Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 39 > Chapter 14 > Part 1 - Theft

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Blasting: means the use of an explosive device for the excavation of earth, rock, or other material or the demolition of a structure. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• Board: means the underground utility damage enforcement board, created by §. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• 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
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Coercion: means a threat, however communicated, to:
  (A) Commit any offense. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• 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.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Credit card: means any real or forged instrument, writing or other evidence, whether known as a credit card, credit plate, charge plate or by any other name, which purports to evidence an understanding to pay for property or services delivered or rendered to or upon the order of a designated person or bearer. See Tennessee Code 39-14-102
• Current geographic territory: means the parcels of land, as such parcels are defined or designated by the assessor of property of the county in which the parcels are located, to which a public electric system was providing electric service on February 16, 1989. See Tennessee Code 65-34-102
• Damage: includes the substantial weakening of structural or lateral support of an underground utility, penetration or destruction of any protective coating, housing or other protective device of an underground utility, the partial or complete severance of an underground utility and rendering any underground utility inaccessible. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Debit card: means any real or forged instrument, writing or other evidence known by any name issued with or without a fee by an issuer for the use of a depositor in obtaining money, goods, services or anything else of value, payment of which is made against funds previously deposited in an account with the issuer. See Tennessee Code 39-14-102
• Deception: means that a person knowingly:
  (i) Creates or reinforces a false impression by words or conduct, including false impressions of fact, law, value or intention or other state of mind that the person does not believe to be true. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• 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.
• 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
• Deprive: means to:
  (A) Withhold property from the owner permanently or for such a period of time as to substantially diminish the value or enjoyment of the property to the owner. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• Design locate request: means a communication to the one-call service in which a request for locating existing utility facilities for predesign or advance planning purposes is made. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Effective consent: means assent in fact, whether express or apparent, including assent by one legally authorized to act for another. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• Electric and community service cooperative: has the meaning set forth in §. See Tennessee Code 65-34-102
• Electric cooperative: means an electric cooperative or electric membership corporation, whether organized or operating under chapter 25 of this title or similar statutes of any other state, which, as of June 19, 1997, distributes electric power purchased from the Tennessee Valley authority. See Tennessee Code 65-36-102
• Emancipated minor: means any minor who is or has been married, or has by court order or otherwise been freed from the care, custody and control of the minor's parents. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Excavator: means any person who engages in activities described in subdivisions (A) and (B) in the definition of "excavate" contained in this section. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• Executive committee: means the executive committee created by §. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• 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
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Fraud: means as used in normal parlance and includes, but is not limited to, deceit, trickery, misrepresentation and subterfuge, and shall be broadly construed to accomplish the purposes of this title. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Government: means the state or any political subdivision of the state, and includes any branch or agency of the state, a county, municipality or other political subdivision. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• 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.
• Harm: means anything reasonably regarded as loss, disadvantage or injury, including harm to another person in whose welfare the person affected is interested. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• 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
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
• Issuer: means the business organization or financial institution or its duly authorized agent which issues a credit or debit card. See Tennessee Code 39-14-102
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• 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.
• Knowing: means that a person acts knowingly with respect to the conduct or to circumstances surrounding the conduct when the person is aware of the nature of the conduct or that the circumstances exist. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• 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 enforcement officer: includes a sheriff, sheriff's deputy, and, only for purposes of the enhancement of a crime, a deputy jailer. 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}
• Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
• Library: means any:
  (A) Public library. See Tennessee Code 39-14-102
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Location: means the proposed area for which digging or excavating is scheduled within three (3) to ten (10) working days, such area not to exceed two thousand feet (2,000') in length unless an excavator and an operator or an operator's designated representative, such as a one-call service, agree to a larger area. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• 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.
• Municipal electric system: means any electric system owned by any county, municipality, power district, or other subdivision of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 65-34-102
• municipal electric utility: means any governmental entity as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 65-36-102
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Non-consumer owned electric system: means any public electric system other than electric and community service cooperatives and municipal electric systems. See Tennessee Code 65-34-102
• 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.
• 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
• One-Call Service: means a telephone notification service described in §. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• Operator: means any person who owns or operates a utility. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• Owner: means a person, other than the defendant, who has possession of or any interest other than a mortgage, deed of trust or security interest in property, even though that possession or interest is unlawful and without whose consent the defendant has no authority to exert control over the property. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
• Owner: means the owner of any property, any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety of the whole or a part of any structure which is capable of receiving service by a utility. See Tennessee Code 65-35-101
• 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
• 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 any individual. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• Person: means an individual, corporation, firm, company, partnership, association or organization of any kind, public or private. See Tennessee Code 65-35-101
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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
• Proposed area of excavation: means a general surface location which excavators are to furnish to operators of underground utilities or to a one-call service as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• Public electric system: includes electric and community service cooperatives, municipal electric systems, and every individual, co-partnership, association, corporation or joint stock company, their lessees, trustees or receivers, appointed by any court whatsoever, that own, operate, manage, or control any electric power system, plant, or equipment within Tennessee affected by and dedicated to public use. See Tennessee Code 65-34-102
• Receiving: includes , but is not limited to, acquiring possession, control, title or taking a security interest in the property. See Tennessee Code 39-14-102
• 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
• 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
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• 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
• 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 [former] federal savings and loan insurance corporation (FSLIC) or any successor [repealed] of such corporation. 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
• 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.
• sex: means a person's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth and evidence of a person's biological sex. 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
• 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.
• Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
• Tenant or occupant: means any person who occupies the whole or a part of any building, whether alone or with others, and includes the owner. See Tennessee Code 65-35-101
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• 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.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• utility: means any utility which furnishes electricity, gas or water, or converts solid waste into heat, fuel or energy. See Tennessee Code 65-32-103
• Utility: means any person, municipality, county, cooperative, board, commission, district or any entity created or authorized by public act, private act or general law to provide electricity, natural gas, water, sanitary sewer service, telephone service, or any combination thereof, for sale to consumers in any particular service area, whether or not regulated by the Tennessee public utility commission. See Tennessee Code 65-35-101
• Utility customer: means :
  (A) The person or persons listed on the records of the utility as the customer liable for charges or payment for the utility service. See Tennessee Code 65-35-101
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Willful noncompliance: means the intentional refusal or failure to perform, or comply with, a duty created or imposed by this chapter or by rules promulgated pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 65-31-102
• Writing: includes printing or any other method of recording information, money, coins, tokens, stamps, seals, credit cards, badges, trademarks, and symbols of value, right, privilege or identification. See Tennessee Code 39-14-114
• 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