Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 55 > Chapter 50 > Part 5 - Suspension and Revocation

• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Administrator: means the federal motor carrier safety administrator, the chief executive of the federal motor carrier safety administration, an agency within the United States department of transportation. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• 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.
• Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Asset forfeiture: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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.
• Bicycle: means every device propelled by human power upon which any person may ride, having two (2) tandem wheels, either of which is more than twenty inches (20") in diameter. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Bus: means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than fifteen (15) passengers including the driver and operated for the transportation of persons. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Chauffeur: means every person who is employed for the principal purpose of operating a motor vehicle and every person who drives a motor vehicle while in use as a public or common carrier of persons or property. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Chief: means the chief of the highway patrol. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Commercial motor vehicle: means a motor vehicle or combination of motor vehicles used in commerce to transport passengers or property if the motor vehicle:
  (i) Has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating of twenty-six thousand one (26,001) or more pounds. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of safety. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Controlled substance: means any substance so classified under §. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Conviction: means an unvacated adjudication of guilt, or a determination that a person has violated or failed to comply with the law in a court of original jurisdiction or by an authorized administrative tribunal, an unvacated forfeiture of bail or collateral deposited to secure the person's appearance in court, a plea of guilty or nolo contendere accepted by the court, the payment of a fine or court cost, or violation of a condition of release without bail, regardless of whether or not the penalty is rebated, suspended or probated. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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 safety acting directly or through its duly authorized officers and agents. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Driver: means every person 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 55-50-102
• Driver license: means a license issued by the department to an individual that authorizes the individual to operate a motor vehicle on the highways. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• 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.
• Felony: means any offense under state or federal law that is punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one (1) year. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained that is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel, or the premises of any shopping center, trailer park or apartment house complex or any other premises frequented by the public at large. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Motor vehicle: means a vehicle, low speed vehicle or medium speed vehicle as defined in this section, machine, tractor, trailer or semitrailer propelled or drawn by mechanical power used on highways or any other vehicle required to be registered under the laws of this state, but does not include any vehicle, machine, tractor, trailer or semitrailer operated exclusively on a rail. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Nonresident: means every person who is not a resident of the state. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Operator: means 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 55-50-102
• 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 purposes of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Pedestrian: means any person afoot or using a motorized or non-motorized wheelchair. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Person: means every natural person, firm, copartnership, association or corporation. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• 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.
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Resident: means every person that lives in this state for a period of time exceeding thirty (30) days, has taken employment, or who would qualify as a registered voter, or has taken action to establish Tennessee as principal place of domicile. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• School bus: means every motor vehicle operated for the transportation of children to or from school or school-related activities and is operated for compensation. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• State: means :
  (A) For the purposes of commercial driver licenses, a state of the United States and the District of Columbia. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• 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.
• 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
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: means the fifty (50) states and the District of Columbia. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Vehicle: means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• Violation: means a conviction except as otherwise provided in §. See Tennessee Code 55-50-102
• 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