General Powers

  1. Law
  2. Tennessee Code
  3. Courts
  4. Courts of General Sessions
  5. Powers and Duties
  6. General Powers

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  1. Each general sessions court judge is vested with power to:
    1. Grant writs of attachment, returnable to the circuit court, in the same manner and to the same extent as the circuit judge;
    2. Enter up judgment by confession of a defendant to any amount within the judge's jurisdiction in the particular case;
    3. Issue an execution in the judge's county upon a certified execution from another county;
    4. Issue a subpoena for witnesses, in any matter to be tried before the judge, to the judge's own or an adjoining county;
    5. Issue scire facias to revive judgments against the personal representatives and heirs of deceased parties, to any county in the state;
    6. Issue alias and pluries executions whenever necessary;
    7. Issue counterpart writs to any county in the state for the principal maker of any bill, bond, or note, at the instance of the surety or endorser who is sued thereon; and
    8. Punish persons disturbing them in the discharge of their official duties.
  2. Judges of general sessions courts have the same authority as circuit court judges or chancellors to grant fiats for writs of injunction, attachments and other extraordinary process. They also have the same jurisdiction relative to the suspension and revocation of sentences imposed by them as that conferred upon all trial judges by title 40, chapter 29.
  3. The judges of courts of general sessions of counties of the third class, as defined in § 16-15-204 [repealed], having a population of not less than forty-seven thousand eight hundred fifty (47,850) nor more than forty-seven thousand eight hundred seventy-five (47,875), according to the 1970 federal census or any subsequent federal census, in addition to the jurisdiction and powers conferred elsewhere in this chapter, have the authority to sit by interchange for the county judge in nonsupport, probate, juvenile and lunacy proceedings.

Code 1858, § 4125 (deriv. Acts 1794, ch. 1, § 19; 1801, ch. 7, § 4; 1805, ch. 66, §§ 4, 6; 1837-1838, ch. 102, § 1; 1843-1844, ch. 112, § 1; 1847-1848, ch. 55, § 15; 1849-1850, ch. 103, § 1; 1851-1852, ch. 181, § 3); Shan., § 5937; Code 1932, § 10138; Acts 1959, ch. 109, § 2; 1961, ch. 138, § 1; 1965, ch. 114, § 1; 1967, ch. 276, § 1; 1968, ch. 635, § 2; 1969, ch. 44, § 2; 1973, ch. 88, § 2; 1973, ch. 355, § 2; 1974, ch. 432, § 2; impl. am. 1979, ch. 68, §§ 2, 3; modified; T.C.A., § 19-202; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 16-1104; Acts 1993, ch. 241, § 9.

Compiler's Notes. Former §16-15-204, referred to in this section, was repealed by Acts 1993, ch. 241, § 2.

For table of U.S. decennial populations of Tennessee counties, see Volume 13 and its supplement.

Cross-References. Compensation and qualifications of judges, jurisdiction, title 16, ch. 15, part 50.

Power to grant certiorari and supersedeas, §27-8-105.

Process to other counties, §§20-2-107,20-2-108.

Textbooks. Tennessee Criminal Practice and Procedure (Raybin), § 7.12.

Tennessee Jurisprudence, 17 Tenn. Juris., Justices of Peace and General Sessions Courts, §§ 13, 21, 35; 25 Tenn. Juris., Weapons, § 7.

Law Reviews.

The Tennessee Court System (Frederic S. Le Clercq), 8 Mem. St. U.L. Rev. 189.

Attorney General Opinions. A general sessions court that revokes a defendant’s probation has authority under T.C.A. §40-35-308(c) to extend the probationary period for up to two years. OAG 15-79, 2015 Tenn. AG LEXIS 80 (12/15/2015).

Cited: Rhinehart v. State, 121 Tenn. 420, 117 S.W. 508, 1908 Tenn. LEXIS 28 (1908); Benson v. Herbst, 240 S.W.3d 235, 2007 Tenn. App. LEXIS 317 (Tenn. Ct. App. May 18, 2007).


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