Part 1 Qualifications 8-16-101 – 8-16-121
Part 2 Consumer Protection 8-16-201 – 8-16-204
Part 3 Online Notary Public Act 8-16-301 – 8-16-313

Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 8 > Chapter 16 - Notaries Public

  • Abuse: means the willful infliction of injury, unreasonable confinement, intimidation, or punishment with resulting physical harm, pain, or mental anguish. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1002
  • Allegation: something that someone says happened.
  • 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.
  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Assessed value: means value as assessed for municipal property tax purposes. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
  • board: means the board provided for in part 3 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • central business improvement district: means the central business improvement district created by the establishment ordinance of the municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of health. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1302
  • 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.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Cooperative agreement: means an agreement among two (2) or more hospitals for the consolidation by merger or other combination of assets, offering, provision, operation, planning, funding, pricing, contracting, utilization review or management of health services or for the sharing, allocation, or referral of patients, personnel, instructional programs, support services and facilities or medical, diagnostic or laboratory facilities or procedures or other services traditionally offered by hospitals. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1302
  • 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.
  • Credential analysis: means a process or service operating as outlined in rules promulgated by the secretary of state, through which a third person affirms the validity of a government-issued identification credential through review of public and proprietary data sources. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Criminal disposition: means the disposition of criminal charges constituting an offense against a vulnerable person, as that term is defined by this section, either by conviction, or by pretrial diversion authorized by any court pursuant to title 40, chapter 15, or by an order deferring further proceedings and placing an individual on probation by post-trial diversion issued pursuant to title 40, chapter 35. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1002
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Department: means the department of health. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1302
  • Department: means the department of health. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1401
  • 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.
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • 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.
  • Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Electronic document: means information that is created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Electronic notarial certificate: means the portion of a notarized electronic document that is completed by an online notary public and contains the following:
    (A) The online notary public's electronic signature, electronic seal, title, and commission expiration date. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Electronic seal: means information within a notarized electronic document that confirms the online notary public's name, jurisdiction, identifying number, and commission expiration date and generally corresponds to information in notary seals used on paper documents. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Electronic signature: means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with an electronic document and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the electronic document. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Employer: means :
    (A) The state or any department, commission, institution, board or agency of the state government by which a member is paid, with respect to members in its employ. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • 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
  • Equivalent competitive procedures: means procedures that include the following:
    (A) Use of a notification procedure designed to reach prospective suppliers of goods or services likely to be interested, as well as able, to satisfy the requirement for such goods and services. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1202
  • Establishment ordinance: means the ordinance of the governing body adopted pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
  • 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.
  • Exploitation: means , in cases that are investigated by the department of human services, the improper use by a caretaker of funds that have been paid by a governmental agency to an adult or to the caretaker for the use or care of the adult. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1002
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Governing board: means that group of persons designated as commissioners, directors, trustees or similar titles denoting responsibility for establishing policy and having ultimate authority for control of the management, operations and finances of a public body. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1202
  • Governing body: means the council, commission, board or other body exercising general legislative power in the municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
  • Group purchasing program: means any plan, program or method that is intended to provide one (1) or more public bodies, or other governmental or nonprofit organizations, or other entities or persons, whether located in this state or elsewhere, with the opportunity to obtain goods or services at a discount or savings not otherwise available through the purchasing practices of a public body. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1202
  • 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.
  • Hospital: means :
    (A) Any institution required to be licensed as a hospital under §. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1302
  • Identity proofing: means a process or service operating according to criteria as outlined in rules promulgated by the secretary of state, through which a third person affirms the identity of an individual through review of personal information in public and proprietary data sources. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Initiating petition: means the petition filed pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
  • Initiating resolution: means the resolution adopted by the governing body pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
  • 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
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • 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
  • Misappropriation: means any taking, possession or use of the property of a vulnerable person the elements of which constitute any criminal offense involving such property, or that constitute a violation of a fiduciary duty of a caretaker of a vulnerable person. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1002
  • Municipality: means any incorporated city, town or metropolitan government of this state exercising general governmental functions in the state. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
  • National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. Source: OCC
  • Neglect: means the failure to provide goods and services necessary to avoid physical harm, mental anguish, or mental illness. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1002
  • Notarial act: means the performance by an online notary public of a function authorized under §. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Oath: includes affirmation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
  • Offense against a vulnerable person: means any act that constitutes abuse, neglect, misappropriation or exploitation of the property of a vulnerable person even if the act does not constitute a criminal act, or any crime the elements of which constitute abuse, neglect, or misappropriation or exploitation of the property of a vulnerable person. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1002
  • Online notarization: means a notarial act performed by means of two-way video and audio conference technology that meets the standards adopted under §. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Online notary public: means a notary public who is a commissioned notary public and has been additionally commissioned to perform online notarizations as outlined in this part. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Owner: means record owner in fee, or a duly authorized representative. See Tennessee Code 7-84-503
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Principal: means an individual:
    (A) Whose electronic signature is notarized in an online notarization. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Property: means all interests of any type in real property, and any interests of any type in personal property whether in moneys or financial instruments of any type, goods, furnishings, and similar property. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1002
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Public body: means :
    (A) Any hospital organized and operating under the Metropolitan Hospital Authority Act, compiled in title 7, chapter 57, as it existed on or after May 1, 1990. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1202
  • 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
  • Remote presentation: means transmission to the online notary public through communication technology of an image of a government-issued identification credential that is of sufficient quality to enable the online notary public to:
    (A) Identify the individual seeking the online notary public's services. See Tennessee Code 8-16-302
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
  • 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 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
  • 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.
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • 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.
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Vulnerable person: means anyone who:
    (A) Is under eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 68-11-1002
  • Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
  • Writ of certiorari: An order issued by the Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case for which it will hear on appeal.
  • 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