Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 39 > Chapter 12 - General Offenses

• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Acting in concert: as used in this part , means such conduct that would make one criminally responsible pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 39-12-301
• 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.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• 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.
• authorized: means six (6) months after granting of the construction permit by the federal communications commission to the second entity or when the second entity begins offering service in the same cellular geographical area, whichever should first occur. See Tennessee Code 65-4-101
• Beneficial interest: means either of the following:
  (i) The interest of a person as a beneficiary under any trust arrangement pursuant to which a trustee or any other person holds legal or record title to personal or real property for the benefit of the person. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• 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
• Bonds: means bonds or interim certificates issued pending preparation or delivery of definitive bonds of a local government issued pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• broadband services: means any service that consists of or includes a high-speed access capability to transmit at a rate that is not less than two hundred kilobits per second (200 Kbps), either in the upstream or downstream direction and either:
  (A) Is used to provide access to the internet. See Tennessee Code 65-5-202
• Caller identification service: means telephone service which notifies telephone subscribers of the telephone number of incoming telephone calls. See Tennessee Code 65-4-401
• Civil forfeiture: The loss of ownership of property used to conduct illegal activity.
• 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 Tennessee public utility commission. See Tennessee Code 65-2-101
• Commission: means the Tennessee public utility commission. See Tennessee Code 65-4-401
• Commission: means the Tennessee public utility commission. See Tennessee Code 65-4-501
• 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.
• Competing telecommunications service provider: means any individual or entity that offers or provides any two-way communications service, telephone service, telegraph service, paging service, or communications service similar to such services and is certificated as a provider of such services after June 6, 1995, unless otherwise exempted from this definition by state or federal law. See Tennessee Code 65-4-101
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Construction: means building, reconstruction, erection, replacement, extension, repairing, betterment, equipment, development, embellishment, improvement, acquisition by gift, lease, purchase or the exercise of the right of eminent domain, or any one (1) or more or all of the foregoing, including the acquisition of land and of rights in land, and including acquisition of all of the outstanding capital stock of any corporation whose assets consist entirely of one (1) or more public works projects which together constitute a waterworks, sewer system, natural gas system, electric system, or any combination thereof, including, but not limited to, a water, sewer, natural gas and/or electric distribution system, or any combination thereof, serving a local government and assets related to the operation thereof and whose liabilities consist entirely of those related to the ownership and operation thereof. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• cooperative: shall mean only those nonprofit cooperative entities organized under or otherwise subject to the Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperative Act, compiled in chapter 25 of this title, or the Telephone Cooperative Act, compiled in chapter 29 of this title. See Tennessee Code 65-4-101
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• 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
• 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.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Enterprise: means any individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, business trust, union chartered under the laws of this state, or other legal entity, or any unchartered union, association, or group of individuals associated in fact, although not a legal entity, and it includes illicit as well as licit enterprises and governmental, as well as other entities, including criminal gangs, as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• 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.
• existing customer: includes a residential subscriber with whom the person or entity making a telephone solicitation has had a prior relationship within the prior twelve (12) months. See Tennessee Code 65-4-401
• facsimile: means :
  (A) Every process in which electronic signals are transmitted by telephone lines for conversion into written text or other graphic images. See Tennessee Code 65-4-501
• 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.
• Federal agency: includes the United States, the president of the United States, or any agency, instrumentality or corporation of the United States, which has heretofore been or may hereafter be designated, created or authorized by or pursuant to any act or acts or joint resolutions of the congress of the United States, to make loans or grants, or which may be owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the United States. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• Federal aid act: means any act or acts or joint resolution of the congress of the United States to reduce and relieve unemployment, or to provide for the construction of public works, or to relieve and rehabilitate veterans of any war, or to subsidize or aid any local government, public works or construction project by grants of money, materials, equipment or otherwise by any federal agency. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• Force: means compulsion by the use of physical power or violence and shall be broadly construed to accomplish the purposes of this title. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• 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}
• 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 legislative body of any local government of this state or any other authority charged with the governing of the affairs of any local government in this state. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• 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
• Incumbent local exchange telephone company: means a public utility offering and providing basic local exchange telephone service as defined by §. See Tennessee Code 65-4-101
• 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.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Innocent person: includes bona fide purchasers and victims. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• Interexchange carriers: means companies, other than incumbent local exchange telephone companies, owning facilities in the state which consist of network elements and switches, or other communication transmission equipment used to carry voice, data, image, and video traffic across the local access and transport area (LATA) boundaries within Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 65-4-101
• Investigative agency: means the office of the attorney general and reporter. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• 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
• Law: means any act or statute, general, special or local, of this state, including, but not limited to, any local government charter. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• Law enforcement officer: means an officer, employee or agent of government who has a duty imposed by law to:
  (A) Maintain public order. 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}
• 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.
• Local exchange company: includes telecommunications service providers as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 65-4-401
• Local exchange company: includes telecommunications service providers as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 65-4-501
• Local government: means any county, municipality or metropolitan government in this state. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• Local government instrumentality: means any authority created by law on behalf of a county, metropolitan government, municipality or any combination thereof. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• 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 pursuant to the authority of title 7, chapters 1-3. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• Minor: means any person under eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• 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 any incorporated city or any incorporated town of this state. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• Notes: means notes or interim certificates issued pending preparation or delivery of definitive notes of a local government issued pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• 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.
• Obligations: means bonds, notes and any other evidence of indebtedness lawfully issued or assumed by a local government. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• 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
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parent: means a company owning more than fifty percent (50%) of the voting shares, or otherwise a controlling interest, of another company. See Tennessee Code 65-4-501
• 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.
• Pattern of racketeering activity: means engaging in at least two (2) incidents of racketeering conduct that have the same or similar intents, results, accomplices, victims, or methods of commission or otherwise are interrelated by distinguishing characteristics and are not isolated incidents. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• 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 a natural person, individual, partnership, corporation, trust, estate, incorporated or unincorporated association and any other legal or commercial entity however organized and wherever located that telemarkets to citizens located within this state. See Tennessee Code 65-4-401
• Person: means a natural person, individual, partnership, trust, estate, incorporated or unincorporated association, any corporation, parent, subsidiary or affiliate thereof, or any other legal or commercial entity however organized and wherever located. See Tennessee Code 65-4-501
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Person: means any individual or entity holding or capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: includes any personal property, or any interest in personal property, or any right, including bank accounts, debts, corporate stocks, patents or copyrights. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• 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: 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 utility: includes a wind energy facility, as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 65-4-101
• Public works project: includes any one (1) or any combination of the following: acquisitions of land for the purpose of providing or preserving open land. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• Racketeering activity: means to commit, to attempt to commit, to conspire to commit, or to solicit, coerce, or intimidate another person to commit an act for financial gain that is a criminal offense involving controlled substances, and the amount of controlled substances involved in the offense is included under §. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Real property: means any real property situated in this state or any interest in the real property, including, but not limited to, any lease of or mortgage upon such real property. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• 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).
• 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 subscriber: means a person who has subscribed to residential telephone service from a local exchange company or the other persons living, residing or visiting with such person. See Tennessee Code 65-4-401
• Revenues: means all fees, rents, tolls, rates, rentals, interest earnings, or other charges received or receivable by the local government from any public works project or enterprise then existing or thereafter to be constructed, including any revenues derived or to be derived by a local government from a lease, agreement or contract with any other local government, local government instrumentality, the state, or a state or federal agency for the use of or in connection with a public works project or enterprise, or all other charges to be levied and collected in connection with and all other income and receipts of whatever kind or character derived by the local government from the operation of any public works project or enterprise or arising from any public works project or enterprise. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• RICO lien notice: means the notice described in §. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• 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
• 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
• 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 the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• 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.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subsidiary: means a corporation with more than fifty percent (50%) of its outstanding voting shares being owned by its parent or the parent's other subsidiaries. See Tennessee Code 65-4-501
• Taxable property: means all property subject to ad valorem taxation within the local government, or any portion of the local government, if applicable. See Tennessee Code 9-21-105
• Telecommunications service provider: means any incumbent local exchange telephone company or certificated individual or entity, or individual or entity operating pursuant to the approval by the former public service commission of a franchise within §. See Tennessee Code 65-4-101
• Telephone solicitation: means any voice communication over a telephone originating from Tennessee or elsewhere that:
  (i) Promotes or encourages, directly or indirectly, the purchase of, rental of, or investment in property, goods, or services. See Tennessee Code 65-4-401
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• Trustee: means any of the following:
  (i) Any person who holds legal or record title to real or personal property in which any other person has a beneficial interest. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Unlawful debt: means any money or other thing of value constituting principal or interest of a debt that is legally unenforceable in this state in whole or in part, because the debt was incurred or contracted in violation of:
  (A) Chapter 17, part 4 of this title, and the amount of controlled substances involved in the violation is included under §. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
• Utility: means :
  (A) An entity subject to the jurisdiction of the water and wastewater financing board in accordance with §. See Tennessee Code 65-5-401
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• 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