Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 4 > Chapter 1 > Part 3 - State Symbols

• 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
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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}
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Commission: means the state building commission. See Tennessee Code 4-15-107
• Commission: means the Tennessee ethics commission. See Tennessee Code 8-17-102
• 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.
• 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.
• County: means any county whose voters have adopted a county charter government. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• 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 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
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• 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.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• 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}
• 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.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• 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
• 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
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• 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
• 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
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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}
• 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.
• 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}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• 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.
• 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
• 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
• 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 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 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
• 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.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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
• 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
• 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 a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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
• 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
• 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.
• Principal city: means that municipality having the largest population of any municipality in a particular county. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• 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
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• 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
• 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
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• 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
• 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 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 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
• 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
• 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.
• 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
• 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.
• 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