Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 32.1 > Chapter 7 > Article 4 - Death Certificates and Out-of-State Transit Permits.

• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Dead body: means a human body or such parts of such human body from the condition of which it reasonably may be concluded that death occurred. See Virginia Code 32.1-249
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Department: means the State Department of Health. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Fetal death: means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, regardless of the duration of pregnancy; death is indicated by the fact that after such expulsion or extraction the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles. See Virginia Code 32.1-249
• File: means the presentation of a vital record provided for in this chapter for registration by the Department. See Virginia Code 32.1-249
• Final disposition: means the burial, interment, cremation, removal from the Commonwealth or other authorized disposition of a dead body or fetus. See Virginia Code 32.1-249
• Institution: means any establishment, public or private, which provides inpatient medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment, or nursing, custodial or domiciliary care, or to which persons are committed by law. See Virginia Code 32.1-249
• 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.
• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, or association or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• Physician: means a person authorized or licensed to practice medicine or osteopathy in this Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 32.1-249
• Registration: means the acceptance by the Department and the incorporation of vital records as provided for in this chapter into its official records. See Virginia Code 32.1-249
• 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
• System of vital records: means the registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital records; the collection of other reports required by this chapter; and related activities. See Virginia Code 32.1-249
• 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
• Vital records: means certificates or reports of births, deaths, fetal deaths, adoptions, marriages, divorces or annulments and amendment data related thereto. See Virginia Code 32.1-249