Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 69 > Chapter 9 - Boating Regulation

• Agency: means the wildlife resources agency. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• 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.
• Anchored: means held in place in the water by an anchor. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• 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.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Boat: means any vessel:
  (A) Manufactured or used primarily for noncommercial use. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Commission: means the fish and wildlife commission. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• 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.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• 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.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Diver: means any person who is wholly or partially submerged in the waters of the state and who is equipped with a face mask and snorkel or underwater breathing apparatus. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Divers-down flag: means a free-flying flag, red in color, with a white diagonal stripe that begins at the top staff-side corner of the flag and extends to the lower opposite corner. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• 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.
• Executive director: means the executive director of the wildlife resources agency. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Fueling: means any stage of the fueling operation. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• 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.
• 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.
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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}
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Mooring: means the act of making fast or securing a boat with lines or anchors, and may also include the place where a boat is secured or made fast. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Motorboat: means any vessel propelled by machinery, whether or not such machinery is the principal source of propulsion. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Numbered vessel: means an undocumented vessel that is subject to issue or has been issued a certificate of number by the state. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• 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.
• Operate: means to navigate, be in physical control of, or otherwise use a motorboat or a vessel. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Operator: means the person who operates or has charge of the navigation or use of a motorboat or vessel. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Owner: includes a person entitled to the use or possession of a motorboat or vessel subject to an interest in another person, reserved or created by agreement and securing payment or performance of an obligation, but "owner" excludes a lessee under a lease not intended as security. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• 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 an individual, partnership, firm, corporation, association, or other entity. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• personal watercraft: means a mechanically propelled vessel that is designed to be operated by a person sitting, standing or kneeling on the vessel rather than being operated in a conventional manner by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling inside the vessel. See Tennessee Code 69-9-501
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• 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 satisfying the requirements for registration prescribed by the commission. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Restricted visibility: means any condition in which visibility is restricted by fog, mist, falling snow, heavy rainstorms or any other similar causes. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Rules of the road: means statutory and regulatory rules governing navigation of vessels. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Serious injury: means an injury that requires, or should have required, medical treatment by a physician beyond first aid. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• 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
• State of principal use: means the state on whose waters a vessel is used, whether moored or underway, or to be used most during a calendar year. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Underwater breathing apparatus: means any apparatus, whether self-contained or connected to a distant source of air or gas, whereby a person wholly or partially submerged in the water is enabled to obtain air or other gases for breathing without returning to the surface of the water. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Underway: means a vessel that is not anchored, moored or aground. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Use: means to operate, navigate or employ. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Vessel: means every description of watercraft, other than a seaplane on the water, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Wakeboarding: means :
  (A) To use a board with or without foot bindings on which a rider is towed by a motorboat across a wake. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
• Wakesurfing: means :
  (A) To surf a motorboat's wake, regardless of whether the person is being pulled by a tow rope attached to the motorboat that is producing the wake. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204