Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 20 > Chapter 13 - Actions by and Against State

• 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.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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.
• 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
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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.
• Base tax revenues: means the revenues generated from the collection of state and local sales and use taxes from all businesses within the applicable tourism development zone as of the end of the fiscal year of the state of Tennessee immediately prior to the year in which the municipality or public authority is entitled to receive an allocation of tax revenue pursuant to this chapter, adjusted annually after the first year by a percentage equal to the percentage of change in the collection of state and local sales and use taxes derived from the sale of goods, products and services for the entire county in which the public use facility is located for the preceding fiscal year. See Tennessee Code 7-88-103
• Beneficially impacted area: means the geographic area within which it is reasonably anticipated and projected that state and local sales and use taxes will increase as a result of the construction and operation of the qualified public use facility by an amount in excess of the increases in the collection of state and local sales and use tax revenues reasonably projected to occur within that area without regard to the construction of the public use facility. See Tennessee Code 7-88-103
• 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}
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Municipality: means any incorporated city or county located in the state of Tennessee, including a county with a metropolitan form of government. See Tennessee Code 7-88-103
• 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
• 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.
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public authority: means any agency, authority or instrumentality created or authorized by any municipality or by two (2) or more municipalities acting jointly, including, but not limited to, any public building authority organized pursuant to the Public Building Authorities Act of 1971, compiled in title 12, chapter 10 or an industrial development corporation organized pursuant to chapter 53 of this title. See Tennessee Code 7-88-103
• Qualified public use facility: includes :

  • (i) Any building, complex, center, facility or any two (2) or more adjacent buildings, complexes, centers or facilities containing at least two hundred fifty thousand square feet (250,000 sq. See Tennessee Code 7-88-103

  • 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
  • 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).
  • Secondary tourist development zone: means a tourist development zone that at the time of its creation is located more than three (3) miles from the county courthouse. See Tennessee Code 7-88-103
  • 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.
  • Structured lease agreement: means a lease by a municipality of a qualified public use facility within a tourism development zone financed by bonds issued and outstanding in compliance with §. See Tennessee Code 7-88-103
  • Tourism development zone: means an area in a municipality designated by ordinance or resolution of such municipality in which a qualified public use facility is located or planned, that is determined by the department of finance and administration to be a beneficially impacted area in accordance with the requirements of this chapter and that is certified as a tourism development zone by the department. See Tennessee Code 7-88-103
  • 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
  • Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
  • Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
  • 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