Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 8.9A > Part 1 > Part 1 - Short Title, Definitions and General Concepts

• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bailiff: a court officer who enforces the rules of behavior in courtrooms.
• 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.
• Chief: means the Chief of the Division of Mines of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-100
• Coal slurry: means waste water and impurities produced as the result of coal washing and preparation of coal for market, containing a combination of coal, shale, claystone, siltstone, sandstone, limestone, or related materials that are excavated, moved, and disposed of from underground workings. See Virginia Code 45.2-617
• company: shall mean all corporations created by acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, or under the general incorporation laws of this Commonwealth, or doing business therein, and shall exclude all municipal corporations, other political subdivisions, and public institutions owned or controlled by the Commonwealth; and the term "the Commission" shall mean the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 12.1-1
• Courts of record: means the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the circuit courts. See Virginia Code 1-212
• 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.
• 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
• Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
• Mine refuse impoundment: means a mine refuse pile that retains water that has been used in carrying out any part of the process necessary in the production or preparation of coal. See Virginia Code 45.2-617
• Operator: means any person who operates, controls, or supervises a retaining dam or a mine refuse impoundment. See Virginia Code 45.2-617
• Retaining dam: means an artificial barrier or obstruction that is designed to impound water, coal slurry, or silt (i) to an elevation of five feet or more above the upstream toe of the structure and has a storage volume of 20 acre-feet or more or (ii) to an elevation of 20 feet or more measured at the open channel spillway or from the crest of the dam in a closed system, regardless of storage volume. See Virginia Code 45.2-617
• Silt: means fine particles resulting from a mining operation, suspended in or deposited by water. See Virginia Code 45.2-617
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• Water: means liquid or slurry resulting from the processing of coal in mining operations. See Virginia Code 45.2-617
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.