Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 45.2 > Subtitle III - Mineral Mines

• Abuse: means an employer's or employee's conduct or omissions that result in substantial misuse, destruction, waste, or loss of funds or resources belonging to or derived from federal, state, or local government sources. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Act: means the federal Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act, Title V (§ 1501 et seq. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• Activity and use limitations: means restrictions or obligations created under this chapter with respect to real property. See Virginia Code 10.1-1238
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Administrative or clerical tasks: means the receipt, collection, and distribution of information common for the processing or underwriting of a residential mortgage loan in the mortgage industry and communication with the consumer to obtain information necessary for the processing or underwriting of a residential mortgage loan. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• Advisory Committee: means the Six-Year Capital Outlay Plan Advisory Committee established pursuant to § Virginia Code 2.2-1515
• 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 of Environmental Quality or any other state or federal agency that determines or approves the environmental response project pursuant to which the environmental covenant is created. See Virginia Code 10.1-1238
• 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
• Agency action: means either an agency's regulation or case decision or both, any violation, compliance, or noncompliance with which could be a basis for the imposition of injunctive orders, penal or civil sanctions of any kind, or the grant or denial of relief or of a license, right, or benefit by any agency or court. See Virginia Code 2.2-4001
• 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.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• 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
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Authority: means the Virginia Resources Authority. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Authority: means the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority. See Virginia Code 10.1-1600
• 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.
• 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}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the board of directors of the Authority. See Virginia Code 10.1-1600
• Board: means the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Bona fide prospective purchaser: means a person or a tenant of a person who acquires ownership, or proposes to acquire ownership, of real property after the release of hazardous substances occurred. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Bonds: means notes, bonds, certificates and other evidences of indebtedness or obligations of the Authority. See Virginia Code 10.1-1600
• Brownfield: means real property; the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Business: means any type of corporation, partnership, limited liability company, association, or sole proprietorship operated for profit. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• Camping and recreational facilities: means camp sites, cabins, lodges, halls, tent camps, trailer camps, public and park lands, as well as equipment, structures and roads which are appurtenant to and useful in connection with state parks including, but not limited to sanitary and utility services, restaurants, cafeterias, stables, horses and riding equipment, bathing beaches, boathouses, boats, conference facilities, sightseeing facilities, sports facilities, bridges, access highways, and all incidental rights, easements, equipment and structures now under the control of the Department or acquired, constructed, enlarged or improved under the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 10.1-300
• Capital outlay project: means acquisition of real property, including buildings or plant or machinery or equipment, or new construction or improvements related to state-owned real property, buildings, plant, or machinery or equipment including plans therefor. See Virginia Code 2.2-1515
• 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
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Chief: means the Chief of the Division of Mines of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-100
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• 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
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Commercial feed: means any materials or combination of materials that are distributed or intended for distribution for use as feed for animals, or for mixing in feed. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Financial Institutions. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Common interest community: means a condominium, cooperative, or other real property with respect to which a person, by virtue of the person's ownership of a parcel of real property, is obligated to pay property taxes or insurance premiums, for maintenance or improvement of other real property described in a recorded covenant that creates the common interest community. See Virginia Code 10.1-1238
• 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.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Construction: means building, altering, repairing, improving or demolishing any structure, building or highway, and any draining, dredging, excavation, grading or similar work upon real property. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• 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.
• Cost of camping and recreational facilities: means the purchase price, the cost of construction, the cost of all lands, properties, rights, easements and franchises acquired for construction, enlargements or improvements, reserve funds for the payment of principal or interest on the bonds, interest during construction of the enlargements or improvements, engineering and legal expenses, cost of plans, specifications, surveys, estimates of cost and of revenues, expenses for determining the feasibility or practicability of the enterprise, administrative expense, and other expenses necessary or incident to the financing and operation of any authorized project. See Virginia Code 10.1-300
• 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.
• 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 Education. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1238
• Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• 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 Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-100
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Disturbed land: means the area from which overburden has been removed in any mining operation, plus the area covered by the spoil and refuse, plus any area used in such mining operation, including land used for processing, stockpiling, or settling ponds. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• Division: means the Division of Mineral Mining. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Drug: means any article intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in animals and articles other than commercial feed intended to affect the structure or any function of the animal body. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Dwelling: means a residential structure or mobile home that contains one to four family housing units, or individual units of condominiums or cooperatives. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• Employee: means an individual (i) whose manner and means of performance of work are subject to the right of control of, or are controlled by, a person and (ii) whose compensation for federal income tax purposes is reported, or required to be reported, on a W-2 form issued by the controlling person. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• Employee: means any person who is regularly employed full time on either a salaried or wage basis, whose tenure is not restricted as to temporary or provisional appointment, in the service of and whose compensation is payable, no more often than biweekly, in whole or in part, by a governmental agency. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Employer: means a person supervising one or more employees, including the employee filing a good faith report, a superior of that supervisor, or an agent of the governmental agency. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Employment services organization: means an organization that provides employment services to individuals with disabilities that is an approved Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) accredited vendor of the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• En banc: In the bench or "full bench." Refers to court sessions with the entire membership of a court participating rather than the usual quorum. U.S. courts of appeals usually sit in panels of three judges, but may expand to a larger number in certain cases. They are then said to be sitting en banc.
• 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.
• Environmental covenant: means a servitude arising under an environmental response project that imposes activity and use limitations. See Virginia Code 10.1-1238
• Environmental response project: means a plan or work performed for environmental remediation of real property and conducted:

  1. See Virginia Code 10.1-1238

• 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}
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• 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.
• farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
• Federal agency: means the United States of America, the President of the United States of America, and any department, corporation, agency, or instrumentality created, designated, or established by the United States of America. See Virginia Code 10.1-1600
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Financial institution: means any bank, trust company, savings institution, industrial loan association, consumer finance company, or credit union. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• 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.
• Fixed Rate: Having a "fixed" rate means that the APR doesn't change based on fluctuations of some external rate (such as the "Prime Rate"). In other words, a fixed rate is a rate that is not a variable rate. A fixed APR can change over time, in several circumstances:
  • You are late making a payment or commit some other default, triggering an increase to a penalty rate
  • The bank changes the terms of your account and you do not reject the change.
  • The rate expires (if the rate was fixed for only a certain period of time).
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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}
• Fund: means the Virginia Brownfields Restoration and Economic Redevelopment Assistance Fund. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Goods: means all material, equipment, supplies, printing, and automated data processing hardware and software. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• Governmental agency: means (i) any agency, institution, board, bureau, commission, council, or instrumentality of state government in the executive branch listed in the appropriation act and any independent agency; (ii) any county, city, or town or local or regional governmental authority; and (iii) any local school division as defined in § Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Guarantor: means any person whose name appears on the label of a commercial feed. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• 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.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Hearing: means agency processes other than those informational or factual inquiries of an informal nature provided in §§ Virginia Code 2.2-4001
• Holder: means the grantee of an environmental covenant as specified in subsection A of § Virginia Code 10.1-1238
• Immediate family member: means a spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, or grandchild. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• Impound water: means to impound water for use in carrying out any part of the process necessary in the production or preparation of minerals. See Virginia Code 45.2-1300
• 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
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Innocent land owner: means a person who holds any title, security interest or any other interest in a brownfield site and who acquired ownership of the real property after the release of hazardous substances occurred. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Job order contracting: means a method of procuring construction by establishing a book of unit prices and then obtaining a contractor to perform work as needed using the prices, quantities, and specifications in the book as the basis of its pricing. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• 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.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensee: means the person who receives a license to distribute commercial feed under the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Licensee: means a mortgage lender or mortgage broker licensed by the Commission pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• Licensee: means an individual licensed under this chapter. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• 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.
• Loan processor or underwriter: means an individual who, with respect to the origination of a residential mortgage loan, performs clerical or support duties at the direction of and subject to the supervision and instruction of a licensee or a registered mortgage loan originator. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• Local government: means any county, city, town, municipal corporation, authority, district, commission, or political subdivision of the Commonwealth created by the General Assembly or otherwise created pursuant to the laws of the Commonwealth or any combination of the foregoing. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• Mineral: means ore, rock, and any other solid homogeneous crystalline chemical element or compound that results from the inorganic processes of nature other than coal. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• Mining: means the breaking or disturbing of the surface soil or rock in order to facilitate or accomplish the extraction or removal of minerals or any activity constituting all or part of a process for the extraction or removal of minerals so as to make them suitable for commercial, industrial, or construction use. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• Mining operation: means any area included in an approved plan of operation. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
• 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
• Mortgage loan originator: means an individual who (i) takes an application for or offers or negotiates the terms of a residential mortgage loan in which the dwelling is or will be located in the Commonwealth or (ii) represents to the public, through advertising or other means of communicating or providing information, including the use of business cards, stationery, brochures, signs, rate lists, or other promotional items, that such individual can or will perform any of the activities described in clause (i). See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• 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.
• Nonprofessional services: means any services not specifically identified as professional services in the definition of professional services. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• Nonstate agency: means any public or private foundation, authority, institute, museum, corporation, or similar organization that is (i) not a unit of state government or a political subdivision of the Commonwealth as established by general law or special act and (ii) wholly or principally supported by state funds. See Virginia Code 2.2-307
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Virginia Code 1-228
• 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.
• offeror: means a person who has the capability, in all respects, to perform fully the contract requirements and the moral and business integrity and reliability that will assure good faith performance, and who has been prequalified, if required. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• Office: means the Office of the State Inspector General. See Virginia Code 2.2-307
• Officer: means any person who is elected or appointed to a public office in a state agency. See Virginia Code 2.2-307
• Open-space land: means any land which is provided or preserved for (i) park or recreational purposes, (ii) conservation of land or other natural resources, (iii) historic or scenic purposes, (iv) assisting in the shaping of the character, direction, and timing of community development, (v) wetlands as defined in § Virginia Code 10.1-1700
• Operator: means any individual, corporation or corporation officer, firm, joint venture, partnership, business trust, association, or any other group or combination acting as a unit, or any legal entity that is engaged in mining. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Orphaned lands: means lands disturbed by surface mining of minerals, other than coal operations, that were not required by law to be reclaimed or that have not been reclaimed. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• Overburden: means all of the earth and other materials that lie above a natural deposit of minerals, ores, rock, or other solid matter and also other materials after removal from their natural deposit in the process of mining. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• parents: means any parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person having control or charge of a child. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• 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.
• Partnership: means the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Person: shall include individuals, a trust, an estate, a partnership, an association, an order, a corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity;

  6. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

• Person: means any individual or entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-1600
• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, governmental body, municipal corporation, public service authority, or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government, governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 10.1-1238
• Person: means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• 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.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• 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 services: means work performed by an independent contractor within the scope of the practice of accounting, actuarial services, architecture, land surveying, landscape architecture, law, dentistry, medicine, optometry, pharmacy or professional engineering. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• Project: means all or any part of the following activities necessary or desirable for the restoration and redevelopment of a brownfield site: (i) environmental or cultural resource site assessments, (ii) monitoring, remediation, cleanup, or containment of property to remove hazardous substances, hazardous wastes, solid wastes or petroleum, (iii) the lawful and necessary removal of human remains, the appropriate treatment of grave sites, and the appropriate and necessary treatment of significant archaeological resources, or the stabilization or restoration of structures listed on or eligible for the Virginia Historic Landmarks Register, (iv) demolition and removal of existing structures, or other site work necessary to make a site or certain real property usable for economic development, and (v) development of a remediation and reuse plan. See Virginia Code 10.1-1230
• Project: means the construction, improvement, furnishing, maintenance, acquisition or operation of any facility that will further the purposes of the Authority, together with all property, rights, easements and interests which may be acquired by the Authority. See Virginia Code 10.1-1600
• Project: means a capital outlay project included in the six-year capital outlay plan described in § Virginia Code 2.2-1515
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public assistance and social services programs: means those programs specified in § Virginia Code 2.2-4001
• Public body: means any state agency having authority to acquire land for a public use, or any county or municipality, any park authority, any public recreational facilities authority, any soil and water conservation district, any community development authority formed pursuant to Article 6 (§ Virginia Code 10.1-1700
• Public body: means any legislative, executive or judicial body, agency, office, department, authority, post, commission, committee, institution, board or political subdivision created by law to exercise some sovereign power or to perform some governmental duty, and empowered by law to undertake the activities described in this chapter. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• Public contract: means an agreement between a public body and a nongovernmental source that is enforceable in a court of law. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• Public corporation: means the Commonwealth of Virginia or any political subdivision thereof or any incorporated municipality therein or any public agency of the Commonwealth or of any political subdivision thereof or of any municipality therein. See Virginia Code 1-219.1
• 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 estate brokerage activities: means any activity that involves offering or providing real estate brokerage services to the public, including (i) acting as a real estate broker, real estate agent, or real estate salesperson for a buyer, seller, lessor, or lessee of real property; (ii) bringing together parties interested in the sale, purchase, lease, rental, or exchange of real property; (iii) negotiating any portion of a contract relating to the sale, purchase, lease, rental, or exchange of real property, other than in connection with providing financing with respect to any such transaction; (iv) engaging in any activity for which a person is required to be licensed or registered as a real estate broker, real estate agent, or real estate salesperson; and (v) offering to engage in any activity or act in any capacity described in clauses (i) through (iv). See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Reclamation: means the restoration or conversion of disturbed land to a stable condition that minimizes or prevents adverse disruption and the injurious effects of such disruption and presents an opportunity for further productive use if such use is reasonable. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• Refuse: means all waste soil, rock, mineral tailings, slimes, and other material directly connected with the mine or with the cleaning and preparation of substances mined, including all waste material deposited in the permit area from other sources. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• Refuse: means waste material resulting from a mineral mining operation. See Virginia Code 45.2-1300
• Registered mortgage loan originator: means any individual who (i) takes an application for or offers or negotiates the terms of a residential mortgage loan in which the dwelling is or will be located in the Commonwealth, (ii) is an employee of a covered financial institution, and (iii) is registered with, and maintains a unique identifier through, the Registry. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• Registrar: means the Registrar of Regulations employed as provided in § Virginia Code 2.2-4001
• 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
• Registry: means a mortgage licensing system developed and maintained by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators for the licensing and registration of mortgage loan originators. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• regulation: means any statement of general application, having the force of law, affecting the rights or conduct of any person, adopted by an agency in accordance with the authority conferred on it by applicable basic laws. See Virginia Code 2.2-4001
• 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.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• 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.
• Residential mortgage loan: means any loan primarily for personal, family, or household use that is secured by a mortgage, deed of trust, or other equivalent consensual security interest on a dwelling or residential real estate upon which is constructed or intended to be constructed a dwelling. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• Residential property: means improved real property used or occupied, or intended to be used or occupied, for residential purposes. See 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.
• Reverse auctioning: means a procurement method wherein bidders are invited to bid on specified goods or nonprofessional services through real-time electronic bidding, with the award being made to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• Right of rescission: Right to cancel, within three business days, a contract that uses the home of a person as collateral, except in the case of a first mortgage loan. There is no fee to the borrower, who receives a full refund of all fees paid. The right of rescission is guaranteed by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). ^{Source: OCC}
• Sentencing guidelines: A set of rules and principles established by the United States Sentencing Commission that trial judges use to determine the sentence for a convicted defendant. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Services: means any work performed by an independent contractor wherein the service rendered does not consist primarily of acquisition of equipment or materials, or the rental of equipment, materials and supplies. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• 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.
• Silt: means fine particles resulting from a mineral mining operation, suspended in or deposited by water. See Virginia Code 45.2-1300
• Spoil: means any overburden or other material removed from its natural state in the process of mining. See Virginia Code 45.2-1200
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Virginia Code 10.1-1238
• 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 any agency, institution, board, bureau, commission, council, or instrumentality of state government in the executive branch listed in the appropriation act. See Virginia Code 2.2-307
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 1-206
• 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.
• Superintendent: means the Superintendent of Public Instruction. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unique identifier: means a number or other identifier assigned by protocols established by the Registry that permanently identifies a mortgage loan originator. See Virginia Code 6.2-1700
• 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
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Virginia Register of Regulations: means the publication issued under the provisions of Article 6 (§ Virginia Code 2.2-4001
• voting security: means a security that (i) confers upon the holder the right to vote for the election of members of the board of directors or similar governing body of the business or (ii) is convertible into, or entitles the holder to receive, upon its exercise, a security that confers such a right to vote. See Virginia Code 2.2-4301
• Water: means water used in a mining operation. See Virginia Code 45.2-1300
• Whistle blower: includes a citizen of the Commonwealth who witnesses or has evidence of wrongdoing or abuse and who makes or demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that he is about to make a good faith report of, or testifies or is about to testify to, the wrongdoing or abuse to an appropriate authority. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Wrongdoing: means a violation, which is not of a merely technical or minimal nature, of a federal or state law or regulation, local ordinance, or a formally adopted code of conduct or ethics of a professional organization designed to protect the interests of the public or employee. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010