16-3-101 - Composition Election of judges Qualifications Concurrence necessary for decisions.
16-3-101. Composition Election of judges Qualifications Concurrence necessary for decisions.
(a) The supreme court shall consist of five (5) judges, one (1) of whom shall reside in each grand division, and no more than two (2) in the same grand division.
(b) Judges of the supreme court shall be elected as follows: one (1) of the supreme court judges shall be elected from each of the three (3) grand divisions and two (2) of the supreme court judges shall be elected from the state at large. Each candidate shall reside in the grand division for which the candidate is elected and the two (2) candidates elected for the state at large shall not reside in the same grand division.
(c) Each judge shall be thirty-five (35) years of age and shall, before election, have been a resident of the state for five (5) years.
(d) A judge's term of office shall be eight (8) years.
(e) The concurrence of three (3) of the judges is necessary to a decision in every case.
[Code 1858, § 4495 (deriv. Acts 1835-1836, ch. 3, § 1); Acts 1870, ch. 24, §§ 1, 6, 9, 10 (as mod. by Const., art. 6, §§ 2, 3); Shan., §§ 375, 6328; Code 1932, §§ 632, 10630; modified; Acts 1974, ch. 708, § 1; T.C.A., §§ 2-308, 2-3-202; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 16-301.]