Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 17-1-304 (2026)
Powers after vacation of office
✓ current as of May 2026
- (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, all the powers in connection with the cases that the judge might have exercised therein, had the vacation of office not occurred.
- (b) The judge's powers in this respect shall not extend beyond sixty (60) days from the date of such vacation of office.
- (c) The powers shall especially include, but shall not be limited to, the right to render judgments, to hear and determine motions for new trial, to grant appeals and to approve bills of exceptions.
- (d) The powers may be exercised by the judge either within or without the geographical limits assigned by law to the judge.
Acts 1945, ch. 21, § 1; C. Supp. 1950, § 9949.1; Acts 1973, ch. 116, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 17-116.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1982–2025 · leading case: State v. Brown, 644 S.W.2d 418 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1982).
State v. Brown, 644 S.W.2d 418 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1982). “The Court of Appeals concluded that TCA § 17-1-304 (then designated TCA § 17-116) is directory only and not mandatory.”
DeLong v. Pans Hans Props., 626 S.W.2d 697 (Tenn. 1982). “§ 17-116 (now § 17-1-304) Judge Coffey had sixty (60) days after the expiration of his term to rule on pending matters; that, “I have made inquiry of him whether he is in position to rule in the captioned matter and he replied in the affirmative, saying that he was re-instating…”
Terry Wallace v. City Of Lewisburg, Tennessee (Tenn. Ct. App. 2019). “02 motion being filed and consequently, pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 17-1-304,2 had lost authority to rule on 1 In due course, the City moved for partial summary judgment on Mr.”
Scott Hensley v. Lawrence Slattery (Tenn. Ct. App. 2025). “The record confirms that Plaintiffs’ counsel questioned Chancellor Forgety’s ability to preside over the action after the expiration of his term, to which Chancellor Forgety cited Tennessee Code Annotated section 17-1-304, which provides, in pertinent part, as follows: (a)…”
State of Tennessee v. Letivias D. Prince (Tenn. Crim. App. 2014). “See T.C.A. § 17-1-304(b). On August 31, 2011, however, the chief justice of our supreme court entered an order designating Judge Bivins to preside over all those cases pending at the time of his appointment until their conclusion.”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 17-1-304(b): 1 case
State of Tennessee v. Letivias D. Prince (Tenn. Crim. App. 2014). “See T.C.A. § 17-1-304(b). On August 31, 2011, however, the chief justice of our supreme court entered an order designating Judge Bivins to preside over all those cases pending at the time of his appointment until their conclusion.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.