Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 4 > Chapter 1 - General Provisions

• Accumulated contributions: means the sum of all the amounts deducted from the compensation of a member, together with any amount transferred to the account of the member established pursuant to chapters 34-37 of this title from the respective account of the member under one (1) or more of the superseded systems, with interest thereon, as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• 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.
• Agriculture: means :
  (i) The land, buildings and machinery used in the commercial production of farm products and nursery stock. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Appropriate county or municipality: means the legislative body of the county or municipality that, by resolution or ordinance, respectively, created the emergency communications district. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assessed value: means value as assessed for municipal property tax purposes. See Tennessee Code 7-84-103
• Assessed value: means value as assessed for municipal property tax purposes. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
• Assessed value: means value as assessed for municipal property tax purposes. See Tennessee Code 7-84-603
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• association: means the Ladies' Hermitage Association. See Tennessee Code 4-13-102
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney general: means the attorney general and reporter and any assistant thereto by whatever name known, any district attorney general and any assistant thereto by whatever name called, and any officer or full-time employee of the general assembly or any committee thereof established by statute, who is duly licensed to practice law in Tennessee, whose duty it is to provide facilities for drafting bills or to assist individual legislators in drafting bills or who renders legal advice and services to the members of the general assembly or committees thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Average final compensation: means the average annual earnable compensation of a member during the five (5) consecutive years of the member's creditable service affording the highest such average, or during all of the years in the member's creditable service if less than five (5) years. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Beneficiary: means any person, persons or institution receiving a retirement allowance or other benefit as provided in chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• board: means the board provided for in part 3 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Board: means the board of assessment commissioners. See Tennessee Code 7-84-103
• central business improvement district: means the central business improvement district created by the establishment ordinance of the municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Charter: means a document containing a unified government structure, pursuant to this chapter, that constitutes the fundamental law of the unified government. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• Charter commission: means a commission established to propose the charter to the voters for adoption as provided in this chapter. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• Chief executive officer of the county: means the officer vested by either the county charter or general law with the executive powers of the county government. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• City legislative body: means the city council, board of mayor and aldermen or other body possessing the legislative power and authority of the government of a municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• CMRS: means commercial mobile radio service under §. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• 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
• Collector: includes any person entrusted with the collection of public revenue. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Commission: means the state building commission. See Tennessee Code 4-15-107
• Commission: means the Tennessee ethics commission. See Tennessee Code 8-17-102
• Commission: means the Tennessee human rights commission. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Commission: means the commission on firefighting personnel standards and education created by this chapter. See Tennessee Code 4-24-201
• Commissioner: means any person in office as a member of the public service commission, as prescribed by title 65, chapter 1, prior to June 30, 1996. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Communications service: means a service that:
  (A) Is capable of contacting and has been enabled to contact a public safety answering point (PSAP) via a 911 network by entering or dialing the digits 911. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consideration: means the consideration charged, whether or not received, for the occupancy in a hotel valued in money whether to be received in money, goods, labor or otherwise, including all receipts, cash, credits, property and services of any kind or nature without any deduction therefrom whatsoever. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Convention center: means any land, improvement, structure, building or part of a building comprised of facilities for conventions, public assemblies, conferences, trade exhibitions or other business, social, cultural, scientific and public interest events, along with any associated hotel accommodations. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• 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.
• Costs: means cost of labor, materials, equipment necessary to complete an improvement, land, easements, and other necessary expenses connected with an improvement, including preliminary and other surveys, inspections of the work, engineers' fees and costs, attorneys' fees, fiscal agents' fees, preparation of plans and specifications, publication expenses, interest that may become due on bonds before collection of the first improvement assessments, a reasonable allowance for unforeseen contingencies, and other costs of financing. See Tennessee Code 7-33-301
• County: means a county, metropolitan or consolidated government, inclusive of any boards, commissions, authorities, corporations or other instrumentalities appointed or created by the county or an official of the county. See Tennessee Code 8-17-102
• County: means the county in which any such city or territory to be incorporated under chapters 30-36 of this title is located, or in which the major portion of the population of any such city or territory to be incorporated is located as indicated by the last federal census. See Tennessee Code 6-30-102
• County: means any county whose voters have adopted a county charter government. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• County legislative body: means that body vested by either the county charter or general law with the legislative powers of the county government. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• County mayor: means and includes "county executive" unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• County official: means a county clerk, a clerk of a circuit court, a criminal court, or a probate court, a clerk and master of a chancery court, a clerk of a general sessions court where such general sessions court has an independent clerk who serves such court only, a register of deeds, a county trustee, a sheriff, a county road superintendent elected by a county legislative body, by a county road commission or commissioners, or by popular vote, and an assessor of property, any county commissioner elected by popular vote, serving in a county having a county commission form of government. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Creditable service: means prior service plus membership service, as provided in part 6 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• detention: includes the duties of employees assigned to guard individuals incarcerated in any penal institution. See Tennessee Code 4-21-407
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Direct dispatch method: means a 911 service in which a public service answering point, upon receipt of a telephone request for emergency services, provides for the dispatch of appropriate emergency service units and a decision as to the proper action to be taken. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Disability: means , with respect to a person:
  (i) A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one (1) or more of such person's major life activities. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• disabled: means the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve (12) months. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Discriminatory practices: means any direct or indirect act or practice of exclusion, distinction, restriction, segregation, limitation, refusal, denial, or any other act or practice of differentiation or preference in the treatment of a person or persons because of race, creed, color, religion, sex, age or national origin. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• District: means the central business district created by ordinance or resolution by a municipality, or a corridor of central business districts created by joint agreement of two (2) or more municipalities. See Tennessee Code 7-84-103
• District: means any emergency communications district created pursuant to this part. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• District management corporation: means the board or organization created or appointed pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
• District management corporation: means the board or organization created or appointed pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-603
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Earnable compensation: includes , but is not limited to, any bonus or incentive payment. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Economic development agreement: includes , but is not limited to, leases or other agreements with private entities under the industrial development program provided in title 7, chapter 53, and redevelopment plans and agreements containing tax increment financing provisions authorized under title 13, chapter 20, including development authorities created by private act, as authorized pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 4-17-102
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Employer: means :
  (A) The state or any department, commission, institution, board or agency of the state government by which a member is paid, with respect to members in its employ. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Employer: means the state, or any political or civil subdivision thereof, and persons employing eight (8) or more persons within the state, or any person acting as an agent of an employer, directly or indirectly. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Employment agency: means any person or agency, public or private, regularly undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure employees for an employer or to procure for employees opportunities to work for an employer. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Establishment ordinance: means the ordinance of the governing body adopted pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
• Establishment ordinance: means the ordinance of the governing body adopted pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-603
• Ethical standards: includes rules and regulations regarding limits on, and/or reasonable and systematic disclosure of, gifts or other things of value received by officials and employees that impact or appear to impact their discretion, and shall include rules and regulations regarding reasonable and systematic disclosure by officials and employees of their personal interests that impact or appear to impact their discretion. See Tennessee Code 8-17-102
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Familial status: means one (1) or more individuals, who have not attained eighteen (18) years of age, being domiciled with:
  (A) A parent or another person having legal custody of such individual or individuals. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Family: includes a single individual. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Federal communications commission order: means the Order of the Federal Communications Commission, FCC Docket 94-102, adopted on June 12, 1996, and released on July 26, 1996, and any subsequent amendments, and includes other federal communications commission rules and orders relating to CMRS providers, CMRS, and wireless enhanced 911 service. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Financial institution: means a bank, banking organization, mortgage company, insurance company or other lender to whom application is made for financial assistance for the purchase, lease, acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair, maintenance or improvements of real property, or an individual employed by or acting on behalf of any of these. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Fire department: means a department of a municipality, county, or political subdivision, or an organization, agency, or entity that offers its services, for or without pay, for the purpose of suppressing fires, performing rescue services, or for other emergency response purposes. See Tennessee Code 4-24-201
• fire department: means a department of a municipality, county, or political subdivision, or an organization, agency, or entity that offers its services, for or without pay, for the purpose of suppressing fires, performing rescue services, or for other emergency response purposes. See Tennessee Code 68-102-302
• Firefighter: means an employee, the duties of whose position are primarily to perform work directly connected with the control and extinguishment of fires or the maintenance and use of firefighting apparatus and equipment, including an employee engaged in this activity who is transferred to a supervisory or administrative position. See Tennessee Code 4-21-407
• Firefighter: means a person in the employ of a unit of government fire department that is registered and recognized by the state fire marshal and is required to extinguish and control fires or fire-related incidents. See Tennessee Code 4-24-201
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• General employee: means any person who is a state official, including legislative officials elected by the general assembly, or who is employed in the service of, and whose compensation is payable in whole or in part by, the state, including employees under supervision of the state whose compensation is paid, in whole or in part, from federal or other funds, or any person in the employ of a political subdivision participating under chapter 35, part 2 of this title, or of the Tennessee County Services Association, but does not include any teacher, state police officer, wildlife officer, firefighter, police officer, state judge, county judge, attorney general, governor, or county official or public service commissioner, or any person performing services on a contractual or percentage basis. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• General services district: means a service district within a metropolitan government whose geographical limits are coextensive with the total area in which the government functions. See Tennessee Code 7-1-101
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: means the council or commission or other municipal body exercising general legislative power in the municipality or any county legislative body. See Tennessee Code 7-84-103
• Governing body: means the board or body in which the general legislative powers of a municipality are vested. See Tennessee Code 7-33-301
• Governing body: means the council, commission, board or other body exercising general legislative power in the municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
• Governing body: means the council, commission, board or other body exercising general legislative power in the municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-84-603
• Governmental entity: means a state agency, authority, board, commission, department, or office within the executive or judicial branch of state government or any autonomous state agency, authority, board, commission, department, office, or institution of higher education. See Tennessee Code 8-31-102
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• 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.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Highway: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Hotel: means any structure, or any portion of any structure, that is occupied or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes, and includes any hotel, inn, tourist court, tourist camp, tourist cabin, motel, short-term rental unit or any place in which rooms, lodgings or accommodations are furnished to transients for a consideration. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Housing accommodation: includes improved and unimproved property and means a building, structure, lot or part thereof that is used or occupied, or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied, as the home or residence of one (1) or more individuals. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
• Improvement: means the construction, installation or substantial reconstruction of sanitary sewers. See Tennessee Code 7-33-301
• Improvement to real property: means :
  (A) The construction or erection of new buildings or structures in which the state of Tennessee or any of its departments, institutions or agencies have an interest, whether financed by public or private funds or both. See Tennessee Code 4-15-107
• In the line of duty: means in the course of employment and in the actual discharge of the duties of the position. See Tennessee Code 4-1-501
• 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.
• Initiating petition: means the petition filed pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
• Initiating petition: means the petition filed pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-603
• Initiating resolution: means the resolution adopted by the governing body pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
• Initiating resolution: means the resolution adopted by the governing body pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-603
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• inner-city redevelopment district: means the inner-city redevelopment district created by the establishment ordinance of the municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-84-603
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Internal Revenue Code: means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, codified in United States Code, title 26, as amended. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• IP-enabled services: means services and applications making use of Internet protocol (IP) including, but not limited to, voice over IP and other services and applications provided through wireline, cable, wireless, and satellite facilities, and any other facility that may be provided in the future through platforms that may not be deployable at present, that are capable of connecting users dialing or entering the digits 911 to public safety answering points (PSAPs). See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• 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.
• Labor organization: includes any organization that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or for other mutual aid or protection in relation to employment or any agent acting for organizations. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Law enforcement officer: means an employee, the duties of whose position are primarily the investigation, apprehension or detention of individuals suspected or convicted of offenses against state criminal laws, including an employee engaged in this activity who is transferred to a supervisory or administrative position. See Tennessee Code 4-21-407
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• 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}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• 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.
• Local retirement fund: means any teachers' retirement fund or other arrangement for payment of retirement benefits to teachers, except this retirement system, supported wholly or in part by contributions made by an employer as defined by chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Major maintenance: means the repair or renovation of a building or structure or a portion thereof in which this state or a department, institution, or agency thereof has an interest and that:
  (A) Is being funded by direct appropriations for major maintenance. See Tennessee Code 4-15-107
• Mayor: means such officer vested by either the city charter or general law with the executive powers of a municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• 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
• member: means a member of the Tennessee consolidated retirement system. See Tennessee Code 68-102-401
• Membership service: means service rendered while a member of the retirement system. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Metropolitan council: means the council of a county having a metropolitan form of government that has a population in excess of five hundred thousand (500,000), according to the 2000 federal census or any subsequent federal census. See Tennessee Code 7-4-201
• Metropolitan government: means the political entity created by consolidation of all, or substantially all, of the political and corporate functions of a county and a city or cities. See Tennessee Code 7-1-101
• Metropolitan government: means any county having a metropolitan form of government that has a population in excess of five hundred thousand (500,000), according to the 2000 federal census or any subsequent federal census. See Tennessee Code 7-4-201
• Military duty: means :
  (i) Training and service performed by an inductee, enlistee, or reservist or any entrant into a temporary component of the armed forces of the United States. See Tennessee Code 8-33-101
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Minority-owned business: means a business that is solely owned, or at least fifty-one percent (51%) of the assets or outstanding stock of which is owned, by an individual who personally manages and controls the daily operations of the business and who is impeded from normal entry into the economic mainstream because of:
  (A) Past practices of discrimination based on race, religion, ethnic background, or sex. See Tennessee Code 7-4-201
• 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.
• Municipality: means an incorporated city or town, inclusive of any boards, commissions, authorities, corporations or other instrumentalities appointed or created by the municipality. See Tennessee Code 8-17-102
• Municipality: means an incorporated city or town located within the boundaries of a county whose voters have adopted a county charter government. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• Municipality: means any incorporated city, town, metropolitan government, or county of this state exercising general governmental functions in the state. See Tennessee Code 7-84-103
• Municipality: means incorporated city or town. See Tennessee Code 7-33-301
• Municipality: means any incorporated city, town or metropolitan government of this state exercising general governmental functions in the state. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
• Municipality: means any incorporated city, town or metropolitan government of this state exercising general governmental functions in the state. See Tennessee Code 7-84-603
• National origin: includes the national origin of an ancestor. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Non-wireline service: means any service provided by any person, corporation or entity, other than a service supplier as defined in this part, that connects a user dialing or entering the digits 911 to a PSAP, including, but not limited to, commercial mobile radio service and IP-enabled services. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Occupancy: means the use or possession, or the right to the use or possession, of any room, lodgings or accommodations in a hotel for a period of less than thirty (30) continuous days. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Officer: means the mayor, aldermen, city attorney and city judge. See Tennessee Code 6-1-101
• Officials and employees: means and includes any official, whether elected or appointed, officer, employee or servant, or any member of any board, agency, commission, authority or corporation, whether compensated or not, or any officer, employee or servant thereof, of a county or municipality. See Tennessee Code 8-17-102
• Operator: means the person operating the hotel, whether as owner, lessee or otherwise. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means record owner in fee. See Tennessee Code 7-84-103
• Owner: means record owner in fee, or a duly authorized representative. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
• Owner: means record owner in fee, or duly authorized representative. See Tennessee Code 7-84-603
• Part-time employee: includes any interim teacher who is employed on a temporary basis to teach for a regular teacher who is on unpaid leave. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Participating governmental unit: means a county whose voters have adopted a county charter government or a municipality located within that county's boundaries that has elected to participate in the preparation of a charter pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• 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: includes one (1) or more individuals, governments, governmental agencies, public authorities, labor organizations, corporations, legal representatives, partnerships, associations, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, mutual companies, joint stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations or other organized groups of persons. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Person: means any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, association, social club, fraternal organization, joint stock company, corporation, estate, trust, business trust, receiver, trustee, syndicate, or any other group or combination acting as a unit. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Person: means any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, association, social club, fraternal organization, joint stock company, corporation, estate, trust, business trust, business organization, receiver, trustee, syndicate, or any other group or combination acting as a unit. See Tennessee Code 7-4-201
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. 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
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• plan of improvement: means the detailed design plan of all proposed improvements in the district, including all such engineering studies, blueprints, architects' renderings, photographs, diagrams, maps, schematics, specifications, and drawings as may be required or desired to fully effectuate the construction of improvements and the purchase of equipment or other items. See Tennessee Code 7-84-103
• Plan year: means the fiscal year commencing July 1. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Position: means employment held by a public employee at the time of entrance into military duty, but does not include temporary or casual employment or an office filled by election. See Tennessee Code 8-33-101
• 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.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Principal city: means :
  (A) That municipal corporation having the largest population of any municipality in a particular county. See Tennessee Code 7-1-101
• Principal city: means that municipality having the largest population of any municipality in a particular county. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• Prior service: means service rendered prior to the date of membership in the retirement system for which credit was given under the terms of one (1) or more of the superseded systems as provided in part 6 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• property to be benefited: means , as determined by the governing body, land, excluding improvement, that is within a reasonable distance from a sanitary sewer and to which is made available a means of drainage for sewage, or that abuts on a street or other public way to be improved. See Tennessee Code 7-33-301
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• PSAP: means a facility that has been designated to receive 911 phone calls and route them to emergency services personnel pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Public employee: means any person holding a position in public employment who has successfully completed the probationary period required by the agency in which such person is employed. See Tennessee Code 8-33-101
• Public employer: means any government, department, or agency mentioned in subdivision (5) employing a public employee in a position. See Tennessee Code 8-33-101
• Public employment: means employment by the government of this state, or of any county, municipality or other civil or political subdivision thereof, including any department or agency thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-33-101
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Public safety emergency services provider: means any municipality or county government that provides emergency services to the public. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Public school: means any school conducted within the state under the authority and supervision of a duly elected or appointed city or county school board, and any educational institution supported by and under the control of the state. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real estate operator: means any individual or combination of individuals, labor unions, joint apprenticeship committees, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers or other legal or commercial entities, or the county or any of its agencies, that is engaged in the business of selling, purchasing, exchanging, renting or leasing real estate, or the improvements thereon, including options, or that derives income, in whole or in part, from the sale, purchase, exchange, rental or lease of real estate. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• real estate salesperson: means an individual, whether licensed or not, who, on behalf of others, for a fee, commission, salary, or other valuable consideration, or who with the intention or expectation of receiving or collecting the same, lists, sells, purchases, exchanges, rents or leases real estate, or the improvements thereon, including options, or who negotiates or attempts to negotiate on behalf of others such activity. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Real estate transaction: includes the sale, exchange, rental or lease of real property. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Real property: includes buildings, structures, real estate, lands, tenements, leaseholds, cooperatives, condominiums, and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal, or any interest in these. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• 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
• Relative: means a parent, foster parent, parent-in-law, child, spouse, brother, foster brother, sister, foster sister, grandparent, grandchild, son-in-law, brother-in-law, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, or other family member who resides in the same household. See Tennessee Code 8-31-102
• Relay method: means a 911 service in which a public safety answering point, upon receipt of a telephone request for emergency services, notes the pertinent information from the caller and relays such information to the appropriate public safety agency or other agencies or other providers of emergency service for dispatch of an emergency unit. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• 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.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Renovation: means the change in the functional use or operation of space in existing buildings or structures in which the state of Tennessee or any of its departments, institutions or agencies have an interest. See Tennessee Code 4-15-107
• 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
• Residential dwelling: means a cabin, house, or structure used or designed to be used as an abode or home of a person, family, or household, and includes a single-family dwelling, a portion of a single-family dwelling, or an individual residential dwelling in a multi-dwelling building, such as an apartment building, condominium, cooperative, or timeshare. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Retirement: means withdrawal from membership with a retirement allowance granted under chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Retirement allowance: means the sum of the member annuity and the state annuity. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Retirement system: means the Tennessee consolidated retirement system as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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
• Sanitary sewer: means an underground conduit for the passage of a sewer, and pumping stations, pressure lines, and outlets where deemed necessary. See Tennessee Code 7-33-301
• 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
• Service supplier: means any person, corporation or entity providing exchange telephone service to any service user. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Service user: means any person, corporation or entity that is provided 911 service. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• 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.
• Sex: means and refers only to the designation of an individual person as male or female as indicated on the individual's birth certificate. See Tennessee Code 4-21-102
• sex: means a person's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth and evidence of a person's biological sex. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Short-term rental unit: means a residential dwelling that is rented wholly or partially for a fee for a period of less than thirty (30) continuous days and does not include a hotel as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Short-term rental unit marketplace: means a person or entity, excluding a vacation lodging service, that provides a platform for compensation, through which a third party offers to rent a short-term rental unit to an occupant. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• 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
• Smaller city: means any municipality within a county other than the principal city. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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
• State employee: means any person who is employed by a governmental entity. See Tennessee Code 8-31-102
• State judge: means any person in office as a judge of a court of record in this state, whose salary for the judge's judicial position has been paid during the period of the judge's service wholly from the treasury of the state, including the administrative director of the courts. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• State procurement agency: means , as appropriate, the department of general services, state of Tennessee real estate asset management. See Tennessee Code 4-15-107
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subscription: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Superseded system: means , where applicable, the Tennessee state retirement system, the Tennessee teachers' retirement system, the Tennessee judges' retirement system, the retirement system for county paid judges of Tennessee, the attorneys general retirement system of Tennessee, the public service commissioners' retirement system, and the Tennessee retirement system for county officials, any one (1) of them, or any combination thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Surviving next of kin: means the following persons in the order named:
  (A) The surviving spouse. See Tennessee Code 4-1-501
• Tax collection official: means the department of finance of the county or municipality, as applicable, or the county clerk, if so designated by ordinance of the legislative body of any municipality having a metropolitan form of government and a population of more than four hundred fifty thousand (450,000), according to the 1990 federal census or any subsequent federal census. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Tax collection official: means the department of finance of the county or municipality, as applicable, or the county clerk, if so designated by ordinance of the legislative body of any municipality having a metropolitan government. See Tennessee Code 7-4-201
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Tennessee state museum: means the facility operated as the military branch of the Tennessee state museum in the War Memorial Building, the facility in the James K. See Tennessee Code 4-12-203
• Tennessee state museum: means the facility operated as the military branch of the Tennessee state museum in the War Memorial Building, the facility located in the James K. See Tennessee Code 4-12-302
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tourism: means the planning and conducting of programs of information and publicity designed to attract to the county tourists, visitors and other interested persons from outside the area and also to encourage and coordinate the efforts of other public and private organizations or groups of citizens to publicize the facilities and attractions of the area for the same purposes. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Tourist commission: means a seven-person body established subject to the same local organic law as other boards and commissions established by the charter of the metropolitan government. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• 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.
• Transfer method: means a 911 service in which a public safety answering point, upon receipt of a telephone request for emergency services, directly transfers such request to an appropriate public safety agency or other provider of emergency services. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Transient: means any person who exercises occupancy or is entitled to occupancy for any rooms, lodgings or accommodations in a hotel for a period of less than thirty (30) days. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• unified: means consolidation or consolidated pursuant to this chapter and that power granted by the Constitution of Tennessee, Article XI, §. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• Unified government: means the governmental entity created by the unification of the governmental and corporate functions of a charter county government with the governmental and corporate functions of one (1) or more municipalities within that county's boundaries. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• Unified municipality: means a former municipality that has merged into a unified government pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Urban services district: means a service district within a metropolitan government in which are furnished by the metropolitan government municipal services additional to those provided in the general services district. See Tennessee Code 7-1-101
• utility system: includes :
  (1) The water, wastewater, or natural gas systems of a county, metropolitan government, or incorporated town or city. See Tennessee Code 7-82-701
• Vacation lodging service: means a person or entity that is engaged in the business of providing the services of management, marketing, booking, and rental of short-term rental units. See Tennessee Code 7-4-101
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Volunteer firefighter: means a person who volunteers with a county, municipal, or nonprofit fire department that is registered and recognized by the state fire marshal and who is required to extinguish and control fires or fire-related incidents. See Tennessee Code 4-24-201
• Wireless telecommunications service: means commercial mobile radio service as defined by 47 C. See Tennessee Code 7-86-103
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• 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