Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 46.2 > Subtitle III > Chapter 13 - Powers of Local Governments

• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Affected area: means any part or the whole of the Commonwealth, which has been identified as where persons reside, or may be located, who are known to have been exposed to or infected with or who are reasonably suspected to have been exposed to or infected with a communicable disease of public health threat. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.06
• 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.
• Appropriate precautions: means those specific measures which have been demonstrated by current scientific evidence to assist in preventing transmission of a communicable disease of public health significance. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.01
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• At-risk behavior: means engaging in acts which a person, who has been informed that he is infected with a communicable disease of public health significance, knows may infect other persons without taking appropriate precautions to protect the health of the other persons. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.01
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Board: means the Board of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-705
• 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
• Communicable disease of public health significance: means an illness of public health significance, as determined by the State Health Commissioner, caused by a specific or suspected infectious agent that may be transmitted directly or indirectly from one individual to another. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.01
• Communicable disease of public health threat: means an illness of public health significance, as determined by the State Health Commissioner in accordance with regulations of the Board of Health, caused by a specific or suspected infectious agent that may be reasonably expected or is known to be readily transmitted directly or indirectly from one individual to another and has been found to create a risk of death or significant injury or impairment; this definition shall not, however, be construed to include human immunodeficiency viruses or tuberculosis, unless used as a bioterrorism weapon. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.06
• Companion animal: means , consistent with the provisions of § Virginia Code 32.1-48.06
• 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.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the State Department of Health. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• Department: means the Department of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-100
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• development: means the replenishment and restoration of existing public beaches. See Virginia Code 10.1-705
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• 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}
• Erosion: means the process of destruction by the action of wind, water, or ice of the land bordering the tidal waters of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 10.1-705
• 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.
• 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}
• 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.
• 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
• Individual: shall include any companion animal. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.06
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Isolation: means the physical separation, including confinement or restriction of movement, of an individual or individuals who are infected with or are reasonably suspected to be infected with a communicable disease of public health threat in order to prevent or limit the transmission of the communicable disease of public health threat to other uninfected and unexposed individuals. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.06
• 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.
• Locality: means a county, city or town. See Virginia Code 10.1-705
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Medical care facility: means any institution, place, building, or agency, whether or not licensed or required to be licensed by the Board or the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, whether operated for profit or nonprofit, and whether privately owned or privately operated or owned or operated by a local governmental unit, (i) by or in which health services are furnished, conducted, operated, or offered for the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of human disease, pain, injury, deformity, or physical condition, whether medical or surgical, of two or more nonrelated persons who are injured or physically sick or have mental illness, or for the care of two or more nonrelated persons requiring or receiving medical, surgical, nursing, acute, chronic, convalescent, or long-term care services, or services for individuals with disabilities, or (ii) which is the recipient of reimbursements from third-party health insurance programs or prepaid medical service plans. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• 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.
• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, or association or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• 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.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Program: means the provisions of the Public Beach Conservation and Development Act. See Virginia Code 10.1-705
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public beach: means a sandy beach located on a tidal shoreline suitable for bathing in a county, city or town and open to indefinite public use. See Virginia Code 10.1-705
• Quarantine: means the physical separation, including confinement or restriction of movement, of an individual or individuals who are present within an affected area, as defined herein, or who are known to have been exposed or may reasonably be suspected to have been exposed to a communicable disease of public health threat and who do not yet show signs or symptoms of infection with the communicable disease of public health threat in order to prevent or limit the transmission of the communicable disease of public health threat to other unexposed and uninfected individuals. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.06
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• shore erosion: means the process of destruction by the action of water, wind, or ice of the land bordering any body of water including all rivers and the tidal waters of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 10.1-700
• Shoulder: means that part of a highway between the portion regularly traveled by vehicular traffic and the lateral curbline or ditch. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• 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 Board: means the State Board of Health. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• state forest: means lands acquired for the Commonwealth by purchase, gift or lease pursuant to this section. See Virginia Code 10.1-1107
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• 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
• Traffic infraction: means a violation of law punishable as provided in § Virginia Code 46.2-100
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• 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
• Vehicle: means every device in, on or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, except personal delivery devices and devices moved by human power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
• venereal disease: includes syphilis, gonorrhea, chancroid, granuloma inguinale, lymphogranuloma venereum and any other sexually transmittable disease determined by the Board to be dangerous to the public health. See Virginia Code 32.1-55
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.