Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 54.1 > Subtitle II > Chapter 22 - Soil Scientists, Wetland Professionals, and Geologists

• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• Board: means the Board for Professional Soil Scientists, Wetland Professionals, and Geologists. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• container: means all packages or containers intended or used to contain solids, liquids or materials and so designated. See Virginia Code 10.1-1414
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• 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 Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Department: means the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including ground waters. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• 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.
• 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}
• 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.
• 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 government: means the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiduciary: shall include any one or more of the following:

  a. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

• 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.
• Fund: means the Litter Control and Recycling Fund. See Virginia Code 10.1-1414
• Geological mapping: means the process of creating a map on which is recorded geological information, such as the distribution, nature, and age of relationships of rock units, in which surficial deposits may or may not be mapped separately, and the occurrence of structural features such as folds, faults, and joints; mineral deposits; and fossil localities. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Geologist: means a person engaged in the practice of geology. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Geology: means the science encompassing those principles and methods related to (i) the earth and its history in general; (ii) the investigation, prediction, evaluation, and location of materials and structures that compose the earth; (iii) the natural processes that cause changes in the earth; and (iv) the application of knowledge of the earth, its processes, and its constituent rocks, minerals, liquids, gases, and other natural materials. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• HDA: means the Virginia Housing Development Authority created and established pursuant to § Virginia Code 36-55.26
• 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
• 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}
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litter: means all waste material disposable packages or containers but not including the wastes of the primary processes of mining, logging, sawmilling, farming, or manufacturing. See Virginia Code 10.1-1414
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage: means a mortgage deed, deed of trust, or other security instrument which shall constitute a lien in the Commonwealth on improvements and real property in fee simple, on a leasehold under a lease having a remaining term, which at the time such mortgage is acquired does not expire for at least that number of years beyond the maturity date of the interest-bearing obligation secured by such mortgage as is equal to the number of years remaining until the maturity date of such obligation or on personal property, contract rights or other assets. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Mortgage lender: means any bank or trust company, mortgage banker approved by the Federal National Mortgage Association, savings bank, national banking association, savings and loan association, or building and loan association, life insurance company, the federal government or other financial institutions or government agencies which are authorized to and customarily provide service or otherwise aid in the financing of mortgages on residential housing located in the Commonwealth for persons and families of low or moderate income. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgage loan: means an interest-bearing obligation secured by a mortgage. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• 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.
• 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: 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
• Person: means any natural person, corporation, association, firm, receiver, guardian, trustee, executor, administrator, fiduciary, or representative or group of individuals or entities of any kind. See Virginia Code 10.1-1414
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
• Persons and families of low and moderate income: means persons and families, irrespective of race, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity, determined by the HDA to require such assistance as is made available by this chapter on account of insufficient personal or family income taking into consideration, without limitation, such factors as follows: (i) the amount of the total income of such persons and families available for housing needs, (ii) the size of the family, (iii) the cost and condition of housing facilities available, (iv) the ability of such persons and families to compete successfully in the normal private housing market and to pay the amounts at which private enterprise is providing sanitary, decent and safe housing, and (v) if appropriate, standards established for various federal programs determining eligibility based on income of such persons and families. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Practice of geology: means the performance of any professional service or work wherein the principles and methods of geology are applied, including (i) investigating, evaluating, and consulting; (ii) geological mapping; (iii) describing the natural processes that act upon the earth's materials; (iv) predicting the probable occurrence of natural processes; and (v) inspecting, planning, and performing and supervising geological work in order to enhance and protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public and the environment. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Practice of soil evaluation: means the evaluation of soil by accepted principles and methods including, observation, investigation, and consultation on measured, observed, and inferred soils and their properties; analysis of the effects of these properties on the use and management of various kinds of soil; and preparation of soil descriptions, maps, reports, and interpretive drawings. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Practice of wetland delineation: means the delineation of wetlands by accepted principles and methods including, observation, investigation, and consultation on soil, vegetation, and hydrologic parameters; and preparation of wetland delineations, descriptions, reports, and interpretive drawings. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• 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.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Recycling: means the process of separating a given waste material from the waste stream and processing it so that it may be used again as a raw material for a product which may or may not be similar to the original product. See Virginia Code 10.1-1414
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Sheriff: shall include deputy sheriffs and such other persons designated in § Virginia Code 8.01-2
• Soil: means the groups of natural bodies occupying the unconsolidated portion of the earth's surface which are capable of supporting plant life and have properties caused by the combined effects, as modified by topography and time, of climate and living organisms upon parent materials. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Soil evaluation: means plotting soil boundaries, describing and evaluating the kinds of soil, and predicting their suitability for and response to various uses. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Soil science: means the science dealing with the physical, chemical, mineralogical, and biological properties of soils as natural bodies. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Soil scientist: means a person having special knowledge of soil science and the methods and principles of soil evaluation as acquired by education and experience in the formation, description, and mapping of soils. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Solid waste: means any garbage, refuse, sludge, and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, or community activities, but does not include (i) solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage; (ii) solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows or in industrial discharges that are sources subject to a permit from the State Water Control Board; (iii) source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; or (iv) post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks that are (a) processed at an advanced recycling facility or (b) held at or held for the purpose of conversion at such advanced recycling facility prior to conversion. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• 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
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• 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: includes every device capable of being moved upon a public highway and in, upon, or by which any person or property may be transported upon a public highway, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Virginia Code 10.1-1414
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Virginia certified professional wetland delineator: means a person who possesses the qualifications required for certification by the provisions of this chapter and the regulations of the Board and who is granted certification by the Board. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Waste: means any solid, hazardous, or radioactive waste as defined in this section. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Wetland delineation: means delineating wetland limits in accordance with prevailing state and federal regulatory guidance and describing wetland types. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Wetland professional: means a person having special knowledge of wetland science and the methods and principles of wetland delineation as acquired by education and experience in the formation, description, and mapping of wetlands. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Wetland science: means the science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological properties of wetland systems integrated through ecological and morphological relationships. See Virginia Code 54.1-2200
• Wetlands: means the same as that term is defined in §§ Virginia Code 54.1-2200