Title 17, Judges And Chancellors

No judge or chancellor shall practice law, or perform any of the functions of attorney or counsel, in any of the courts of this state, except in cases in which the judge or chancellor may have been employed as counsel previous to the judge's or chancellor's election. A newly elec…

(a) In addition to the qualifications provided for judges by the Constitution of Tennessee, Article VI, §§ 3 and 4, judges of the supreme court, court of appeals, court of criminal appeals, chancery courts, circuit courts, criminal courts, and courts exercising the jurisdiction i…

No additional state trial judge positions shall be created until the Tennessee comptroller of the treasury has established uniformly reported caseload statistics, which may include a weighted caseload formula and that prioritizes the need for additional positions among the judici…

Every judge and chancellor is required to hold the terms of courts for which the judge or chancellor is responsible at the regular times appointed by law, unless prevented by sickness of the judge or the judge's family or by some other unavoidable necessity.

Any judge or chancellor who fails to open court for which the judge or chancellor is responsible within the first three (3) days of each regular term, without sufficient excuse, shall have one hundred dollars ($100) of salary deducted for the failure.

The judges and chancellors are, notwithstanding § 17-1-102, judges and chancellors for the state at large, and as such, may, upon interchange and upon other lawful ground, exercise the duties of office in any other judicial district in the state.

(a) The judges and chancellors shall have interchangeable and concurrent jurisdiction to grant injunctions, attachments and all other extraordinary process, issuable out of, and returnable to, any of the circuit or chancery courts of this state. (b) Upon making the requisite fiat…

The judges of the circuit courts and chancellors may also concurrently appoint receivers in vacation, whenever necessary in the proceedings of either the circuit or chancery courts, and the clerks of the courts, when required by the fiat, shall take bond with good security, from …

The several judges and chancellors of this state, including retired chancellors and retired judges of courts of record of this state and persons who were members of quarterly county courts or county commissions on August 1, 1984, are authorized to solemnize the rites of matrimony…

(a) If a vacancy occurs during the term of office of a judge of the supreme court, the court of appeals, or the court of criminal appeals, then the governor shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy. The governor's appointee shall be confirmed and shall stand for elect…

(a) Whenever a vacancy, either by death, resignation or removal, occurs in the office of county judge, it shall be filled by the qualified voters of the county at the first regular election in August for any of the county officers, more than forty-five (45) days after the happeni…

(a) Whenever any trial judge vacates the office of judge for any cause whatsoever, other than the death or permanent insanity of the judge, the judge shall have and retain, as to cases pending before the judge, the trial of which has begun prior to the judge's vacation of office,…

When a vacancy in the office of trial judge exists by reason of death, permanent insanity as evidenced by adjudication, impeachment and conviction under the Constitution of Tennessee, Article V, or removal under the Constitution of Tennessee, Article VI, § 6, after verdict, but b…

(a) Whenever such a vacancy arising from death or permanent insanity, evidenced by adjudication, occurs after disposition of the motion for new trial and appeal prayed and granted, but before the expiration of the time allowed for filing the bill of exceptions, the successor judg…

(a) Secretarial assistance to trial judges and chancellors of courts of record whose entire compensation is paid by this state shall be provided on the basis of need by the administrative director of the courts. (b) In addition to the judges and chancellors set out in subsection …

(a) All salaries for secretarial positions shall be fixed within the limits of the appropriation for the salaries by the administrative director of the courts and the commissioner of finance and administration, with the approval of the chief justice of the supreme court. (b) The …

It is declared to be the legislative intent that this part shall supersede any and all existing general laws authorizing secretarial assistance for trial judges and chancellors or providing for their compensation, and that this part constitutes the sole authority for such purpose…

(1) No judge or chancellor shall be competent, except by consent of all parties, to sit in the following cases:(1) Where the judge or chancellor is interested in the event of any cause;(2) Where the judge or chancellor is connected with either party, by affinity or consanguinity,…

The judges of the supreme court, within the first week of each term, or as soon thereafter as the fact comes to their knowledge, shall certify to the governor all cases upon the docket in which any of them are incompetent to sit, upon the receipt of which certificate the governor…

The special judges commissioned pursuant to § 17-2-102 shall hear and determine the causes in the commission set forth, and all such other causes during the same term, and shall have the same power and authority in those causes as the regular judges of the court.

In case of the sickness of any one (1) or more of the judges of the supreme court, the governor shall have the power to commission persons learned in law to fill the vacancy during the illness of the judge or judges.

In case of the incompetency, sickness or other disability of any judge of the court of appeals or court of criminal appeals, the governor shall have the power to commission a person to fill the vacancy during the incompetency, sickness or other disability of the judge, and the pe…

Special judges of the supreme court shall in all cases be paid the same salary for the time served and receive the same expense allowance as are allowed the regular judges.

The provisions of this chapter in relation to the incompetency of judges and chancellors, and to the disposition of causes in which they are incompetent, shall equally apply to judges of the courts of general sessions, and the judges may interchange with each other when necessary…

(a) (1) Whenever litigation in any chancery, circuit, criminal, general sessions, juvenile, probate or appellate court of this state becomes congested or delay in the disposition of litigation becomes imminent for any reason, the chief justice of the supreme court shall assign a …

(a) When any chancellor or circuit, criminal or appellate judge is, for any reason, unable to try the docket in any court of the chancellor's or judge's division or circuit, the chancellor or judge shall certify to the chief justice of the supreme court the fact of the inability,…

The expenses of the chancellor, judge or appellate judge who serves as assigned by the chief justice under § 17-2-109 or § 17-2-110, or the retired judge designated or assigned in accordance with § 16-3-502(3)(B), shall be certified by the chancellor, judge, appellate judge or re…

When any chancellor is incompetent to try any cause in the court for which the chancellor is responsible, a circuit judge may hear and determine the cause as chancellor, for which purpose the clerk of the chancery court shall bring before the chancellor all the papers in the caus…

Any circuit judge may also during the sittings of a chancery court, upon notification of a cause in which the chancellor is incompetent, as provided in § 17-2-112, take the place of the chancellor on the bench and hear and determine the cause as chancellor, the necessary entry be…

When any judge of any circuit court, criminal court, or chancellor, or judge or chancellor of any special court of equal dignity with circuit or chancery court, certifies to the governor that the judge or chancellor is incompetent to hold the judge's or chancellor's court, or to …

(a) (1) When any of the judges of the circuit courts, criminal courts, other special courts or courts of general sessions, or any of the chancellors, is unable from sickness or other physical disability to attend and hold any of the courts at the time and place required by law, t…

(a) The person appointed and commissioned pursuant to § 17-2-116 shall have all the power and authority of the regular judge or chancellor in whose place the person is appointed, shall draw the same salary, have the same emoluments of office and shall continue to hold the courts …

(a) If, for good cause, including, but not limited to, by reason of illness, physical incapacitation, vacation or absence from the city or judicial district on a matter related to the judge's judicial office, the judge of a state or county trial court of record is unable to hold …

The governor shall appoint a temporary judge, chancellor or district attorney general in all cases where a contest arises in the election of any of those officers, and they shall hold the offices, and have all the powers and jurisdiction pertaining to the offices, until the conte…

Every special judge, before entering on the duties of the judge's appointment, shall take an oath before the clerk of the court to support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of Tennessee, and also the following oath of office: “I, A B, solemnly swear that …

(a) Notwithstanding § 16-15-209 or § 17-2-109 or any other relevant provision to the contrary, a judge shall have the authority to appoint a special judge as provided in this section. (b) Sections 16-15-209 and 17-2-109 and any other relevant provision shall not apply where a jud…

(a) (1) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the circuit or chancery court judges of a county may appoint a full-time master to serve as a judicial officer in the absence of any such judges.(2) A master appointed pursuant to subdivision (a)(1) shall be an attorney licensed to…

The purpose of this part is to ensure that existing judicial resources are utilized to the fullest extent and that no additional judicial resources are created until uniform caseload statistics are developed that will establish a priority for the need for additional judges.

(a) Each state trial court judge has an affirmative duty to interchange if:(1) A judge has died or is unable to hold court;(2) Two (2) or more judges have agreed to a mutually convenient interchange; or(3) The chief justice of the supreme court has assigned by order a judge to an…

In all such cases, the judge or chancellor holding court in the circuit or division of another, shall have the same power and jurisdiction as the judge or chancellor in whose place the judge or chancellor is acting.

A person appointed and commissioned under §§ 17-2-116 and 17-2-117 shall have the same power to interchange with other judges and chancellors as the regular official in whose place the person is appointed and commissioned to act.

Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, judges of courts of general sessions and juvenile courts may interchange with each other whenever causes exist making an interchange necessary or for mutual convenience. The interchanging judge shall not be required to be a resident …

(a) In counties with a population of over seven hundred thousand (700,000), according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census, the general sessions judges may sit by interchange as a circuit court judge or chancellor for the exclusive purpose of hearing and de…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Senior Judge Enabling Act of 1990.”

(a) Any former supreme court justice, judge of an intermediate appellate court or judge of a state court of record who has at least eight (8) years of creditable service as a state justice or judge may request to be designated as a senior justice or judge. (b) Requests for senior…

(a) The supreme court is authorized to appoint senior judges only after it has made an affirmative finding that the effective administration of justice in one (1) or more judicial districts requires additional judicial resources. (b) (1) If the supreme court, at its discretion, d…