For the purposes and whenever used in this chapter, the following definitions shall have the meanings indicated, unless otherwise required by the context:

(a) “Judges’ Retirement System” means the Tennessee Judges’ Retirement System, constituted by the provisions of chapter 3 of title 17 of this Code.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 17-313

  • 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
  • Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system, as provided in chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • 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
  • Retirement: means withdrawal from membership with a retirement allowance granted under chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Retirement system: means the Tennessee consolidated retirement system as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Service: means service as a general employee, a teacher, a state police officer, a wildlife officer, a firefighter, a police officer, a state judge, a county judge, an attorney general, a commissioner or a county official which is paid for by an employer, and also includes service for which a former member of the general assembly is entitled to under former §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) “Judge” means any person in office as a judge of a court of record in this state whose salary for his judicial position has been paid during the period of his service wholly from the treasury of the state and includes the executive secretary to the Supreme Court.
(c) “Service” means service as a judge, which shall also include the following:

(1) Time while on leave of absence during the term of judicial office;
(2) service rendered by a judge in the armed forces or in any department of the government of the United States during the existence of a state of war or a period of national emergency which interrupts his term of office;
(3) time served as attorney-general or assistant attorney-general, or district attorney-general or assistant district attorney-general, all of which are referred to in this chapter as attorney-general; and
(4) time served as a member of the general assembly, subject to a maximum of eight (8) years’ credit for service in the general assembly and subject to the further provision that the judge has paid into the judges’ retirement system three per cent (3%) of the compensation he received as a member of the general assembly during such years of service, plus interest at the rate of three percent (3%) per year prior to December 30, 1970. Service shall be rounded to the nearest number of years based on full calendar months of service; and
(5) services rendered as a sessions judge within the state of Tennessee.

When a judge is entitled to include for retirement under the judges’ retirement system service as attorney-general or an attorney-general is entitled to include for retirement under the attorneys-general retirement system service as a judge, there shall be transferred from the system the member leaves to the system he enters (1) the whole amount of the member’s contributions remaining to his credit, and (2) the members’s proportionate share of all other funds paid into the state treasury and held in trust for the retirement system from which he is being transferred during the period he was a member of that system. The sum transferred shall thereafter be a part of the system to which it is transferred and shall be held and dealt with in the same manner as if the member had made his contributions to that system as a member and as if the other contributions had been credited to the system during the time he was a member.

Any judge who becomes a member of the judges’ retirement system after April 15, 1970, shall not be entitled to include for retirement as a judge any service as attorney-general rendered after September 1, 1958, unless he was a member of the attorneys-general retirement system for the period of service to be included and has left his contributions in that system until he becomes a member of the judges’ retirement system.

Any judge who is a member of this retirement system on April 15, 1970, who does not have twenty (20) years of service when he attains age sixty-five (65) shall be entitled to a credit for service not exceeding four (4) years if he retires on or before his seventieth (70th) birthday; or if he is past seventy (70) years old on April 15, 1970, and retires on or before December 1, 1970, he shall be entitled to a like credit.

Any judge who becomes a member of this system after April 15, 1970, shall not be entitled to full credit for any service rendered after his seventieth (70th) birthday but shall be subject to the provisions for late retirement.

(d) “Normal Retirement Age” means sixty-five (65) for a judge whose length of service is less than eight (8) years and fifty-four (54) for a judge whose length of service is eight (8) or more years.
(e) “Benefit Base” means a sum equal to the annual salary the retired judge would receive if he continued in the office from which he retired.
(f) “Normal Retirement Benefit” means a sum equal to seventy-five per cent (75%) of a judge’s benefit base if he has completed at least twenty (20) years of service. Otherwise, the normal retirement benefit shall be three and seventy-five hundredths per cent (3.75%) of his benefit base multiplied by the number of years service if he has had twenty (20) years or less of service. A normal retirement benefit shall not exceed seventy-five per cent (75%) of the benefit base.
(g) “Late Retirement” means retirement after a judge passes his seventieth (70th) birthday and shall apply only to a judge who becomes a member of this system after this chapter is adopted. On late retirement such a judge shall forfeit for himself and all others who may become entitled to benefits because of his service fifty per cent (50%) of such benefits.
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