<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<section number="1-102" name="Rules of Code construction; definitions" law="code" slug="sec-1-102" node_id="PTIITI17PULOLAPRGECOMA_SUBTITLE_1GEPR_S1-102RUCOCODE">
  <level label="a">
    <text>In the construction of this Code and all ordinances the following rules of construction and definitions shall be observed unless inconsistent with the manifest intent of the Council or the context clearly requires otherwise:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Administrative regulations shall mean written orders which are issued by the County Executive or Chief Administrative Officer of the County and compiled in a manual.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>And/or shall mean and may read or and or may be read and if the sense requires it.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Charter shall mean the Prince George's County Charter adopted by referendum, November 3, 1970, as amended.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>Clerk shall mean the Clerk of the Council.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="5">
      <text>Council shall mean the legislative branch of the County government, the County Council.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="6">
      <text>County shall mean Prince George's County, Maryland.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="7">
      <text>County limits shall mean within the County and includes not only the corporate limits of the County, but also any property which it owns or which is under its jurisdiction.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="8">
      <text>Day shall mean the period of time between any midnight and the midnight following.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="9">
      <text>Daytime shall mean the period of time between sunrise and sunset.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="10">
      <text>Definitions given within a Subtitle or Division shall apply only to words or phrases used in such Subtitle or Division unless otherwise provided.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="11">
      <text>Designee, following the use of the title of an official of the County, shall mean the authorized agent, employee, or representative of such official.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="12">
      <text>Director means the chief executive officer of the Office or Department to which the particular Division, Bureau, Board, Agency, or subordinate municipal administrative body has been assigned by the County Executive.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="13">
      <text>Gender: Words in any Section importing the masculine gender shall include the feminine and neuter as well as the masculine.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="14">
      <text>Health Officer means the head of the Health Department or any person designated to perform the County health functions and duties.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="15">
      <text>Laws mean and include all acts, public local laws, ordinances, resolutions, and other legislative acts of the Council, and all public general and public local laws of the General Assembly of the State.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="16">
      <text>May: The word may is permissive and discretionary.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="17">
      <text>Month means a calendar month.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="18">
      <text>Nighttime shall mean the period of time between sunset and sunrise.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="19">
      <text>Number: Words used in the singular include the plural and the plural includes the singular.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="20">
      <text>Oath means any form of attestation by which a person signifies that he is bound in conscience to perform an act or to speak faithfully and truthfully, and includes an affirmation or declaration in cases where by law an affirmation may be substituted for an oath.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="21">
      <text>Occupant means tenant or person in actual possession.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="22">
      <text>Operate means set up, carry on, keep, conduct, maintain, manage, direct, or superintend.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="23">
      <text>Owner means one who has complete dominion over particular property and who is the one in whom legal or equitable title rests; when applied to a building or land, owner means any part owner, joint owner, owner of a community or partnership interest, life tenant, tenant in common, tenant by the entireties, or joint tenant of the whole or part of such building or land.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="24">
      <text>Person means any individual, natural person, legal entity, joint stock company, partnership, voluntary association, society, club, firm, company, corporation, business trust, organization, owner, occupant, or any other group acting as a unit, principal or agent, or the manager, lessor, lessee, agent, servant, partner, member, director, officer, or employee of any of them including an executor, administrator, trustee, receiver, or other representative appointed according to law.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="25">
      <text>Personal Property means any money, goods, movable chattels, things in action, evidence of debt, all objects and rights which are capable of ownership, and every other species of property except real property.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="25.1">
      <text>Place open to the public means any privately-owned place of business operated for a profit to which the public is invited, including, but not limited to, any place of amusement or entertainment, regardless of whether a charge for admission or entry is made.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="26">
      <text>Preceding and following mean next before and next after, respectively.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="27">
      <text>Public local laws mean and include all acts, ordinances, and legislative acts of the Council.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="28">
      <text>Public place means any park, lake, stream, stadium, athletic field, playground, school yard, street, avenue, plaza, square, bus, train or railroad depot, station, terminal, cemetery, open space adjacent thereto, or any other place commonly open to the public.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="29">
      <text>Real Property means land, together with all things attached to the land so as to become a part thereof.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="30">
      <text>Shall; must: The words shall or must are mandatory.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="31">
      <text>Sidewalk means that portion of a street between the curb line and the adjacent property along the margin of a street or other highway, designed, constructed, and intended for the use of pedestrians to the exclusion of vehicles.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="32">
      <text>Signature and subscription mean the name of a person, mark, or symbol appended by him to a writing with intent to authenticate the instrument as one made or put into effect by him.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="33">
      <text>State means the State of Maryland.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="34">
      <text>Street means all streets, highways, avenues, boulevards, parkways, roads, lanes, viaducts, bridges and the approaches thereto, docks built on the public street, alleys, courts, places, squares, curbs, sidewalks, recreation and park lands used for vehicular traffic, or other public ways or thoroughfares in the County, over which it has jurisdiction, which have been or may hereafter be dedicated and open to public use, or such other public property so designated in any law of this State.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="35">
      <text>Tenant means any person occupying the premises, building, or land of another in subordination to such other person's title and with his express or implied assent, whether he occupies the whole or part of those premises, building or land, whether alone or with others.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="36">
      <text>Tense: Words used in the past or present tense include the future, past, and present where applicable unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="37">
      <text>Time means an hour of the day according to the official time of the County.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="38">
      <text>Time computation: In computing any period of time prescribed by this Code or by any applicable law, the day of the act, event, or default, after which the designated period of time begins to run, is not to be included. The last day of the period so computed is to be included unless:</text>
      <level label="A">
        <text>It is a Sunday or a legal holiday, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day, which is neither a Sunday nor a legal holiday; or</text>
      </level>
      <level label="B">
        <text>The act to be done is the filing of some paper in court or County office and the offices on the last day of the period are not open, or are closed for a part of a day, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is neither a Sunday, Saturday, a legal holiday, or a day on which the offices are not open the entire day during ordinary business hours.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <text>When the period of time allowed is more than seven (7) days, intermediate Sundays and legal holidays shall be considered as other days; but if the period of time allowed is seven (7) days or less, intermediate Sundays, Saturdays, and legal holidays shall not be counted in computing the period of time.</text>
  <level label="39">
    <text>Week means seven (7) days.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="40">
    <text>Words and phrases shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of the language, but technical words and phrases and others that have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law shall be construed and understood according to such meaning.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="41">
    <text>Writing and written means any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing or otherwise, capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="42">
    <text>Year means a calendar year, unless otherwise stated.</text>
  </level>
</section>
