Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 54 > Chapter 5 - State Highways

• 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
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Betterment: means any upgrading of the facility being relocated that is not attributable to the highway construction and is made solely for the benefit of, and at the election of, the utility. See Tennessee Code 54-5-802
• Claim: means any claim brought against a governmental entity or its employee as permitted by this chapter. See Tennessee Code 29-20-102
• 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
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of transportation. See Tennessee Code 54-5-103
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of transportation. See Tennessee Code 54-5-802
• connector: means a roadway, or segment of a roadway, that will provide, or facilitate, appropriate ingress and egress, between an interstate highway or fully controlled access highway facility and a roadway that is of important benefit to a populous locality. See Tennessee Code 54-5-502
• 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.
• Cost of relocation: means the entire amount paid by or on behalf of the utility properly attributable to the relocation after deducting from that amount any betterment of the new facility and any salvage value derived from the old facility. See Tennessee Code 54-5-802
• County mayor: means and includes "county executive" unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of transportation. See Tennessee Code 54-5-402
• Department: means the department of transportation. See Tennessee Code 54-5-502
• Department: means the department of transportation. See Tennessee Code 54-5-802
• Department: means the department of transportation. See Tennessee Code 54-5-103
• Employee: means and includes any official (whether elected or appointed), officer, employee or servant, or any member of any board, agency, or commission (whether compensated or not), or any officer, employee or servant thereof, of a governmental entity, including the sheriff and the sheriff's employees and, further including regular members of voluntary or auxiliary firefighting, police, or emergency assistance organizations. See Tennessee Code 29-20-102
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Governmental entity: means any political subdivision of the state of Tennessee including, but not limited to, any municipality, metropolitan government, county, utility district, school district, nonprofit volunteer fire department receiving funds appropriated by a county legislative body or a legislative body of a municipality, human resource agency, community action agency or nonprofit corporation that administers the Head Start or Community Service Block Grant programs, public building authority, and development district created and existing pursuant to the constitution and laws of Tennessee, or any instrumentality of government created by any one (1) or more of the named local governmental entities or by an act of the general assembly. See Tennessee Code 29-20-102
• 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
• industrial: means facilities for the manufacture of goods or for the production or processing of commodities. See Tennessee Code 54-5-402
• Industrial highway: means any extension of, or connection with the highway system, including state and federal highways, rural roads, and municipal streets, constructed under this part. See Tennessee Code 54-5-402
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Injury: means death, injury to a person, damage to or loss of property or any other injury that one may suffer to one's person, or estate, that would be actionable if inflicted by a private person or such person's agent. See Tennessee Code 29-20-102
• 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.
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local agency: means any county or incorporated city or town in this state. See Tennessee Code 54-5-502
• Major thoroughfare system: means the system of arterial and collector streets serving an urban-like developed area. See Tennessee Code 54-5-502
• Municipality: means any county, incorporated city or town, or any public port authority or transportation authority in this state. See Tennessee Code 54-5-402
• 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.
• 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
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Project: includes all of the phases of work required to produce a completed connector, including location, design, acquisition of rights-of-way, relocation of utility facilities, the cost of which is not the legal obligation of the owners thereof, and the construction or reconstruction of the connector. See Tennessee Code 54-5-502
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Public highway: means any highway included on the state highway system or interstate system and any highway, road or street that is owned, maintained, or owned and maintained by a county or municipality, including the right-of-way for the highway, road or street. See Tennessee Code 54-5-802
• 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
• Relocation: means the adjustment of a utility facility as the commissioner determines is necessary or appropriate in connection with the construction or reconstruction of a public highway. See Tennessee Code 54-5-802
• 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
• Salvage value: means the amount received from the sale of utility property that has been removed or, if retained for reuse, the amount at which the recovered material is charged to the utility's accounts. See Tennessee Code 54-5-802
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• 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: 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.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• 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.
• 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
• Utility: means a privately, publicly or cooperatively owned line, facility or system used, available for use or formerly used to transmit or distribute communications, electricity, gas, liquids, steam, sewerage, or other materials to the public. See Tennessee Code 54-5-802
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• wildflowers: means plants or grasses that are native to the southeastern United States, and Tennessee in particular, when available. See Tennessee Code 54-5-1203
• 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