Code of Alabama - Title 32: Motor Vehicles and Traffic - Section 32-18-1 - Definitions

Section 32-18-1 - Definitions.

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

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

(2) OPERATOR. Every person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a street, alley, or thoroughfare.

(3) MOTOR VEHICLE. Any vehicle propelled by any power other than muscular power, including traction engines, tractor cranes, power shovels, road building machines, road rollers, road sweepers, and sand spreaders, which are self-propelled; and trailers, semitrailers, and motorcycles. This definition shall not include traction engines, tractor cranes, power shovels, road building machines, road rollers, road sweepers, and sand spreaders which are not self-propelled; or tractors used exclusively for agricultural purposes, well drillers, electric trucks with small wheels used in factories, warehouses, and railroad stations and operated principally on private property and such vehicles as run only upon rails or tracks; or motor vehicles to the extent of five or more owned by any person having testing equipment and facilities meeting the requirements of the city; or motor vehicles engaged in the business of carrying and transporting passengers or property and subject to the supervision and regulation of the Alabama Public Service Commission.

(4) OWNER. A person who holds the legal title to 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 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 motor vehicle is entitled to possession, then such conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter.

(Acts 1943, No. 542, p. 522, §1.)

Last modified: May 3, 2021