Miss. Code Ann. § 63-1-3

The following words and phrases when used in this article shall, for the purpose of such law, have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section:

(a) The term “commissioner” means the commissioner of public safety of this state;

(b) The term “highway” means every way or place of whatever nature open to the use of the public for the purpose of vehicular travel, and shall include streets of municipalities;

(c) The term “operator” means any person in actual physical control of a motor vehicle on the highway;

(d) The term “owner” means a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle; in the event a 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 vehicle is entitled to possession, then such conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this article.