Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 45.2 > Subtitle II > Part C > Chapter 10 - Virginia Coal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1979

• 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.
• Agency: means any authority, instrumentality, officer, board or other unit of the state government empowered by the basic laws to make regulations or decide cases. See Virginia Code 2.2-4001
• 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.
• Approximate original contour: means the surface configuration achieved by backfilling and grading the mined area so that the reclaimed area, including any terracing or access road, closely resembles the general surface configuration of the land prior to mining and blends into and complements the drainage pattern of the surrounding terrain, with all highwalls and spoil piles eliminated; water impoundments may be permitted where the Director determines that they are in compliance with the applicable performance standards adopted pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the Board of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-400
• Board: means the Cave Board. See Virginia Code 10.1-1000
• case decision: means any agency proceeding or determination that, under laws or regulations at the time, a named party as a matter of past or present fact, or of threatened or contemplated private action, either is, is not, or may or may not be (i) in violation of such law or regulation or (ii) in compliance with any existing requirement for obtaining or retaining a license or other right or benefit. See Virginia Code 2.2-4001
• cave: includes or is synonymous with cavern, sinkhole, natural pit, grotto, and rock shelter. See Virginia Code 10.1-1000
• Cave life: means any rare or endangered animal or other life form which normally occurs in, uses, visits, or inhabits any cave or subterranean water system. See Virginia Code 10.1-1000
• 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
• Coal surface mining operation: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000

• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Financial Institutions. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• 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.
• Conservation easement: means a nonpossessory interest of a holder in real property, whether easement appurtenant or in gross, acquired through gift, purchase, devise, or bequest imposing limitations or affirmative obligations, the purposes of which include retaining or protecting natural or open-space values of real property, assuring its availability for agricultural, forestal, recreational, or open-space use, protecting natural resources, maintaining or enhancing air or water quality, or preserving the historical, architectural or archaeological aspects of real property. See Virginia Code 10.1-1009
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-400
• Department: means the Department of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-100
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-100
• Division: means the Division of Mined Land Repurposing. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• 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.
• 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
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federal act: means the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, P. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• 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}
• Gate: means any structure or device located to limit or prohibit access or entry to any cave. See Virginia Code 10.1-1000
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Hearing: means agency processes other than those informational or factual inquiries of an informal nature provided in §§ Virginia Code 2.2-4001
• Hearing officer: means an attorney selected from a list maintained by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court in accordance with § Virginia Code 2.2-4001
• Holder: means a charitable corporation, charitable association, or charitable trust which has been declared exempt from taxation pursuant to Virginia Code 10.1-1009
• 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
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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.
• Licensee: means a mortgage lender or mortgage broker licensed by the Commission pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Material: means all or any part of any archaeological, paleontological, biological, or historical item including, but not limited to, any petroglyph, pictograph, basketry, human remains, tool, beads, pottery, projectile point, remains of historical mining activity or any other occupation found in any cave. See Virginia Code 10.1-1000
• Mediation: means a process in which a mediator facilitates communication between the parties and, without deciding the issues or imposing a solution on the parties, enables them to understand and to reach a mutually agreeable resolution to their dispute. See Virginia Code 8.01-581.21
• Mediation program: means a program through which mediators or mediation is made available and includes the director, agents and employees of the program. See Virginia Code 8.01-581.21
• Mediator: means an impartial third party selected by agreement of the parties to a controversy to assist them in mediation. See Virginia Code 8.01-581.21
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage broker: means any person who directly or indirectly negotiates, places or finds mortgage loans for others, or offers to negotiate, place or find mortgage loans for others. See Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• Mortgage lender: means any person who directly or indirectly originates or makes mortgage loans. See Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgage loan: means a loan made to an individual, the proceeds of which are to be used primarily for personal, family or household purposes, which loan is secured by a mortgage or deed of trust upon any interest in one- to four-family residential property located in the Commonwealth, regardless of where made, including the renewal or refinancing of any such loan, but excluding (i) loans to persons related to the lender by blood or marriage and (ii) loans to persons who are bona fide employees of the lender. See Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• Nonlegislative citizen member: means any natural person who is not a member of the General Assembly of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-225
• 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.
• Office: means a location other than a licensee's principal place of business where (i) the licensee negotiates, places, finds, or makes Virginia mortgage loans; (ii) the licensee's name, advertising or promotional materials, or signage indicates that the licensee negotiates, places, finds, or makes Virginia mortgage loans from the location; or (iii) the licensee maintains books, accounts, or records of Virginia mortgage loans. See Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• Operator: means any person engaging in a coal surface mining operation whether or not such coal is sold within the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• Other minerals: means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous or nonmetalliferous ore, and any other solid material or substance of commercial value excavated in solid form from natural deposits on or in the earth, exclusive of coal and any mineral that occurs naturally in liquid or gaseous form. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means a person who owns title to land where a cave is located, including a person who owns title to a leasehold estate in such land, and including the Commonwealth and any of its agencies, departments, boards, bureaus, commissions, or authorities, as well as counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 10.1-1000
• 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: means a permit issued by the Director pursuant to state regulations. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• Permit area: means the area of land indicated on the approved map submitted by the operator with the operator's application. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• Permittee: means a person holding any of the following permits issued by the Director: (i) a permit for coal surface mining pursuant to § Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• Person: means any individual or entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• Person: means any individual, partnership, firm, association, trust, or corporation or other legal entity. See Virginia Code 10.1-1000
• Person: means any individual, partnership, association, joint venture, trust, company, firm, joint stock company, corporation, other group or combination acting as a unit, or other legal entity. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• 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
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Principal: means any person who, directly or indirectly, owns or controls a 10 percent or greater interest in any entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• 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
• Professional business entity: means any entity as defined in § Virginia Code 13.1-1102
• Professional limited liability company: means a limited liability company whose articles of organization set forth a sole and specific purpose permitted by this chapter and that is either (i) organized under this chapter for the sole and specific purpose of rendering professional service other than that of architects, professional engineers, land surveyors, or landscape architects, or using a title other than that of certified interior designers and, except as expressly otherwise permitted by this chapter, that has as its members only individuals or professional business entities that are duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to render the same professional service as the professional limited liability company or (ii) organized under this chapter for the sole and specific purpose of rendering professional service of architects, professional engineers, land surveyors, or landscape architects or using the title of certified interior designers, or any combination thereof, and at least two-thirds of whose membership interests are held by persons duly licensed within the Commonwealth to perform the services of an architect, professional engineer, land surveyor, or landscape architect, or by persons legally authorized within the Commonwealth to use the title of certified interior designer; or (iii) organized under this chapter for the sole and specific purpose of rendering the professional services of one or more practitioners of the healing arts, licensed under the provisions of Chapter 29 of Virginia Code 13.1-1102
• Professional services: means any type of personal service to the public that requires as a condition precedent to the rendering of that service or the use of that title the obtaining of a license, certification, or other legal authorization and shall be limited to the personal services rendered by pharmacists, optometrists, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants, practitioners of the healing arts, advanced practice registered nurses, practitioners of the behavioral science professions, veterinarians, surgeons, dentists, architects, professional engineers, land surveyors, landscape architects, certified interior designers, public accountants, certified public accountants, attorneys at law, insurance consultants, and audiologists or speech pathologists. See Virginia Code 13.1-1102
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public body: means any entity defined in § Virginia Code 10.1-1009
• 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
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Registry: means the mortgage licensing and registration system developed and maintained by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators. See Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• 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.
• Remote location: means a location, other than a licensee's principal place of business or office, at which the employees or exclusive agents of a licensee may conduct business if the requirements set forth in subsection F of § Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• River: means a flowing body of water, or a section or portion thereof. See Virginia Code 10.1-400
• Scenic river: means a river or section or portion of a river that has been designated a "scenic river" by an act of the General Assembly and that possesses superior natural and scenic beauty, fish and wildlife, and historic, recreational, geologic, cultural, and other assets. See Virginia Code 10.1-400
• Secretary: means the U. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• 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.
• Sinkhole: means a closed topographic depression or basin, generally draining underground, including, but not restricted to, a doline, uvala, blind valley, or sink. See Virginia Code 10.1-1000
• 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
• State regulations: means the permanent state regulatory program established by this chapter meeting the requirements of the federal act for the regulation of coal surface mining and reclamation operations within the Commonwealth, submitted to the Secretary pursuant to § 503 of the federal act. See Virginia Code 45.2-1000
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Virginia Scenic Rivers System: means those rivers or sections of rivers designated as a scenic river by an act of the General Assembly. See Virginia Code 10.1-400