Title 16, Courts

(a) (1) If for any cause, in the opinion of the court deemed sufficient, it is impracticable or inconvenient for any court to hold its session at the courthouse, or place designated by law, it shall be lawful for the court to hold its session, or any part of its session, at any o…

(a) The minutes of the court for each day's work shall be signed by the judge. The minute book shall provide a place for the judge's signature after the minute entries each day; however, where the orders of the court are photocopied so that an accurate facsimile of the entire ord…

In all suits, instituted according to law, to sell the real estate of decedents for the payment of debts, or to sell lands for partition, a court of record may decree a sale of lands lying in any part of the state.

Courts having jurisdiction to sell lands, instead of ordering parties to convey, may divest and vest title directly by decree, or empower the clerk to make title.

The decree or deed of the clerk, as the case may be, has the same force and effect as a conveyance by the party, and shall be registered.

In cases where the sale is made at the voluntary instance of parties, the decree or deed of the clerk shall imply a covenant of seisin and warranty of title by the parties whose interest is sold, their heirs and representatives, unless otherwise provided in the face of the decree…

In all cases that have been removed from the courts of the state to the federal courts, and that have been afterward remanded to the state courts, the pleadings, depositions and proofs that have been filed in the federal court during its pendency there shall be used as if the ple…

Tennessee Code Annotated is amended in each of its provisions providing the judicial powers, duties, functions or jurisdiction of the justice of the peace to delete references to “justice of the peace” or any variation of those words and to substitute instead references to the “c…

(a) It is the intent of the general assembly, in recognition of the common practice and use of electronic transmissions in business and government, to:(1) Promote a more efficient means of filing documents and overcome expenses and delays entailed in long distance communication; …

Any judge or lawyer sitting specially under § 16-15-209 or § 17-2-208 or by interchange shall have the same immunity as the judge for whom the judge or lawyer is sitting, and the state or county that would provide the defense for the judge for whom the lawyer or judge is sitting …

Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, courts in this state may implement procedures for the use of electronic signatures in the signing of pleadings, court orders, judgment orders, affidavits of complaint, arrest warrants, a mittimus or other court documents. An electronic sig…

Notwithstanding any other law or rule of court to the contrary, when an original civil action, an appeal from the judgment of a court of general sessions, or a petition for review of a final decision in a contested case under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in…

(a) It is the duty of the administrative office of the courts to collect, develop, and maintain uniform statistical information relative to court caseloads in Tennessee. To assist the administrative office of the courts in this duty, the clerks of each court shall report case dat…

Unless otherwise provided by law, all courts in this state that implement an electronic court filing system pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 46 and Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 5B shall utilize only a system provider authorized by the administrative office of the cou…

(a) (1) (A) By no later than September 1, 2018, the speaker of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives shall establish an advisory task force to review the composition of Tennessee's current judicial districts codified at § 16-2-506.(B) The task force shall be …

If a court clerk chooses to process passport applications, the court clerk may take photographs for the passports and charge a reasonable fee for such service.

(a) Each court must cooperate with the United States department of homeland security and federal immigration authorities acting in the enforcement of federal immigration law. (b) A judge who obstructs lawful operations by the United States department of homeland security or feder…

(a) For the administration of justice in the supreme court, the court of appeals and the court of criminal appeals, the state is divided into the three (3) grand divisions described in §§ 4-1-201 — 4-1-204. (b) All appeals, writs of error and appeals in the nature of a writ of er…

The supreme court for the eastern division is held at Knoxville; for the middle division, at Nashville; and for the western division, at Jackson. In addition to the places where the supreme court is required to be held by the Constitution of Tennessee, it may be held in other pla…

The court shall hold one (1) session each year, as follows: at Knoxville on the second Monday in September; at Nashville on the first Monday in December; and at Jackson on the first Monday in April of each year.

The supreme court is empowered to direct the hearing of all of the cases coming to the supreme court from any county, in any division of the state, in any other division of the state; provided, that all appeals, appeals in error, writs of error, petitions for certiorari and all o…

The hearing and determination of any case, other than those involving emergency or general public welfare referred to in § 16-2-104, may, upon written application, presented in person by counsel representing all parties, and with the unanimous approval of the court, be transferre…

In judicial districts that have a separate circuit and chancery court or in districts that have more than one (1) division of circuit or chancery court, if a civil cause of action is filed in the improper court or the improper division of court within the judicial district, upon …

(a) The general assembly expressly declares that its purpose in enacting this part is to reorganize the existing trial court system of this state in such a way that its growth occurs in a logical and orderly manner. It does not have as its purpose the abolition of any court or ju…

Each trial court judge shall continue to be officially known and designated as either a chancellor, circuit court judge, criminal court judge, or law and equity court judge, depending upon the position to which the chancellor or judge was elected or appointed prior to June 1, 198…

Suits shall be filed in the same court and processed by the same clerk as they were filed and processed prior to September 1, 1984.

In those judicial districts in which this part has left a particular district without a chancellor, all trial court judges within that district shall be designated as chancellors for the purpose of selecting the clerk and master. The trial court judges shall also sit as chancello…

(a) In any judicial district in which § 16-2-506 requires the election of an additional judge, the election shall occur in August of that year. The qualified voters of the judicial district in which the election is required shall elect a person to the office of judge for that dis…

(1) The state is divided into thirty-two (32) judicial districts composed as follows:(1) (A) The first judicial district consists of the counties of Carter, Johnson, Unicoi and Washington. The four (4) incumbent trial court judges and the district attorney general currently resid…

(a) All incumbent trial court judges shall hold office in and serve the judicial district of which they have been designated by § 16-2-506. (b) It is the affirmative duty of every trial court judge to fully cooperate with the presiding judge and the other judges in the district.

(a) All incumbent district attorneys general shall hold office in and serve the judicial district to which they are assigned by § 16-2-506. The district attorneys general shall exercise and possess the jurisdiction, powers and duties within the judicial districts created by this …

(a) The judges in each judicial district shall assemble for the purpose of selecting a presiding judge of the district. In August of each year, the judges within each district shall assemble at the call of the presiding judge and select a successor to such presiding judge who sha…

(a) Court shall be held within each judicial district at such times and on such dates as the judges of each judicial district fix by rule. Court shall be held in each county within the district as often as is necessary to dispose of the business of the court. Not less than thirty…

Uniform rules of practice may be promulgated in each district by the judges of the district. The rules shall be consistent with the statutory law, the rules of the supreme court and the rules of criminal and civil procedure. The judges within a district may, by rule, designate co…

(a) Where § 16-2-506 requires the election of an additional judge in a judicial district, the presiding judge of the district shall notify the trial court vacancy commission in writing of the judge's recommendation as to whether the additional judge will be a circuit court judge,…

(a) The comptroller of the treasury shall devise and maintain a weighted caseload formula for the purpose of determining the need for creation or reallocation of judicial positions using case weights derived from the most recent weighted caseload study. The comptroller of the tre…

(a) Nothing in this part shall be construed to limit, terminate or otherwise affect the term or future terms of office of any circuit court clerk, criminal court clerk or clerk and master. All such incumbents shall continue in office until the expiration of their respective terms…

All references in Tennessee Code Annotated to “judicial circuits” or “chancery divisions” shall be deemed references to the judicial districts created by this part.

All process issued after September 1, 1984, shall be returnable at the times and places fixed by local court rules promulgated in accordance with this part. All bonds and undertakings executed after September 1, 1984, shall be governed by local court rules, insofar as to appearan…

Notwithstanding any provision of this part to the contrary, nothing in this part shall be construed to repeal, amend or affect in any manner any jurisdiction granted to any local court by any public or private law.

Any increase in local funding for positions or office expense for the district attorney general shall be accompanied by an increase in funding of seventy-five percent (75%) of the increase in funding to the office of the public defender in such district for the purpose of indigen…

(a) It is the declared policy of the general assembly to create assistant district attorney general (ADA) positions based upon the number of the ADA positions to population ratios being the primary consideration with secondary consideration being caseload when uniformly reported …

(a) Effective July 1, 2004, there are created thirty (30) additional assistant district attorney general positions to be designated in judicial districts as provided in this section. (b) (1) The executive director of the district attorneys general conference and the administrativ…

The number of criminal investigator positions to which the district attorney general of each judicial district is entitled pursuant to § 16-2-506 or any other law shall be the minimum number of positions authorized in each judicial district. No law shall be construed to prohibit …

(a) (1) By no later than July 1, 2025, the speaker of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives shall establish an advisory task force to review the composition of Tennessee's current judicial districts codified at § 16-2-506.(2) The task force shall be composed …

(a) (1) There is established within the general fund a special revolving loan fund to be known as the automated court system hardware replacement loan fund, referred to in this part as the “fund”. The fund is established for the purpose of providing interest-free funding for the …