Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 30 > Chapter 1 > Part 1 - General Provisions

• ADS: means technology installed on a motor vehicle that has the capability to drive the vehicle on which the technology is installed in high or full automation mode, without any supervision by a human operator, with specific driving mode performance by the automated driving system of all aspects of the dynamic driving task that can be managed by a human driver, including the ability to automatically bring the motor vehicle into a minimal risk condition in the event of a critical vehicle or system failure or other emergency event. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• ADS-operated vehicle: means a vehicle equipped with an automated driving system. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Autocycle: means an autocycle as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bond: means irrevocable bond executed by a corporate surety company licensed to do business as a corporate surety company in this state, with penalties of like amounts as those pertaining to an insurance policy or the amount of damages suffered, whichever is less, the bond to guarantee the payment of any final judgment which might thereafter be rendered against the bonded party resulting from the accident up to and including the total amount of the bond, except the bond may specify a limited payment to those persons who have at the time of its execution filed claims with the commissioner, and shall contain a clause therein that it shall remain in force for one (1) year from the date of the accident or until final determination of any court action brought as a result of the accident, whichever may be the longer period of time. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Bus: means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than ten (10) passengers and used for the transportation of persons, and every motor vehicle, other than a taxicab, designed and used for the transportation of persons for compensation. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Car sharing delivery period: means the period of time during which a shared vehicle is being delivered to the location of the car sharing start time, if applicable, as documented by the governing car sharing program agreement. See Tennessee Code 55-12-301
• Car sharing period: means the period of time:
  (A) That commences with the car sharing delivery period and ends at the car sharing termination time. See Tennessee Code 55-12-301
• Car sharing start time: means the time when the shared vehicle becomes subject to the control of the shared vehicle driver at or after the time the reservation of a shared vehicle is scheduled to begin as documented in the records of a peer-to-peer car sharing program. See Tennessee Code 55-12-301
• Car sharing termination time: means the earliest of the following events:
  (A) The expiration of the agreed upon period of time established for the use of a shared vehicle according to the terms of the car sharing program agreement if the shared vehicle is delivered to the location agreed upon in the car sharing program agreement. See Tennessee Code 55-12-301
• carrier: means an insurance carrier licensed under title 56 to provide vehicle insurance, as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 55-12-203
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Chauffeur: means every person who is employed by another for the principal purpose of driving a motor vehicle and every person who drives a school bus transporting school children or any motor vehicle when in use for the transportation of persons or property for compensation. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Commercial automobile coverage: means any coverage provided to an insured, regardless of the number of vehicles or entities covered, under a commercial coverage form and rated from a commercial manual approved by the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 55-12-203
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of safety, unless otherwise indicated or unless the context otherwise requires. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dealer: means any person, partnership, or corporation who is engaged in, or who intends to engage in the business of selling motor vehicles at retail in this state. See Tennessee Code 55-13-101
• Dealer: means every person engaged in the business of buying, selling or exchanging vehicles of a type required to be registered and who has an established place of business for that purpose in this state. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of revenue. See Tennessee Code 55-1-111
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Designated agent: means a third-party vendor that the department of revenue may contract with to develop, implement, and administer the program. See Tennessee Code 55-12-203
• Drag racing: means :
  (A) The use of any motor vehicle for the purpose of ascertaining the maximum speed obtainable by the vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-10-501
• Driver: means :
  (A) For purposes of a conventionally operated vehicle, every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Executor: includes an administrator, where the subject matter applies to an administrator. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Finance company or finance agency: means any person engaged in the business of financing the sale of motor vehicles, or engaged in the business of purchasing or acquiring promissory notes, either secured by vendor's lien or chattel mortgage, arising from the sale of motor vehicles in this state. See Tennessee Code 55-13-101
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Full book of business: means a business record download of an automobile liability insurer made in accordance with IICMVA Insurance Data Transfer Guide Specifications that contains the data elements described in §. See Tennessee Code 55-12-203
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way when any part thereto is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• IICMVA: means the Insurance Industry Committee on Motor Vehicle Administration. See Tennessee Code 55-12-203
• IICMVA Model: means the online insurance verification system model created by the IICMVA. See Tennessee Code 55-12-203
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Judgment: means any judgment that 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. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• License: means any license, temporary instruction permit, or temporary license issued under the laws of this state, or any other state, pertaining to the licensing of persons to operate motor vehicles within this state. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Manufacturer: means any person who is engaged, either directly or indirectly, in the manufacture of motor vehicles. See Tennessee Code 55-13-101
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Motor vehicle: means any self-propelled vehicle, including a truck, truck tractor, motor bus, or other vehicle not operated exclusively or driven on fixed rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-10-802
• Motor vehicle: means every self-propelled vehicle that is designed for use upon the highway, including trailers and semitrailers designed for use with motor vehicles, and every vehicle that is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead wires but not operated upon rails, except traction engines, road rollers and farm tractors. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Motor vehicle liability policy: means an "owner's policy" or "operator's policy" of liability insurance, certified as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• NAIC: means the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. See Tennessee Code 55-12-203
• Nonresident: means every person who is not a resident of this state. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Operator: means :
  (A) For purposes of a conventionally operated vehicle, every person, other than a chauffeur, who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising control over or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Operator: means :
  (A) For purposes of a conventionally operated vehicle, every person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle whether or not licensed as an operator or chauffeur under the laws of this state. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Owner: means a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle, or 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 the conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter and chapter 10, parts 1-5 of this title. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• 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 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, lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this part. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Participant: means that person or persons who operate any motor vehicle or motor vehicles upon the public highways of this state, or that of any municipality or political subdivision thereof, for the purpose of drag racing, and also any person or persons who arrange for, supervise, or in any way and manner set in motion any drag racing, regardless of whether or not such person or persons may be the operator of, or be a passenger in, any motor vehicle participating in drag racing. See Tennessee Code 55-10-501
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, or an engaged ADS. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Personal representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Persons: means any individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association, trustee, receiver or assignee for the benefit of creditors. See Tennessee Code 55-13-101
• Platoon: means a group of individual motor vehicles that are traveling in a unified manner at electronically coordinated speeds. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probate court: means the court having jurisdiction over the administration of the estates of decedents. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• program: means an insurance verification program that is created in compliance with the online verification system and data transfer standards, specifications, model, and guide of the IICMVA, and developed, implemented, and administered by the department of revenue in compliance with this part. See Tennessee Code 55-12-203
• proof of financial security: means :
  (A)

  (i) If proof is required after December 31, 1989, but prior to January 1, 2009, such proof means:

  (a) A written proof of liability insurance coverage provided by a single limit policy with a limit of not less than sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) applicable to one (1) accident. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Public highways: means all of the streets, roads, highways, expressways, bridges and viaducts, including any and all adjacent rights-of-way, that are owned, constructed, and/or maintained by the state, and/or any municipality or political subdivision of the state, and any and all highways, roads, streets, etc. See Tennessee Code 55-10-501
• purchase: include exchange, barter, gift, and offer to contract to sell or buy. See Tennessee Code 55-13-101
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Registration: means a registration certificate or certificates and registration plates issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the registration of motor vehicles. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Rental car company: means a business engaged in the rental of motor vehicles that is subject to title 67, chapter 4, part 19, and not a peer-to-peer car sharing program. See Tennessee Code 55-12-301
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Shared vehicle driver: means an individual who has been authorized to drive the shared vehicle by the shared vehicle owner under a car sharing program agreement. See Tennessee Code 55-12-301
• Shared vehicle owner: means the registered owner, or a person or entity designated by the registered owner, of a vehicle made available for sharing to shared vehicle drivers through a peer-to-peer car sharing program. See Tennessee Code 55-12-301
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• State: means any state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any province of the Dominion of Canada. See Tennessee Code 55-12-102
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Street: means the entire width between boundary lines of every way when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Tractor: means any self-propelled vehicle designed or used as a traveling power plant or for drawing other vehicles, but having no provision for carrying loads independently. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Trailer: means every vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that no part of its weight rests upon the towing vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Truck: means every motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Vehicle: means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Wholesale distributor: means any person engaged, directly or indirectly, in the sale or distribution of motor vehicles to agents or to dealers. See Tennessee Code 55-13-101
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105