that solicits for enrollment or credits or for the award of an educational credential; and
  
  (d) advertising, promotional material, or public solicitation in any form that targets South Carolina residents through distribution or advertising in the State. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• Operator: means the person who operates or has charge or command of the navigation or use of a vessel or watercraft. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• 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
• 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
• Parent: shall mean the natural or adoptive parent or the guardian having legal custody of a child eligible and entitled to receive a scholarship grant under this chapter who is actually paying or who will pay the tuition cost of attendance of such child at a school which qualifies such child to receive a grant under the terms of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 59-41-10
• 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, firm, partnership, association, organization, corporation, trust, or other legal entity or combination of the above. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• 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.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Private school: shall mean a private or independent elementary or high school which is not operated or controlled by any church, synagogue, sect or other religious organization or institution. See South Carolina Code 59-41-10
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Program: means an organized unit of subject matter in which instruction is offered within a given time and for which credit is given toward completion of training toward a predetermined occupational or academic credential. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• Public fishing pier: means piers open to the public which charge a fee to fish. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• 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.
• 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.
• Resident public school: means the school, other than a charter school, within whose attendance boundaries the charter school student's custodial parent or legal guardian resides. See South Carolina Code 59-40-40
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Revoke: means to rescind, cancel, or withdraw. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• Saltwater gamefish: means a species of saltwater fish designated as a saltwater gamefish in this title. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• School child: shall mean any person between the ages of six and twenty whose domicile is with his or her parent within the State and who is otherwise qualified to attend the public schools of any school district in which he or she resides. See South Carolina Code 59-41-10
• 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.
• Shad: means American or white shad (Alosa sapidissima) and hickory or skip-jack shad (Alosa mediocris). See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Shellfish: means oysters, clams, mussels, scallops, and all nonmotile molluscan fish having shells. 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
• solicitor: means a person who, for remuneration, enrolls or seeks to enroll, away from the nonpublic educational institution's premises, a resident of South Carolina in courses or programs of instruction or study offered by the nonpublic educational institution. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• Southern Cobia Management Zone: means all waters of this State south of 032? 31. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Sponsor: means the South Carolina Public Charter School District Board of Trustees, the local school board of trustees in which the charter school is to be located, as provided by law, a public institution of higher learning as defined in § 59-103-5, or an independent institution of higher learning as defined in § 59-113-50, from which the charter school applicant requested its charter and which granted approval for the charter school's existence. See South Carolina Code 59-40-40
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Suspend: means to stop. See South Carolina Code 59-58-20
• 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
• 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.
• Total length: means the length of a fish laid flat and measured from the closed mouth (snout) to the tip of the tail fin when pinched together. 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
• Trawling: means fishing with a trawl or having part of a trawl door in the water. 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.
• Trotline: means a single line or wire having numerous hooks or baits and is also called long line. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Use: means operate, navigate, or employ. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Vessel: means every description of watercraft, other than a seaplane regulated by the federal government, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. 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