Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 4 > Chapter 3 > Part 1 - General Provisions

• 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
• Airport: means and includes any one (1) or more airports or heliports and related facilities of an airport authority or municipal airport, including, but not limited to, land and interests in land, facilities for storage of air and space craft, navigation and landing aids, taxiways, pads, aprons, control towers, passenger and cargo terminal buildings, hangars, administration and office buildings, garages, parking lots, and such other structures, facilities and improvements necessary or convenient to the development and maintenance of airports and heliports, and for the promotion and accommodation of air and space travel, commerce and navigation. See Tennessee Code 4-31-603
• Airport authority: means those airport authorities created pursuant to title 42, chapter 3 and those metropolitan airport authorities created pursuant to title 42, chapter 4. See Tennessee Code 4-31-603
• 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.
• any prior fiscal year: means any fiscal year beginning on or after July 1, 1984. See Tennessee Code 7-39-403
• 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.
• Appraisal ratio: means the ratio of appraised values of record to one hundred percent (100%) of current values that are to be derived in accordance with applicable state law for use in ad valorem property tax determinations each tax year. See Tennessee Code 7-39-403
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assessment ratio in effect: means that assessment ratio being applied by the comptroller of the treasury in assessing gas system property of private gas corporations for ad valorem taxation or, if such assessment function ceases to be performed by the comptroller of the treasury, that assessment ratio applied by any authorized department, agency, or official of the state empowered to so apply such an assessment ratio in assessing gas system property. See Tennessee Code 7-39-403
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Associated municipality: means the municipality for the benefit of which an energy acquisition corporation is organized. See Tennessee Code 7-39-102
• Association: means the Tennessee insurance guaranty association. See Tennessee Code 4-31-803
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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
• Authority: means the Tennessee local development authority. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1003
• Authority: means the Tennessee local development authority, a public agency and instrumentality of the state, created by this chapter, or if such authority shall be abolished, the board, body, commission or agency succeeding to the principal functions thereof or to which the powers and duties granted or imposed upon the authority shall be given by law. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• 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}
• Bond: means any bond authorized and issued pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• Bonds: means bonds, notes, interim certificates or other obligations of a corporation issued pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 7-39-102
• Bonds: means all bonds, notes or other obligations issued by the authority under this part. See Tennessee Code 4-31-803
• Child: means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual's parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the parent. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Child support order: means a support order for a child, including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state or foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• claims: means a covered claim as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 4-31-803
• 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
• Commercial unit: means such a unit of goods as by commercial usage is a single whole for purposes of lease and division of which materially impairs its character or value on the market or in use. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of mental health and substance abuse services when referenced in provisions relating to mental health facilities or centers and means the commissioner of intellectual and developmental disabilities when referenced in provisions relating to intellectual and developmental disabilities facilities or centers. See Tennessee Code 4-31-703
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Construction: means the building, reconstruction, creation, replacement, extension, repair, betterment, improvement, installation, alteration, equipping, extension, development, acquisition by gift, lease, purchase, or the exercise of the right of eminent domain, or any one (1) or more of the foregoing, including the acquisition of property and rights in property, real and personal. See Tennessee Code 4-31-603
• Construction: means construction, acquisition, reconstruction, improvement, equipping, furnishing, bettering or extension of a facility, including paying engineering, fiscal, architectural and legal expenses incurred in connection therewith. See Tennessee Code 4-31-703
• Construction: means the building, reconstruction, creation, replacement, extension, repairing, betterment, improvement, alteration, equipment, extension, or acquisition, including, but not limited to, the acquisition of land and of rights in land, the engineering, architectural designs, plans, working drawings, specifications, procedures, and other action necessary in the construction of such capital projects, and the inspection and supervision of such capital projects. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1003
• Consumer lease: means a lease that a lessor regularly engaged in the business of leasing or selling makes to a lessee who is an individual and who takes under the lease primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose, if the total payments to be made under the lease contract, excluding payments for options to renew or buy, do not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000). See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Convention: means the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, concluded at The Hague on November 23, 2007. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• 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.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• 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.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• 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.
• Department: means the department of mental health and substance abuse services when referenced in provisions relating to mental health facilities or centers and means the department of intellectual and developmental disabilities when referenced in provisions relating to developmental disabilities facilities or centers. See Tennessee Code 4-31-703
• Department: means the department of environment and conservation, or, if the department shall be abolished, the board, body, commission or agency succeeding to the principal functions thereof or to which the powers and duties granted or imposed upon the department shall be given by law. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• Department of transportation: means the Tennessee department of transportation and its successors. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1202
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• eligible costs: includes the costs of preliminary engineering, traffic and revenue studies, environmental studies, right-of-way acquisition, legal and financial services associated with the development of the qualified project, construction, construction management, facilities and other costs necessary for the qualified project. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1202
• Eligible project: means :
  (i) A transportation infrastructure project, including streets, highways, bridges, tunnels and any related roadway facilities. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1202
• energy acquisition corporation: means a public corporation formed under this chapter, which shall be a public instrumentality of its associated municipality and of the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 7-39-102
• 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.
• Equipment: means fire engines, ladders, hooks, hoses and all other equipment necessary for the containing and extinguishing of fires. See Tennessee Code 4-31-503
• 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}
• 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.
• Facility: means "facility" as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 4-31-703
• farm products: means forage and sod crops. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Finance lease: means a lease with respect to which:
  (i) the lessor does not select, manufacture, or supply the goods. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Financing agreement: means any agreement entered into between the authority and a qualified borrower pertaining to a loan entered into under this part. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1202
• Fiscal year: means the year beginning July 1 of each calendar year. See Tennessee Code 7-39-403
• 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.
• Foreign country: means a country, including a political subdivision thereof, other than the United States, that authorizes the issuance of support orders and:
  (A) Which has been declared under the law of the United States to be a foreign reciprocating country. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Fund: means the Tennessee transportation state infrastructure fund. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1202
• Gas operations: means all activities associated with the establishment, development, and administration of a gas system and the business of supplying gas and associated services to the public, including, but not limited to, the generation, purchase, and sale of gas energy and the purchase, use, and consumption of gas energy by ultimate consumers. See Tennessee Code 7-39-403
• Gas system: means all tangible and intangible property and resources of every kind and description used or held for use in the purchase, generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of gas energy. See Tennessee Code 7-39-403
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Goods: means all things that are movable at the time of identification to the lease contract, or are fixtures (§. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Governing body: means , with respect to a municipality that is an associated municipality of, or purchaser of gas from, an acquisition corporation established to exercise the powers described in this chapter with respect to natural gas and natural gas substitutes, any board, commission or other instrumentality of such municipality having jurisdiction, control and management of the gas distribution system of that municipality, and, with respect to a municipality that is an associated municipality of, or purchaser of electrical power from, an acquisition corporation established to exercise the powers described in this chapter with respect to electrical power, any board, commission or other instrumentality of such municipality having jurisdiction, control and management of the electrical power distribution system of that municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-39-102
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Grantee: means a nonprofit, Tennessee Code 4-31-703
• Installment lease contract: means a lease contract that authorizes or requires the delivery of goods in separate lots to be separately accepted, even though the lease contract contains a clause "each delivery is a separate lease" or its equivalent. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• 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}
• 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.
• Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• 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}
• Lease: means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a term in return for consideration, but a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or retention or creation of a security interest is not a lease. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Lease agreement: means the bargain, with respect to the lease, of the lessor and the lessee in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances including course of dealing or usage of trade or course of performance as provided in this chapter. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Lease contract: means the total legal obligation that results from the lease agreement as affected by this chapter and any other applicable rules of law. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Lessee: means a person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Lessor: means a person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
• 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
• Loan: means an obligation subject to repayment that is provided by the fund to a qualified borrower for all or part of the eligible costs of a qualified project. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1202
• Loan agreement: means a contractual arrangement by and between a county and the authority pursuant to and in accordance with this part. See Tennessee Code 4-31-503
• Loan agreement: means a contractual arrangement by and between an airport authority or a municipal airport and the authority and, in the discretion of the authority, the creating or participating municipality providing the guaranty, pursuant to and in accordance with this part. See Tennessee Code 4-31-603
• Loan program agreement: means a contractual arrangement by and between a local government unit and the authority pursuant to and in accordance with part 4 of this chapter providing for loans to such local government units for the purpose of paying the cost of the construction of capital projects and a contractual arrangement by and between a local government unit and the state acting by and through the department, pursuant to and in accordance with [former] title 68, chapter 211, part 4 [repealed], or title 68, chapter 221, parts 2 and 5 providing for loans to such local government unit for the purpose of paying the cost of the construction of sewage treatment works, waterworks, or energy recovery facilities and/or solid waste resource recovery facilities, as the case may be, which loans are made or are to be made from the proceeds of bonds or notes issued pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• Local government unit: means any county, metropolitan government, incorporated town or city, or special district of the state, water/wastewater authority or any energy authority created by an act of the general assembly. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• Lot: means a parcel or a single article that is the subject matter of a separate lease or delivery, whether or not it is sufficient to perform the lease contract. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Merchant lessee: means a lessee that is a merchant with respect to goods of the kind subject to the lease. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• 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
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Municipal airport: means those county or municipal airports created pursuant to title 42, chapter 5. See Tennessee Code 4-31-603
• Municipality: means any county, incorporated city, town or metropolitan government, utility district, energy acquisition corporation or gas, electric or energy authority in this state. See Tennessee Code 7-39-102
• Municipality: means any incorporated city or town, metropolitan government, or county that now or hereafter owns and operates a gas system. See Tennessee Code 7-39-403
• Natural disaster: means any hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, ice storm, drought, fire, explosion, civil disturbance or other catastrophe that causes or may cause substantial damage or injury to property. See Tennessee Code 4-31-803
• Note: means any note authorized and issued pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• 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.
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Present value: means the amount as of a date certain of one (1) or more sums payable in the future, discounted to the date certain. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Private act: includes , without limitation, the charter and any amendments to the charter of any home rule municipality or any metropolitan government. See Tennessee Code 7-39-403
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Project: means any one (1) or any combination of the following: safety improvements for airports. See Tennessee Code 4-31-603
• Project: means the facility or portion of a facility, the construction of which is being financed or refinanced by a loan pursuant to this part. See Tennessee Code 4-31-703
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Purchase: includes taking by sale, lease, mortgage, security interest, pledge, gift, or any other voluntary transaction creating an interest in goods. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Qualified borrower: means any governmental unit authorized to construct, operate, or own a qualified project. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1202
• Qualified project: means an eligible project that has been recommended by the department of transportation to receive a loan from the fund to defray an eligible cost. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1202
• 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 a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Register: means to file in a tribunal of this state a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child issued in another state or a foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• 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
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• 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 federal savings and loan insurance corporation (FSLIC) or any successor of such corporation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Security: means that which is determined by the authority to be acceptable to secure a loan to a qualified borrower under this part and includes, but is not limited to, project revenues, ad valorem taxes, state-shared taxes, letters of credit and bond insurance. See Tennessee Code 4-31-1202
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession under the jurisdiction of the United States. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• 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 loan programs: means the activities and policies undertaken by the state pursuant to title 68, chapter 221, part 2 to provide assistance to local government units by making grants that are required to be repaid for the construction of sewage treatment works, or pursuant to title 68, chapter 221, part 5, to provide assistance to local government units by making loans for the construction of waterworks, or pursuant to [former] title 68, chapter 211, part 4 [repealed], to provide assistance to local government units by making loans for the construction of energy recovery facilities or solid waste resource recovery facilities, or both, or pursuant to part 4 of this chapter to provide assistance to local government units by making loans for the construction of capital projects. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• State-shared taxes: means taxes imposed and collected by the state pursuant to law and allocated by law to local government units, whether allocated for a particular purpose or for the general use of such local government units. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Supervisory body: means any board or other agency of a municipality established to supervise the management and operation of its gas system and operations, or, in the absence of a board or other agency, the governing body of the municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-39-403
• Supplier: means a person from whom a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased under a finance lease. See Tennessee Code 47-2A-103
• Support enforcement agency: means a public official, governmental entity, or private agency authorized to:
  (A) Seek enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Support order: means a judgment, decree, order, decision, or directive, whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, issued in a state or foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse, or a former spouse, which provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, retroactive support, or reimbursement for financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Taxing jurisdiction: means any county, incorporated city or town, or metropolitan government in Tennessee having the power to levy taxes, or any special taxing district in Tennessee on behalf of which ad valorem property taxes may be levied, for the support of governmental and related activities and services. See Tennessee Code 7-39-403
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Tribunal: means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• 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
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• 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