1-2: DEFINITIONS AND RULES OF CONSTRUCTION 1 :

In the construction of this code and other ordinances of the city, the following rules shall be observed unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the code provision or the ordinance or the context clearly requires otherwise:

General Rule: All words and phrases shall be construed and understood according to the common and approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law shall be construed and understood according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning.

ACTS BY AGENTS: When an act is required to be done which may by law as well be done by an agent as by the principal, such requirement shall be construed to include all such acts when done by an authorized agent.

AND, OR: "And" may be read "or" and "or" may be read "and" if the sense requires it.

BOND: When a bond is required, an undertaking in writing shall be sufficient.

CITY: The city of Eloy, in the county of Pinal and state of Arizona, except as otherwise provided. The words "in the city" or "within the city" shall mean and include all territory over which the city has jurisdiction for the exercise of its police powers or other regulatory powers as authorized by the laws of the state 2 .

CODE, THIS CODE, CODE OF ORDINANCES: The Eloy code, city of Eloy, Arizona.

COMMON COUNCIL, COUNCIL, CITY COUNCIL: The common council of the city of Eloy, Arizona.

COUNTY: Pinal County, Arizona.

DEPARTMENT, BOARD, COMMISSION, OFFICE, OFFICER, OR EMPLOYEE: Whenever any department, board, commission, office, officer, or employee is referred to, it shall mean a department, board, commission, office, officer, or employee of the city, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

GENDER: Words importing the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter.

JOINT AUTHORITY: All words giving a joint authority to three (3) or more persons or officers shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons or officers, unless it is otherwise expressly declared in the law giving the authority.

KEEPER, PROPRIETOR: Includes persons, firms, associations, corporations, clubs and copartnerships, whether acting by themselves or through a servant, agent or employee.

MONTH: A calendar month.

NUMBER: Words used in the singular include the plural and the plural includes the singular.

OATH: The word "oath" includes an affirmation in all cases in which, by law, an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and in such cases the words "swear" and "sworn" shall be equivalent to the words "affirm" and "affirmed".

OWNER: The word "owner" applied to a building or land shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, joint tenant, or lessee, of the whole or of part of such building or land.

PERSON: Includes a corporation, company, partnership, association or society as well as a natural person.

PERSONAL PROPERTY: Every species of property, except real property, as defined in this section.

PRECEDING, FOLLOWING: Next before and next after, respectively.

PROPERTY: Includes lands, tenements and hereditaments and personal property.

PUBLIC PLACE: Any thoroughfare, park, open space and building not privately owned or controlled.

REAL PROPERTY: Coextensive with lands, tenements and hereditaments.

SHALL, MAY: "Shall" is mandatory and "may" is permissive.

SIDEWALK: Any portion of a street between the curbline and the adjacent property line, intended for the use of pedestrians.

SIGNATURE OR SUBSCRIPTION BY MARK: "Signature" or "subscription" includes a mark when the signer or subscriber cannot write, such signer's or subscriber's name being written near the mark by the witness who writes his own name near the signer's or subscriber's name; but a signature or subscription by mark can be acknowledged or can serve as a signature or subscription to a sworn statement only when two (2) witnesses so sign their own names thereto.

STATE: The state of Arizona.

STREET: Includes any alley, lane, court, boulevard, public way, public square, public place and sidewalk.

TENANT OR OCCUPANT: The word "tenant" or "occupant", applied to a building or land, shall include any person holding a written or an oral lease of, or who occupies the whole or part of, such building or land, either alone or with others.

TENSES: The present tense includes the past and future tenses, and the future includes the present.

TIME, COMPUTATION: The time within which an act is to be done as provided in any ordinance or in any order issued pursuant to any ordinance, when expressed in days, shall be computed by excluding the first day and including the last, except that if the last day is a Sunday or legal holiday it shall be excluded; and when such time is expressed in hours, the whole of Sunday or the legal holiday, from midnight to midnight, shall be excluded.

TIME, REASONABLE: In all cases where any ordinance shall require any act to be done in a reasonable time or reasonable notice to be given, such reasonable time or notice shall be deemed to mean such time only as may be necessary for the prompt performance of such duty, or compliance with such notice.

WEEK: A "week" consists of seven (7) consecutive days.

WRITING: Includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report, statement, or record is required or authorized by this code, it shall be made in writing in the English language unless expressly provided otherwise.

YEAR: The word "year" shall mean a calendar year, except where otherwise provided. (1969 Code; 1986 Code)

 

Notes

1	1. ARS §§ 1-211 – 1-215.
2	1. ARS §§ 9-240(B)(21)(c), 9-276(A)(18), 9-402.