Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 3.2 > Subtitle V > Chapter 65 > Article 12 - Miscellaneous Provisions.

• ABLE savings trust account: means an account established pursuant to this chapter to assist individuals and families to save private funds to support individuals with disabilities to maintain health, independence, and quality of life, with such account used to apply distributions for qualified disability expenses for an eligible individual, as both such terms are defined in § 529A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or other applicable federal law. See Virginia Code 23.1-700
• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Adoption: means the transfer of ownership of a dog or a cat, or any other companion animal, from a releasing agency to an individual. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Animal: means any nonhuman vertebrate species except fish. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Animal control officer: means a person appointed as an animal control officer or deputy animal control officer as provided in § Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• 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.
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education: includes Richard Bland College and each comprehensive community college. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Baccalaureate public institution of higher education: includes Christopher Newport University, George Mason University, James Madison University, Longwood University, the University of Mary Washington, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University, Radford University, the University of Virginia, the University of Virginia's College at Wise as a division of the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia State University, and The College of William and Mary in Virginia. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• beneficiary: means (i) a resident of the Commonwealth, as determined by the board, who is the beneficiary of a prepaid tuition contract and who may apply advance tuition payments to tuition as set forth in this chapter; (ii) a beneficiary of a prepaid tuition contract purchased by a resident of the Commonwealth, as determined by the board, who may apply advance tuition payments to tuition as set forth in this chapter; or (iii) a beneficiary of a savings trust account established pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 23.1-700
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the governing board of the Plan. See Virginia Code 23.1-700
• College savings trust account: means an account established pursuant to this chapter to assist individuals and families to enhance the accessibility and affordability of higher education, with such account used to apply distributions from the account toward qualified higher education expenses, as that term is defined in § 529 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or other applicable federal law. See Virginia Code 23.1-700
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Companion animal: means any domestic or feral dog, domestic or feral cat, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit not raised for human food or fiber, exotic or native animal, reptile, exotic or native bird, or any feral animal or any animal under the care, custody, or ownership of a person or any animal that is bought, sold, traded, or bartered by any person. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contributor: means a person who contributes money to a savings trust account established pursuant to this chapter on behalf of a qualified beneficiary and who is listed as the owner of the savings trust account. See Virginia Code 23.1-700
• Council: means the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Education. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Division superintendent: means the division superintendent of schools of a school division. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Elementary: includes kindergarten. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• 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.
• 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: means service by virtue of one's office and includes voting privileges for ex officio members unless otherwise provided. See Virginia Code 1-215
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• 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.
• 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}
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• 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.
• Humane: means any action taken in consideration of and with the intent to provide for the animal's health and well-being. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• local governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, responsible for appropriating funds for such locality, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Ordinance: means any law, rule, regulation, or ordinance adopted by the governing body of any locality. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Other officer: includes all other persons employed or elected by the people of Virginia, or by any locality, whose duty it is to preserve the peace, to make arrests, or to enforce the law. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means any person who: (i) has a right of property in an animal; (ii) keeps or harbors an animal; (iii) has an animal in his care; or (iv) acts as a custodian of an animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• parents: means any parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person having control or charge of a child. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plan: means the Commonwealth Savers Plan. See Virginia Code 23.1-700
• Prepaid tuition contract: means the contract or account entered into by the board and a purchaser pursuant to this chapter for the advance payment of tuition at a fixed, guaranteed level for a qualified beneficiary to attend any public institution of higher education to which the qualified beneficiary is admitted. See Virginia Code 23.1-700
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Public institution of higher education: includes the System as a whole and each associate-degree-granting and baccalaureate public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Purchaser: means a person who makes or is obligated to make advance payments in accordance with a prepaid tuition contract and who is listed as the owner of the prepaid tuition contract. See Virginia Code 23.1-700
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Releasing agency: means (i) a public animal shelter or (ii) a private animal shelter, humane society, animal welfare organization, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or other similar entity or home-based rescue that releases companion animals for adoption. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Savings trust account: means an ABLE savings trust account or a college savings trust account. See Virginia Code 23.1-700
• School board: means the school board that governs a school division. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• senior citizen: means any individual who, before the beginning of any academic term, semester, or quarter in which he claims entitlement to the benefits of this article, has reached the age of 60 and has been legally domiciled in the Commonwealth for at least one year. See Virginia Code 23.1-639
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 1-206
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Superintendent: means the Superintendent of Public Instruction. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• System: means the Virginia Community College System. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Tuition: means the quarter, semester, or term charges imposed for undergraduate tuition by any public institution of higher education and all mandatory fees required as a condition of enrollment of all students. See Virginia Code 23.1-700
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Weaned: means that an animal is capable of and physiologically accustomed to ingestion of solid food or food customary for the adult of the species and has ingested such food, without nursing, for a period of at least five days. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500