Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 10 > Chapter 170 > Subchapter 2 - Standard Procedures

• Administrative amendment: means an amendment to an individual permit, general permit, or notice of intent under a general permit that corrects typographical errors, changes the name or mailing address of a permittee, authorizes a transfer of a permit when authorized under rule, or makes other similar changes to a permit that do not require technical review of the permitted activity or the imposition of new conditions or requirements. See
• Administrative record: means the application and any supporting data furnished by the applicant; all information submitted by the applicant during the course of reviewing the application; the draft permit or notice of intent to deny the application; the fact sheet and all documents cited in the fact sheet, if applicable; all comments received during the public comment period; the recording or transcript of any public meeting or meetings held; any written material submitted at a public meeting; the response to comments; the final permit; any document used as a basis for the final decision; and any other documents contained in the permit file. See
• Administratively complete application: means an application for a permit for which all initially required documentation has been submitted, and any required permit fee, and the information submitted initially addresses all application requirements but has not yet been subjected to a complete technical review. See
• Agency: means the Agency of Natural Resources. See
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Articles of incorporation: include amended and restated articles of incorporation, articles of merger, and special charters. See
• 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.
• biennially: shall mean the year in which a regular session of the General Assembly is held. See
• bulletin: means the website and e-mail notification system required by 3 V. See
• Clean Air Act: means the federal statutes on air pollution prevention and control, 42 U. See
• Clean Water Act: means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U. See
• 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.
• 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.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Conservation. See
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Distribution: means a direct or indirect transfer of money or other property (except its own shares) or incurrence of indebtedness by a corporation to or for the benefit of its shareholders in respect of any of its shares. See
• Document: means any written or recorded information, regardless of physical form or characteristics, that the Department produces or acquires in the course of reviewing an application for a permit. See
• Domestic: when applied to a corporation, company, association, or copartnership shall mean organized under the laws of this State; "foreign" when so applied, shall mean organized under the laws of another state, government, or country. See
• domestic corporation: means a corporation for profit, which is not a foreign corporation, incorporated under or subject to the provisions of this title. See
• 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.
• Entity: includes corporation and foreign corporation; not-for-profit corporation; profit and not-for-profit unincorporated association; business trust, estate, partnership, trust, and two or more persons having a joint or common economic interest; and state, United States, and foreign government. See
• 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}
• 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.
• Fact sheet: means a document that briefly sets forth the principal facts and the significant factual, legal, methodological, and policy questions considered in preparing a draft decision. See
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Foreign corporation: means a corporation for profit incorporated under a law other than the law of this State. See
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• General permit: means a permit that applies to a class or category of discharges, emissions, disposal, facilities, or activities within a common geographic area, including the entire State or a region of the State. See
• 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.
• Individual: includes the estate of an individual who is incompetent or deceased. See
• Individual permit: means a permit that authorizes a specific discharge, emission, disposal, facility, or activity that contains terms and conditions that are specific to the discharge, emission, disposal, facility, or activity. See
• 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.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Meeting: means any structured communications conducted by participants in person or through the use of electronic or telecommunications medium permitting simultaneous or sequentially structured communications for the purpose of reaching a collective agreement. See
• Minor amendment: means an amendment to an individual permit or notice of intent under a general permit that requires a change in a condition or requirement, does not necessitate technical review, and is not an administrative amendment. See
• Municipality: shall include a city, town, town school district, incorporated school or fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units. See
• 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.
• Notice of intent under a general permit: means an authorization issued by the Secretary to undertake an action authorized by a general permit. See
• 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.
• 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.
• Permit: includes any permit, certification, license, registration, determination, or similar form of permission required from the Department by law. See
• Person: includes individual and entity. See
• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• Person to whom notice is federally required: means a person to whom notice of an application or draft decision must be given under federal regulations adopted pursuant to the Clean Air Act or Clean Water Act. See
• 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.
• 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.
• Principal office: means the office (in or outside this State) so designated in the annual report where the principal executive offices of a domestic or foreign corporation are located. See
• Proceeding: includes civil suit and criminal, administrative, and investigatory action. See
• Public meeting: means a meeting that is open to the public and recorded or transcribed, at which the Department shall provide basic information about the draft permit decision, an opportunity for questions to the applicant and the Department, and an opportunity for members of the public to submit oral and written comments. See
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: shall include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and all rights thereto and interests therein, and pews or slips in places of public worship shall be treated as real estate. See
• said: when used by way of reference to a person or thing shall apply to the same person or thing last mentioned. See
• Secretary: means the corporate officer to whom the board of directors has delegated responsibility under subsection 8. See
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Natural Resources or designee. See
• 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.
• Shareholder: means the person in whose name shares are registered in the records of a corporation or upon presentation for registration are entitled to be registered in the records of a corporation. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• 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.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Voting group: means all shares of one or more classes or series that under the articles of incorporation or this title are entitled to vote and be counted together collectively on a matter at a meeting of shareholders. See