39-16-01. Definitions

39-16-01. Definitions In this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires: 1. "Commissioner" or "director" means the director of the department of transportation of this state as provided by section 24-02-01.3, acting directly or through authorized agents. 2. "Driver" means every person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle whether or not licensed as a driver under the laws of this state. 3. "Judgment" means any judgment which has 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 of the United States, upon a claim for relief arising out of 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 claim for relief on an agreement of settlement for such damages. 4. "License" means any license, temporary instruction permit, or temporary license issued under the law of this state pertaining to the licensing of persons to operate motor vehicles. 5. "Motor vehicle" includes every self-propelled vehicle, including trailers and semitrailers designed for use with these vehicles. The term does not include special mobile equipment or an electric bicycle. 6. "Nonresident" means every person who is not a resident of this state. 7. "Nonresident's operating privilege" means the privilege conferred upon a nonresident by the laws of this state pertaining to the operation in this state by that person of a motor vehicle, or the use of a motor vehicle owned by that person. 8. "Owner" means 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 thereof with the right of purchase upon performance of the condition 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 such conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor must be deemed the owner for the purposes of this chapter. 9. "State" means any state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any province of the Dominion of Canada.