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The Tennessee Legislature
passed a new law in 2017 that governs appropriate statutory construction. This is an interesting change that has
application to all of the words in the Tennessee Code that do not have a
definition provided in the code. This
new law was passed as Public Chapter No. 302 and signed into law by Governor Bill
Haslam on May 5, 2017, and it took effect immediately. It is codified now in T.C.A. § 1-3-105. This statute is not often cited to but is
important to know about because it provides definitions for certain words
provided for in the Tennessee Code (such as “property”, “highway”, “real
property”, “age of majority”, “record” and other terms).
This new law provides as
follows:
(b) As used in this code, undefined words shall be given their natural
and ordinary meaning, without forced or subtle construction that would limit or
extend the meaning of the language, except when a contrary intention is clearly
manifest.
It appears to me that
this new statute is designed to prevent judicial overreach in redefining terms
outside of their normal meaning.
Sometimes in cases, key terms in statutes do not have a definition
within the Tennessee Code and the lawyers and the Court must interpret the
term. This new law provides guiding
principles for statutory construction that are intended to prevent odd or
unique interpretation of key terms in statutes.
The only way to interpret a word beyond the “natural and ordinary
meaning” is if the “contrary intention is clearly manifest”. That is a very high standard and should not
be taken lightly. I interpret that
standard to be when the statute actually misuses a word and a contrary
interpretation is compelled by the clear intent of the legislation. This should rarely be applied.
Some specific terms
that are defined in this statute (T.C.A. § 1-3-105) that may be helpful to
review and remember include the following:
(1) “Age of majority” means eighteen (18) years of age or older; except
that when purchasing, consuming or possessing alcoholic beverages, wine or beer
as those terms are defined in titl...
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