Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 13-11-103 (2026)
Chapter definitions
✓ current as of May 2026
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
- (1) "Business" means any lawful activity, excepting a farm operation, conducted primarily:
- (A) For the purchase, sale, lease and rental of personal and real property, and for the manufacture, processing, or marketing of products, commodities, or any other personal property;
- (B) For the sale of services to the public;
- (C) By a nonprofit organization; or
- (D) Solely for the purposes of § 13-11-105, for assisting in the purchase, sale, resale, manufacture, processing, or marketing of products, commodities, personal property, or services by the erection and maintenance of an outdoor advertising display or displays, whether or not such display or displays are located on the premises on which any of the above activities are conducted;
- (2) "Comparable replacement dwelling" means any dwelling that is:
- (A) Decent, safe, and sanitary;
- (B) Adequate in size to accommodate the occupants;
- (C) Within the financial means of the displaced person;
- (D) Functionally equivalent to the dwelling from which the occupant was displaced;
- (E) In an area not subject to unreasonable adverse environmental conditions; and
- (F) In a location generally not less desirable than the location of the displaced person's dwelling with respect to public utilities, facilities, services, and the displaced person's place of employment;
- (3) "Displaced person" means, except as provided in subdivision (2)(B):
- (A) Any person who moves from real property, or moves such person's personal property from real property:
- (i) As a direct result of a written notice of intent to acquire or the acquisition of such real property in whole or in part for a program or project undertaken by a state agency or with federal financial assistance; or
- (ii) On which such person is a residential tenant or conducts a small business, a farm operation, or a business defined in subdivision (1)(D), as a direct result of rehabilitation, demolition, or such other displacing activity as the governor or the governor's designee may prescribe, under a program or project undertaken by a state agency or with federal financial assistance in any case in which the head of the displacing agency determines that such displacement is permanent; and
- (iii) Solely for the purposes of §§ 13-11-105(a) and (b) and 13-11-108, any person who moves from real property, or moves such person's personal property from real property as a direct result of a written notice of intent to acquire or the acquisition of other real property, in whole or in part, on which such person conducts a business or farm operation, for a program or project undertaken by a state agency or with federal financial assistance; or as a direct result of rehabilitation, demolition, or such other displacing activity as the governor or the governor's designee may prescribe, of other real property on which such person conducts a business or a farm operation, under a program or project undertaken by a state agency or with federal financial assistance where the head of the displacing agency determines that such displacement is permanent;
- (B) "Displaced person" does not include:
- (i) A person who has been determined, according to criteria established by the governor or the governor's designee, to be either in unlawful occupancy of the displacement dwelling or to have occupied such dwelling for the purpose of obtaining assistance under this chapter; or
- (ii) In any case in which the displacing agency acquires property for a program or project, any person, other than a person who was an occupant of such property at the time it was acquired, who occupies such property on a rental basis for a short term or a period subject to termination when the property is needed for the program or project;
- (A) Any person who moves from real property, or moves such person's personal property from real property:
- (4) "Displacing agency" means any state agency undertaking a program or project with or without federal financial assistance, which causes a person to be displaced, a local agency undertaking a program or project with federal or state financial assistance, which causes a person to be displaced, or a person undertaking a program or project with federal financial assistance, which causes a person to be displaced;
- (5) "Farm operation" means any activity conducted solely or primarily for the production of one (1) or more agricultural products or commodities, including timber, for sale or home use, and customarily producing such products or commodities in sufficient quantity to be capable of contributing materially to the operator's support;
- (6) "Local agency" means any political subdivision of the state or any department, agency, or instrumentality of a political subdivision of the state or any department, agency, or instrumentality of two (2) or more political subdivisions of the state when carrying out or undertaking programs or projects with federal or state financial assistance;
- (7) "Mortgage" means such classes of liens as are commonly given to secure advances on or the unpaid purchase price of, real property, under the laws of this state, together with the credit instruments, if any, secured thereby;
- (8) "Person" means and includes, but is not limited to, a partnership, company, corporation, association, individual, or family who is undertaking programs or projects with federal financial assistance, or such other person, business or farm operation which is entitled to any financial or other benefit as a result of federal financial assistance, or the undertaking of any program or project by a state agency;
- (9) "State agency" means any department, agency, or instrumentality of the state when carrying out or undertaking programs or projects with or without federal financial assistance, or when providing state financial assistance; and
- (10) "State financial assistance" means a grant, loan, or contribution provided by the state, except any state guarantee or insurance, any interest reduction payment to an individual in connection with the purchase and occupancy of a residence by that individual, and any annual payment or capital loan to the state.
Acts 1972, ch. 608, § 3; T.C.A., § 13-1903; Acts 1985, ch. 264, § 1; 1988, ch. 627, § 2.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1986–2026 · leading case: Beaty v. Imperial Irrigation Dist., 186 Cal. App. 3d 897 (Cal. Ct. App. 1986).
Beaty v. Imperial Irrigation Dist., 186 Cal. App. 3d 897 (Cal. Ct. App. 1986). “§ 35-1700-11 [refers to "a federally assisted governmental program"]; Tenn. Code Ann. § 13-11-103 , subd. 5; Utah Code Ann.”
State ex rel. Comm'r, Dep't of Transp. v. Teasley, 913 S.W.2d 175 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1995). “) In the same chapter, the definition section, T.C.A. § 13-11-103, as pertinent, provides: Definitions.”
State Ex Rel. Com'r v. Teasley, 913 S.W.2d 175 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1995). “) In the same chapter, the definition section, T.C.A. § 13-11-103, as pertinent, provides: Definitions.”
State of Tennessee v. Ronald Matthew Lacy (Tenn. 2026). “The State therefore met its burden of establishing statutory territorial jurisdiction under section 13-11-103(b). B. Finally, we turn to Lacy’s sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenge.”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 13-11-103(b) — 1 case
State of Tennessee v. Ronald Matthew Lacy (Tenn. 2026). “The State therefore met its burden of establishing statutory territorial jurisdiction under section 13-11-103(b). B. Finally, we turn to Lacy’s sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenge.”
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