§ 39-16-501 Part definitions
§ 39-16-502 False reports
§ 39-16-503 Tampering with or fabricating evidence
§ 39-16-504 Destruction of and tampering with governmental records
§ 39-16-506 Coercion of employee who is public servant by employer or agent of employer
§ 39-16-507 Coercion or persuasion of witness
§ 39-16-508 Coercion of juror
§ 39-16-509 Improper influence of juror
§ 39-16-510 Retaliation for past action
§ 39-16-511 Compensation for past action
§ 39-16-512 Receipt of compensation for past action
§ 39-16-513 Defense
§ 39-16-514 Dismissal of employee because of jury service
§ 39-16-515 Pointing a laser at a law enforcement officer or emergency personnel
§ 39-16-516 Traffic offense citation quotas – Performance standards
§ 39-16-517 Threat of mass violence on school property or at school-related activity

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 39 > Chapter 16 > Part 5 - Interference With Government Operations

  • Abandoned aircraft: means :
    (A) An aircraft left in a wrecked, inoperative, or partially dismantled condition on a public-use airport. See Tennessee Code 66-29-301
  • Abandoned cultural property: means cultural property meeting the following three (3) conditions:
    (A) The property shall have been deposited with a museum, historical society, or similar not-for-profit institution for a period of at least twenty (20) years. See Tennessee Code 66-29-202
  • 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.
  • Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
  • Age of majority: means eighteen (18) years of age or older. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Airport authority: means an authority created pursuant to title 42, chapter 3, 4, or 5. See Tennessee Code 66-29-301
  • 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.
  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • apartment: includes the private element. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Apparent owner: means a person whose name appears on the records of a holder as the owner of property held, issued, or owing by the holder. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • 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.
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Benefit: means anything reasonably regarded as economic gain, enhancement or advantage, including benefit to any other person in whose welfare the beneficiary is interested. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Bodily injury: includes a cut, abrasion, bruise, burn or disfigurement, and physical pain or temporary illness or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Business association: means a for-profit or nonprofit corporation, joint stock company, investment company other than an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 ( 15 U. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Business entity: means a corporation, association, partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other legal entity, whether organized for-profit or not-for-profit. See Tennessee Code 66-27-701
  • Co-owner: means a person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, trust or other legal entity, or any combination thereof, which owns an apartment or apartments within the building. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • 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
  • Coercion: means a threat, however communicated, to:
    (A) Commit any offense. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Condominium: means the ownership of single units in a multiple unit structure or structures with common elements. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Condominium project: means a real estate condominium project. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • 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.
  • Council of co-owners: means all the co-owners as defined in subdivision (a)(4). See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
  • Cultural property: means any work of art, regardless of the medium. See Tennessee Code 66-29-202
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Declaration: means an instrument, however denominated, that creates a homeowners' association, and amendments to that instrument, including restrictive covenants, bylaws, and similar instruments governing the administration or operation of a homeowners' association. See Tennessee Code 66-27-701
  • 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.
  • Defendant: means a person accused of an offense under this title and includes any person who aids or abets the commission of such offense. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Developer: means a person who undertakes to develop a real estate condominium project. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • Domicile: means :
    (A) For a corporation, the state of its incorporation. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Effectively prohibit: means to act or fail to act in a manner that prevents an owner of a residential property that is subject to a declaration, and who is in reasonable compliance with rules and regulations, from using the residential property as a long-term rental property. See Tennessee Code 66-27-701
  • Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • 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
  • Electronic mail: means any communication of information by electronic means that is automatically retained and stored and may be readily accessed or retrieved. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
  • 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
  • Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. Source: OCC
  • Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Family: means the members of a household living, on a full-time or a part-time basis, in one (1) dwelling. See Tennessee Code 66-27-701
  • Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
  • Financial organization: means a savings and loan association, building and loan association, savings bank, industrial bank, bank, banking organization, or credit union. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • 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.
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Game-related digital content: means digital content that exists only in an electronic game or electronic-game platform. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Gated subdivision: means a neighborhood with at least three hundred (300) single family residential homes and two (2) or more gates restricting ingress and egress to the neighborhood from a public street. See
  • General common elements: means and includes:
    (A) The land, whether leased or in fee simple, on which the building stands. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Government: means the state or any political subdivision of the state, and includes any branch or agency of the state, a county, municipality or other political subdivision. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Governmental record: means anything:
    (A) Belonging to, received or kept by the government for information. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. Source: Federal Reserve
  • Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
  • Harm: means anything reasonably regarded as loss, disadvantage or injury, including harm to another person in whose welfare the person affected is interested. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • 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
  • Holder: means a person obligated to hold for the account of, or to deliver or pay to, the owner of property that is subject to this part. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Insurance company: means an insurer, not-for-profit hospital and medical corporation regulated under title 56, chapter 29, health maintenance organization, fraternal benefit society, or any person or entity required to obtain a certificate of authority or similar license from the department of commerce and insurance under title 56 in order to issue or enter into contracts of insurance in this state. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • 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.
  • Juror: A person who is on the jury.
  • Knowing: means that a person acts knowingly with respect to the conduct or to circumstances surrounding the conduct when the person is aware of the nature of the conduct or that the circumstances exist. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Law enforcement officer: includes a sheriff, sheriff's deputy, and, only for purposes of the enhancement of a crime, a deputy jailer. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • 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
  • Legal tender: coins, dollar bills, or other currency issued by a government as official money. Source: U.S. Mint
  • 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.
  • Limited common elements: means and includes those common elements which are agreed upon by all of the co-owners to be reserved for the use of a certain number of apartments to the exclusion of the other apartments, such as special corridors, stairways and elevators, sanitary services common to the apartments of a particular floor, and the like. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Livestock: means all equine as well as animals that are being raised primarily for use as food or fiber for human utilization or consumption including, but not limited to, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and poultry. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Local government: means any metropolitan government, municipality, or county located in this state. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Long-term rental property: means a single family residential real property that is leased by the owner to a lessee for a period of one hundred eighty (180), or more, consecutive days. See Tennessee Code 66-27-701
  • Loyalty card: means a record given without direct monetary consideration under an award, reward, benefit, loyalty, incentive, rebate, or promotional program that may be used or redeemed only to obtain goods or services or a discount on goods or services. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Majority of co-owners: means more than fifty percent (50%) of the co-owners. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • master lease: means the deed or lease recording the property of the horizontal property regime. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Military medal: means any decoration or award that may be presented or awarded to a member of the armed forces of the United States or national guard. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Mineral: means gas, oil, coal, oil shale, other gaseous liquid or solid hydrocarbon, cement material, sand and gravel, road material, building stone, chemical raw material, gemstone, fissionable and nonfissionable ores, colloidal and other clay, steam and other geothermal resources, and any other substance defined as a mineral by any other law of this state. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Mineral proceeds: includes an amount payable:
    (A) For the acquisition and retention of a mineral lease, including, but not limited to, a bonus, royalty, compensatory royalty, shut-in royalty, minimum royalty, and delay rental. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Money order: means a payment order for a specified amount of money and includes, but is not limited to, an express money order and a personal money order on which the remitter is the purchaser. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • 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.
  • Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
  • Municipal bond: means a bond of evidence of indebtedness issued by a municipality or other political subdivision of a state. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Museum: means those museums and art galleries owned or operated by the state or any political subdivision of the state, and those museums, historical societies, and art galleries owned and operated by not-for-profit corporations. See Tennessee Code 66-29-202
  • Net card value: means the original purchase price or original issued value of a stored-value card, plus amounts added to its original value and minus amounts used and any service charge, fee, or dormancy charge permitted by law. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Non-freely transferable security: includes a worthless security. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • 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.
  • Obtain: includes , but is not limited to, the taking, carrying away or the sale, conveyance or transfer of title to or interest in or possession of property, and includes, but is not limited to, conduct known as larceny, larceny by trick, larceny by conversion, embezzlement, extortion or obtaining property by false pretenses. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Official proceeding: means any type of administrative, executive, legislative or judicial proceeding that may be conducted before a public servant authorized by law to take statements under oath. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Owner: includes :
    (A) A depositor, for a deposit. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • 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.
  • Payroll card: means a record that evidences a payroll card account, as that term is defined in 12 C. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Person: means an individual, estate, business association, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, instrumentality, or other legal entity. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Person: includes the singular and the plural and means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, copartnership, association, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, or other organization or other legal entity, or any agent or servant thereof. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Person: means an individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association, trust or other legal entity, or any combination of these. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • 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
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
  • 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.
  • Private elements: means and includes the lot area upon which an apartment is located and the improvements located thereon, as described in the declaration, and for which fee simple ownership and exclusive use is reserved to that apartment only. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Prohibit: means to forbid or ban, either permanently or temporarily, an owner of a residential property that is subject to a declaration from using the residential property as a long-term rental property. See Tennessee Code 66-27-701
  • Property: means tangible property described in §. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Property: means anything of value, including, but not limited to, money, real estate, tangible or intangible personal property, including anything severed from land, library material, contract rights, choses-in-action, interests in or claims to wealth, credit, admission or transportation tickets, captured or domestic animals, food and drink, electric or other power. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Property: means and includes the land whether leasehold or in fee simple and the building, all improvements and structures thereon and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging to such land. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Public servant: means a person elected, selected, employed or otherwise designated as one (1) of the following, even if the person has not yet qualified for office or assumed the duties:
    (A) An officer, employee, or agent of government. See Tennessee Code 39-16-501
  • Public-use airport: is a n airport owned or controlled by an airport authority. See Tennessee Code 66-29-301
  • Putative holder: means a person believed by the treasurer to be a holder, until the person pays or delivers to the treasurer property subject to this part or until a final determination is made that the person is a holder. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • 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
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • 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
  • Related: means children, parents, grandparents. See Tennessee Code 66-27-701
  • 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.
  • 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 ground rent: means a rent or charge paid for the use of land, whether or not title thereto is transferred to the user, or a lease of land, for residential purposes:
    (A) Which is assignable by the obligor without the obligee's consent. See Tennessee Code 66-30-102
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • 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
  • Rules and regulations: means written policies, resolutions, guidelines, restrictions, and procedures of a homeowners' association, however denominated, which are not set forth in the declaration and which govern the conduct of persons or the use or appearance of property. See Tennessee Code 66-27-701
  • Savings and loan association: includes a building and loan association, a federal or state savings and loan association, a federal savings bank, and any other financial institution, the accounts of which are insured by the [former] federal savings and loan insurance corporation (FSLIC) or any successor [repealed] of such corporation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Security: means :
    (A) A security interest, as that term is defined in §. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Serious bodily injury: means bodily injury that involves:
    (A) A substantial risk of death. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
  • Services: includes labor, skill, professional service, transportation, telephone, mail, gas, electricity, steam, water, cable television, entertainment subscription service or other public services, accommodations in hotels, restaurants or elsewhere, admissions to exhibitions, use of vehicles or other movable property, and any other activity or product considered in the ordinary course of business to be a service, regardless of whether it is listed in this subdivision (a)(38) or a specific statute exists covering the same or similar conduct. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • 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: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • 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
  • Statement: means any representation of fact. See Tennessee Code 39-16-501
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
  • Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • To record: means to record pursuant to the laws of the state of Tennessee relating to the recordation of deeds and other instruments conveying or affecting title to property. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Townhouse corporation: means a not-for-profit corporation to be organized under the Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation Act, compiled in title 48, chapters 51-68, of which all co-owners shall be members where private elements are involved. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Transfer: means the sale, gift, grant, conveyance, assignment, or other transfer of an interest in real property located in this state. See Tennessee Code 66-27-701
  • Transit fare card: means any pass or instrument purchased to utilize public transportation facilities or services. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Treasurer: means the state treasurer. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • 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
  • Utility: means a person that owns or operates for public use a plant, equipment, real property, franchise, or license for the following public services:
    (A) The transmission of communications or information. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Virtual currency: means a digital representation of value used as a medium of exchange, unit of account, or a store of value that is not recognized by the United States as legal tender. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Worthless security: means a security whose cost of liquidation and delivery would exceed the value of the security on the date a report is due under this part. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • 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