§ 8.01-412.9.Definitions.

Every uniform act needs a shared vocabulary to work consistently across states, and § 8.01-412.9 supplies Virginia’s version of it. “Foreign jurisdiction” means any state other than Virginia — not a foreign country, despite the word’s usual connotation. “Foreign subpoena” means a subpoena issued under the authority of a court of record in one of those other jurisdictions.

“Person” gets defined broadly, covering individuals, corporations, business trusts, estates, trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies, associations, joint ventures, public corporations, governments and their subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities, and any other legal or commercial entity — a definition built to make sure the act reaches whatever form the party or witness on either end of a subpoena might take. “State” is defined just as broadly, covering not only the fifty states but the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and any U.S. territory or insular possession.

Finally, “subpoena” is defined functionally rather than by label — any document, however denominated, issued under a court of record’s authority that requires someone to attend and testify at a deposition, produce and permit inspection or copying of designated books, documents, records, electronically stored information, or tangible things, or permit inspection of premises under that person’s control. That functional definition keeps the act from turning on what a particular document happens to be called in the issuing state.