Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 4 > Chapter 1 > Part 1 - Sovereignty and Jurisdiction

• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• 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
• Commission: means the state building commission. See Tennessee Code 4-15-107
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• County: means any county whose voters have adopted a county charter government. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• 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
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• 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
• 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
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• 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
• 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
• 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.
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Principal city: means that municipality having the largest population of any municipality in a particular county. See Tennessee Code 7-21-104
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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
• 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
• 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: 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
• 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
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105