§ 8.01-2.General definitions for this title.

Section 8.01-2 opens with a set of interpretive ground rules that apply throughout the title unless context requires otherwise. “Action” and “suit” are interchangeable and cover every civil proceeding, whether at law, in equity, or by statute, and whether in circuit or district court. “Decree” and “judgment” are likewise interchangeable and include orders and awards. “Rendition of a judgment” means the moment it is signed and dated, and “person” reaches beyond individuals to include a trust, an estate, a partnership, an association, an order, a corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity.

Two of the definitions are lists. “Fiduciary” includes a guardian, committee, trustee, executor, administrator (including one with the will annexed), curator of a decedent’s will, or conservator. “Person under a disability” is broader still: it covers a person confined for a felony conviction during the confinement, an infant, an incapacitated person as defined in § 64.2-2000, an incapacitated ex-service person under § 64.2-2016, parties sued only under the general description of “parties unknown” in real-property suits, and any other person a court determines, on motion, is incapable of caring for himself, incapable of managing his estate, or otherwise unable to defend his property or legal rights because of age or a temporary or permanent impairment — physical, mental, or from substance abuse as defined in § 37.2-100.

The remaining definitions update older terminology to modern practice. “Sheriff” includes deputy sheriffs and the other persons designated in § 15.2-1603. “Summons” and “subpoena” are interchangeable and include a subpoena duces tecum. And a cluster of older labels — “court of equity,” “law and equity court,” “chancery court,” “corporation court,” and similar phrases — all mean the circuit court when it is hearing equitable claims, while “motion for judgment,” “bill,” “bill of complaint,” or “bill in equity” all mean a complaint in a civil action, and “equity practice” or “chancery practice” means practice and procedure in a civil action under the Code and the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia.