Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 8 > Article 14 > Part I - Law and Order and Police Force or Departments

• Administrative authority: shall mean the officer, commission, or person responsible for the conduct and management of the affairs of the municipality in accordance with the charter, general law, and the ordinances, resolutions, and orders of the governing body thereof. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Articles of incorporation: includes , but is not limited to, amended and restated articles of incorporation and articles of merger. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• 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.
• board of directors: means the group of persons vested with management of the affairs of the corporation irrespective of the name by which the group is designated. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Charter: shall mean , except where specific reference is made to a particular type of charter, either a special legislative charter (whether or not amended under the provisions of former §. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• City: is a word of art and shall mean, include, and be limited to any Class I, Class II, and Class III city, as classified in section three of this article (except in those instances where the context in which used clearly indicates that a particular class of city is intended), heretofore or hereafter incorporated as a municipal corporation under the laws of this state, however created and whether operating under: (i) A special legislative charter. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Code: shall mean the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as heretofore and hereafter amended. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• delivery: means any method of delivery used in conventional commercial practice, including, but not limited to, delivery by hand, mail, commercial delivery and electronic transmission. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Distribution: means a direct or indirect transfer of money or other property or incurrence of indebtedness by a corporation to or for the benefit of its members in respect of any of its membership interests or to or for the benefit of its officers or directors: Provided, That the payment of reasonable compensation for services rendered, the reimbursement of reasonable expenses, the granting of benefits to members in conformity with the corporation'. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• electronically transmitted: means any process of communication not directly involving the physical transfer of paper that is suitable for the retention, retrieval and reproduction of information by the recipient. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Employee: includes an officer and may include a director: Provided, That the director has accepted duties that make him or her also an employee. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Entity: includes corporation and foreign corporations. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• 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.
• Foreign corporation: means any nonprofit corporation which is incorporated under a law other than the laws of this state. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• 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: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Individual: includes , but is not limited to, the estate of an incompetent or deceased individual. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• 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.
• 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.
• Laws of the state: includes the Constitution of the State of West Virginia and the Constitution of the United States, and treaties and laws made in pursuance thereof. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Mayor: shall mean the individual called mayor unless as to a particular municipality a commissioner (in a commission form of government) or the city manager (in a manager form of government) is designated or constituted by charter provision as the principal or chief executive officer or chief administrator thereof, in which event the term "mayor" shall mean as to such municipality such commissioner or city manager unless as to any particular power, authority, duty or function specified in this chapter to be exercised, discharged or fulfilled by the mayor it is provided by charter provision or ordinance that such particular power, authority, duty, or function shall be exercised, discharged, or fulfilled by the individual called mayor and not by a commissioner or city manager, in which event such particular power, authority, duty, or function shall in fact be exercised, discharged, or fulfilled in and for such municipality by the individual called mayor: Provided, That in the exercise and discharge of the ex officio justice of the peace, conservator of the peace, and mayor's court functions specified in this chapter, the term "mayor" shall always mean the individual called mayor. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Member: means a person having membership rights in a corporation in accordance with the provisions of its certificate of incorporation or bylaws. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Nonprofit corporation: means a corporation which may not make distributions to its members, directors or officers. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Ordinance: shall mean the ordinances and laws enacted by the governing body of a municipality in the exercise of its legislative power, and in one or more articles of this chapter, ordinances enacted by a county commission. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• 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: includes , but is not limited to, an individual and an entity. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Person: shall mean any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, or any other entity or organization of whatever character or description. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Principal office: means the office so designated in the return required pursuant to section three, article twelve-c, chapter . See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Proceeding: includes , but is not limited to, civil suits and criminal, administrative and investigatory actions. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Record date: means the date established under article six or seven of this chapter on which a corporation determines the identity of its members and their interests. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Registered agent: means the agent identified by the corporation pursuant to section five hundred one, article five of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• Registered office: means the address of the registered agent for the corporation, as provided in section five hundred one, article five of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• 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.
• Secretary: means the corporate officer to whom the board of directors has delegated responsibility under subsection (c), section eight hundred forty, article eight of this chapter for custody of the minutes of the meetings of the board of directors and the meetings of the members and for authenticating records of the corporation. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• signature: includes , but is not limited to, any manual, facsimile, conformed or electronic signature with means to identify a record by a signature, mark or other symbol, with intent to authenticate it. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150
• State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Town: includes a city, village or town, and the word "council" any body or board, whether composed of one or more branches, which is authorized to make ordinances for the government of a city, town, or village. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes , but is not limited to, districts, authorities, bureaus, commissions, departments and any other agency of the United States. See West Virginia Code 31E-1-150