Section 32-7-2

Definitions.

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section, except in those instances where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

(1) DIRECTOR. The Director of Public Safety of the State of Alabama.

(2) JUDGMENT. Any judgment which shall have become final by expiration without appeal of the time within which an appeal might have been perfected, or by final affirmation on appeal rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction of any state or of the United States, upon a cause of action arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of any motor vehicle, for damages, including damages for care and loss of services, because of bodily injury to or death of any person, or for damages because of injury to or destruction of property, including the loss of use thereof, or upon a cause of action on an agreement of settlement for those damages.

(3) LICENSE. Any license, temporary instruction permit, or temporary license issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the licensing of persons to operate motor vehicles.

(4) MOTOR VEHICLE. Every self-propelled vehicle which is designed for use upon a highway, including trailers and semitrailers designed for use with the vehicles (except traction engines, road rollers, farm tractors, tractor cranes, power shovels and well drillers) and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead wires but not operated upon rails.

(5) NONRESIDENT. Every person who is not a resident of this state.

(6) NONRESIDENT'S OPERATION PRIVILEGE. The privilege conferred upon a nonresident by the laws of this state pertaining to the operation by him or her of a motor vehicle or the use of a motor vehicle owned by him or her in this state.

(7) OPERATOR. Every person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle.

(8) OWNER. A person who holds the legal title of a motor vehicle, or in the event a motor vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or lease of the motor vehicle with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee, or lessee, or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee, or lessee, or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purposes of this subdivision.

(9) PERSON. Every natural person, firm, copartnership, association or corporation.

(10) PROOF OF FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. Proof of ability to respond in damages for liability, on account of accidents occurring subsequent to the effective date of the proof, arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle in the amount of $20,000, because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, and, subject to the limit for one person, in the amount of $40,000 because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident, and in the amount of $10,000 because of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one accident.

(11) REGISTRATION. Registration certificate or certificates and registration plates issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the registration of motor vehicles.

(12) STATE. Any state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia or any province of the Dominion of Canada.

(Acts 1951, No. 704, p. 1224, §1; Acts 1993, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 93-903, p. 192, §1.)