Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 4 > Chapter 25 - Jury Commission

• Abandoned: means left without provision for reasonable and necessary care or supervision. See
• Abuse: means the occurrence of one or more of the following acts between family or household members:

• Abusive litigation: means litigation where the criteria set forth below in each of subdivisions (A)-(D) are found to have been established:

• Acknowledged parent: means a person who has established a parent-child relationship under chapter 3 of this title. See
• Adjudicated parent: means a person who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to be a parent of a child. See
• Adoptee: means a person who is adopted or is to be adopted. See
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Agency: means the Department or a child-placing public or private entity that is licensed in this State to place minors for adoption. See
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Alleged genetic parent: means a person who is alleged to be, or alleges that the person is, a genetic parent or possible genetic parent of a child whose parentage has not been adjudicated. 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Application: means a request under the Convention by an obligee or obligor, or on behalf of a child, made through a central authority for assistance from another central authority. See
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• 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.
• Assisted reproduction: means a method of causing pregnancy other than sexual intercourse and includes:

• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Birth: includes stillbirth. See
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Central authority: means the entity designated by the United States or a foreign country to perform the functions specified in the Convention. See
• Child: means a minor or an adult son or daughter, by birth or adoption. See
• Child: means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual's parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the parent. See
• Child: means a person of any age whose parentage may be determined under this title. See
• Child: means an individual who has not attained 18 years of age. See
• Child custody determination: means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court providing for the legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child. See
• Child custody proceeding: means a proceeding in which legal custody or parental rights, physical custody, or visitation or parent child contact with respect to a child is an issue. See
• Commencement: means the filing of the first pleading in a proceeding. See
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Convention: means the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, concluded at the Hague on November 23, 2007. See
• Convention support order: means a support order of a tribunal of a foreign country. See
• 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.
• Court: means the court with jurisdiction over the proceeding. See
• Court: means an entity authorized under the law of a state to establish, enforce, or modify a child custody determination. See
• Credit bureau: An agency that collects individual credit information and sells it for a fee to creditors so they can make a decision on granting loans. Typical clients include banks, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and other financing companies. (Also commonly referred to as consumer-reporting agency or credit-reporting agency.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Dating: means a social relationship of a romantic nature. See
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department for Children and Families. See
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Direct request: means a petition filed by an individual in a tribunal of this State in a proceeding involving an obligee, obligor, or child residing outside the United States. See
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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 assault: shall include any offense as set forth in 13 Vt. See
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Donor: means a person who contributes a gamete or gametes or an embryo or embryos to another person for assisted reproduction or gestation, whether or not for consideration. See
• Duty of support: means an obligation imposed or imposable by law to provide support for a child, spouse, or former spouse, including an unsatisfied obligation to provide support. See
• Embryo: means a cell or group of cells containing a diploid complement of chromosomes or a group of such cells, not including a gamete, that has the potential to develop into a live born human being if transferred into the body of a person under conditions in which gestation may be reasonably expected to occur. 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}
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• 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 abuse prevention order: means any protection order issued by the court of any other state that contains provisions similar to relief provisions authorized under this chapter, the Vermont Rules for Family Proceedings, 33 Vt. See
• Foreign country: means a country, including a political subdivision thereof, other than the U. See
• Foreign support agreement:

• Foreign support order: means a support order of a foreign tribunal. See
• Foreign tribunal: means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity of a foreign country which is authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gamete: means a sperm, an egg, or any part of a sperm or egg. See
• Gestational carrier: means an adult person who is not an intended parent and who enters into a gestational carrier agreement to bear a child conceived using the gametes of other persons and not the gestational carrier's own, except that a person who carries a child for a family member using the gestational carrier's own gametes and who fulfills the requirements of chapter 8 of this title is a gestational carrier. See
• Gestational carrier agreement: means a contract between an intended parent or parents and a gestational carrier intended to result in a live birth. See
• governor: includes an individual performing the functions of governor or the executive authority of a state covered by this title. 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.
• Guardian: means a person, other than a parent, appointed by a court to act as a parent for another individual and specifically authorized by the Court to place the individual for adoption. See
• Home state: means the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding. See
• Household members: means persons who, for any period of time, are living or have lived together, are sharing or have shared occupancy of a dwelling, are engaged in or have engaged in a sexual relationship, or minors or adults who are dating or who have dated. See
• Identifying information: means any information which might establish the current whereabouts of an adoptee, the adoptee's former parent or other family member, including full name, date and place of birth, and last known address. See
• Initial determination: means the first child custody determination concerning a particular child. See
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intended parent: means a person, whether married or unmarried, who manifests the intent to be legally bound as a parent of a child resulting from assisted reproduction or a gestational carrier agreement. See
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Issuing court: means the court that makes a child custody determination for which enforcement is sought under this chapter. See
• issuing state: shall mean any state other than Vermont and any federally recognized Indian tribe, territory or possession of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the District of Columbia. See
• Issuing tribunal: means the tribunal of a state or foreign country that issues a support order or renders a judgment determining parentage of a child. 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.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• Justice: when applied to a person, other than a Justice of the Supreme Court, shall mean a justice of the peace for the county for which he or she is elected or appointed. See
• Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See
• Legal custody: means the right and duty to exercise continuing general supervision of a minor as authorized by law. See
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Litigation: means any kind of legal action or proceeding, including:

• Magistrate: shall mean any Supreme Court Justice, Superior judge, District judge, or Probate judge. See
• Marriage: includes civil union and any legal relationship that provides substantially the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities as marriage and is recognized as valid in the state or jurisdiction in which it was entered. See
• Minor: means a person who has not attained 18 years of age. See
• Modification: means a child custody determination that changes, replaces, supersedes, or is otherwise made after a previous determination concerning the same child, whether or not it is made by the court that made the previous determination. See
• Month: shall mean a calendar month and "year" shall mean a calendar year and be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. 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
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: shall include affirmation where by law an affirmation may be substituted. 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.
• Obligee: means :

• Obligee: means the person found to be legally entitled to receive support or any person to whom the obligee has assigned or authorized all rights of collection. See
• Obligor: means an individual or the estate of a decedent that:

• Obligor: means the person required to pay support under a support order. See
• Parent: means a person who is legally recognized as a mother or father or whose consent to the adoption of a minor is required under subdivision 2-401(a)(1)-(4) or (6) of this title. See
• Parent: means a person who has established parentage that meets the requirements of this title. See
• Parentage: means the legal relationship between a child and a parent as established under this title. See
• 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.
• Perpetrator of abusive litigation: means a person who files, initiates, advances, or continues litigation in violation of an order restricting abusive litigation. See
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation; or any other legal or commercial 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 acting as a parent: means a person, other than a parent, who:

• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Petit jury: A group of citizens who hear the evidence presented by both sides at trial and determine the facts in dispute. Federal criminal juries consist of 12 persons. Federal civil juries consist of six persons.
• Petitioner: means a person who seeks enforcement of an order for return of a child under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or enforcement of a child custody determination. See
• Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a minor. See
• Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a child. See
• 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.
• 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.
• Presumed parent: means a person who is recognized as the parent of a child under section 401 of this title. See
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• protection order: means any injunction or other order issued for the purpose of preventing violent or threatening acts or harassment against, or contact or communication with or physical proximity to, another person, including temporary and final orders issued by civil and criminal courts, other than support or child custody orders, whether obtained by filing an independent action or as a pendente lite order in another proceeding so long as any civil order was issued in response to a complaint, petition or motion filed by or on behalf of a person seeking protection. 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
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See
• Register: means to file in a tribunal of this State a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child issued in another state or a foreign country. See
• Registry: means the adoption registry administered by the Department. See
• Registry: means the registry established in 33 V. See
• Relative: means a grandparent, great-grandparent, sibling, first cousin, aunt, uncle, great-aunt, great-uncle, niece, or nephew of a person, whether related to the person by the whole or the half blood, affinity, or adoption. See
• Relinquishment: means the voluntary surrender to an agency by a minor's parent or guardian, for purposes of the minor's adoption, of the rights of the parent or guardian with respect to the minor, including legal and physical custody of the minor. See
• 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.
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Respondent: means a person against whom a proceeding has been commenced for enforcement of an order for return of a child under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or enforcement of a child custody determination. See
• seal: shall include an impression of the official seal made upon paper alone or by means of a wafer or wax affixed thereto. See
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Sexual assault: shall include sexual assault as provided in 13 V. See
• Sexual exploitation: shall include sexual exploitation of an inmate as provided in 13 V. See
• Sign: means , with the intent to authenticate or adopt a record, to:

• Signatory: means a person who signs a record and is bound by its terms. See
• Spouse: includes a partner in a civil union or a partner in a legal relationship that provides substantially the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities as marriage and is recognized as valid in the state or jurisdiction in which it was entered. See
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U. See
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U. 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.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Support: means periodic payments ordered for the support of dependent children or, for the purposes of sections 783-790 of this title only, a spouse. See
• Support enforcement agency: means a public official, governmental entity, or private agency authorized to:

• Support order: means a judgment, decree, order, decision, or directive whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, issued in a state or foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse, or a former spouse, which provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, retroactive support, or reimbursement for financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support. See
• Support order: means any judgment, order or contract for support enforceable in this state, including, but not limited to, orders issued pursuant to 15 Vt. See
• sworn: shall include affirmed. See
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Tribunal: means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Village: shall mean an incorporated village. See
• Warrant: means an order issued by a court authorizing law enforcement officers to take physical custody of a child. See