Terms Used In Utah Code > Title 76 > Chapter 1 - General Provisions

• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Act: means a voluntary bodily movement and includes speech. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• Actor: means a person whose criminal responsibility is in issue in a criminal action. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• Armed forces: means the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• authority: means a public body corporate and politic created by this part. See Utah Code 35A-8-401
• Bodily injury: means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• Bonds: means bonds, notes, interim certificates, debentures, or other obligations issued by an authority under this part. See Utah Code 35A-8-401
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Conduct: means an act or omission. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Federal government: includes the United States of America, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or any other agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States. See Utah Code 35A-8-401
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Housing project: includes :
            (11)(b)(i) buildings, land, equipment, facilities, and other real or personal property for necessary, convenient, or desirable appurtenances;
            (11)(b)(ii) streets, sewers, water service, utilities, parks, site preparation and landscaping;
            (11)(b)(iii) facilities for administrative, community, health, recreational, welfare, or other purposes;
            (11)(b)(iv) the planning of the buildings and other improvements;
            (11)(b)(v) the acquisition of property or any interest in the property;
            (11)(b)(vi) the demolition of existing structures;
            (11)(b)(vii) the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, alteration, or repair of the improvements and all other work in connection with them; and
            (11)(b)(viii) all other real and personal property and all tangible or intangible assets held or used in connection with the housing project. See Utah Code 35A-8-401
• Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
• 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.
• 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.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• Land: includes :
       (18)(a) land;
       (18)(b) a tenement;
       (18)(c) a hereditament;
       (18)(d) a water right;
       (18)(e) a possessory right; and
       (18)(f) a claim. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• obligee: includes a bondholder, agent or trustee for a bondholder, a lessor demising to the authority used in connection with a project, an assignee or assignees of the lessor's interest in whole or in part, and the federal government when it is a party to a contract with the authority. See Utah Code 35A-8-401
• Offense: means a violation of any penal statute of this state. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• Omission: means a failure to act when there is a legal duty to act and the actor is capable of acting. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• 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 an individual, public or private corporation, government, partnership, or unincorporated association. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• Personal property: includes :
       (25)(a) money;
       (25)(b) goods;
       (25)(c) chattels;
       (25)(d) effects;
       (25)(e) evidences of a right in action;
       (25)(f) a written instrument by which a pecuniary obligation, right, or title to property is created, acknowledged, transferred, increased, defeated, discharged, or diminished; and
       (25)(g) a right or interest in an item described in Subsections (25)(a) through (f). See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• 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.
• Plea agreement: An arrangement between the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the defendant in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for special considerations. ^Source:
• 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.
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• project: means a work or undertaking, on contiguous or noncontiguous sites to:
            (11)(a)(i) demolish, clear, or remove buildings from a blighted area;
            (11)(a)(ii) provide or assist in providing decent, safe, and sanitary urban or rural dwellings, apartments, or other living accommodations for persons of medium and low income by any suitable methods, including rental, sale of individual units in single or multifamily structures under conventional condominium, cooperative sales contract, lease-purchase agreement, loans, or subsidizing of rentals or charges; or
            (11)(a)(iii) accomplish a combination of Subsections (11)(a)(i) and (ii). See Utah Code 35A-8-401
• Property: includes both real and personal property. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public entity: means :
       (13)(a) the state, or an agency, bureau, office, department, division, board, commission, institution, laboratory, or other instrumentality of the state;
       (13)(b) a political subdivision of the state, including a county, municipality, interlocal entity, special district, special service district, school district, or school board;
       (13)(c) an agency, bureau, office, department, division, board, commission, institution, laboratory, or other instrumentality of a political subdivision of the state; or
       (13)(d) another entity that:

            (13)(d)(i) performs a public function; and

            (13)(d)(ii) is authorized to hold, spend, transfer, disburse, use, or receive public money. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• public funds: includes money, funds, or accounts described in Subsection (14)(a) after the money, funds, or accounts are transferred by a public entity to an independent contractor of the public entity. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• Public officer: means :
       (15)(a) an elected official of a public entity;
       (15)(b) an individual appointed to, or serving an unexpired term of, an elected official of a public entity;
       (15)(c) a judge of a court of record or not of record, including justice court judges; or
       (15)(d) a member of the Board of Pardons and Parole. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• Public servant: means :
            (16)(a)(i) a public officer;
            (16)(a)(ii) an appointed official, employee, consultant, or independent contractor of a public entity; or
            (16)(a)(iii) a person hired or paid by a public entity to perform a government function. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• 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.
• Serious bodily injury: means bodily injury that creates or causes serious permanent disfigurement, protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ, or creates a substantial risk of death. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
• Sex: means , in relation to an individual, the individual's biological sex, either male or female, at birth, according to distinct reproductive roles as manifested by:
       (34)(a) sex and reproductive organ anatomy;
       (34)(b) chromosomal makeup; and
       (34)(c) endogenous hormone profiles. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes each state, district, and territory of the United States of America. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Voir dire: The process by which judges and lawyers select a petit jury from among those eligible to serve, by questioning them to determine knowledge of the facts of the case and a willingness to decide the case only on the evidence presented in court. "Voir dire" is a phrase meaning "to speak the truth."