IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT NASHVILLE

Assigned On Briefs April 11, 2011

BARRY W. RITCHIE v. WILLIAM E. HASLAM, GOVERNOR OF THE

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STATE OF TENNESSEE, ET AL.

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Davidson County

No. 09C-3154 Hamilton V. Gayden, Jr., Judge

No. M2010-01068-COA-R3-CV - Filed June 23, 2011

Petition for declaratory judgment was filed seeking a declaration as to whether petitioner was

entitled under Article 1, Section 9 of the Tennessee Constitution to a hearing on his

contention that the court from which he was convicted lacked territorial jurisdiction. Trial

Court granted motion to dismiss on the ground that the petition failed to state a claim for

relief under the Declaratory Judgment Act. We affirm the dismissal of the petition.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed

RICHARD H. DINKINS, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which FRANK G. CLEMENT,

JR. and ANDY D. BENNETT, JJ., joined.

Barry W. Ritchie, Wartburg, Tennessee, Pro Se.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter, Joseph F. Whalen, Associate Solicitor

General, and Mark A. Hudson, Senior Counsel, for the appellees, William E. Haslam,

Governor of the State of Tennessee; Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter

for the State of Tennessee; and Hamilton County, Tennessee.

OPINION

I. Factual and Procedural History

Barry Ritchie filed a Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Injunctive Relief in

Davidson County Circuit Court, seeking a declaration of his rights under Article I, Section

This case originally named then-Governor Phil Bredesen as defendant. Present Governor William

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Haslam has been substituted in accordance with Rule 19(c), Tenn. R. App. P. 
9 of the Tennessee Constitution, and naming the Governor and State Attorney General as

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well as Hamilton County as respondents. In the petition he alleged that he was entitled to a

judicial determination “on the question of the State of Tennessee’s exercise of territorial

jurisdiction and, if so, whether a hearing is required by the United States and Tennessee

Constitutions.” He sought to have his rights declared “on the matter of a procedural remedy

to hear a territorial jurisdiction claim at any time . . . ” and framed the issue as follows:

. . . whether the Tennessee Constitution, Article I, § 9, gives the petitioner,

who was charged by state indictment, a right to a hearing on the question of

territorial jurisdiction at any time because no action of the parties can confer

territorial jurisdiction upon a state court, that is, the consent of the parties

irrelevant, principles of estoppel do not apply, and a party cannot waive the

requirement by failing to challenge jurisdiction early in the proceeding.

The Governor and Attorney General filed a motion to dismiss the petition for lack of

subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim; as grounds they asserted that the

petition did not allege that Mr. Ritchie’s rights were “affected by a statute” or that they had

“engaged in any action against him grounded in an unconstitutional statute.” Mr. Ritchie

responded that the Declaratory Judgment Act authorized courts to “declare rights, status, and

other legal relations” and requested “that the Court declare what his ‘rights, status and other

legal relations,’ § 29-14-102, are under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-21-101” as well as his rights

under Article I, § 9 of the Tennessee Constitution. The trial court dismissed the petition,

finding that the petition failed to state a claim and that the court lacked subject matter

jurisdiction.

Mr. Ritchie appeals, asserting that the trial court “err[ed] and abuse[d] its discretion

in denying [his] petition for declaratory judgment on the ground that it lacked subject matter

jurisdiction.” The sole issue before us is whether the circuit court had subject matter

jurisdiction of the petition.

 Article I, § 9 of the Tennessee Constitution provides:

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That in all criminal prosecutions, the accused hath the right to be heard by himself and his

counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy

thereof, to meet the witnesses face to face, to have compulsory process for obtaining

witnesses in his favor, and in prosecutions by indictment or presentment, a speedy public

trial, by an impartial jury of the County in which the crime shall have been committed, and

shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself.

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II. Discussion

This action is the latest of several attempts by Mr. Ritchie to address issues in relation

to his 1981 conviction of aggravated rape and armed robbery. The history of Mr. Ritchie’s

conviction and the procedures and issues involved in his efforts to contest that conviction are

set forth in State v. Ritchie, 20 S.W.3d 624 (Tenn. 2000). In this proceeding, Mr. Ritchie

identifies Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-21-101, governing the writ of habeas corpus, as the statute

as to which he wishes his rights declared. Specifically, Mr. Ritchie seeks to attack the

territorial jurisdiction of the court from which he was convicted pursuant to the habeas

corpus statute.

Subject matter jurisdiction involves the power of a court to hear a given case:

The concept of subject matter jurisdiction involves a court’s power to

adjudicate a particular controversy brought before it. Northland Ins. Co. v.

State, 33 S.W.3d 727, 729 (Tenn. 2000); Turpin v. Conner Bros. Excavating

Co., 761 S.W.2d 296, 297 (Tenn. 1988); First Am. Trust Co. v. FranklinMurray Dev. Co., 59 S.W.3d 135, 140 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2001). Courts derive

theirsubject matter jurisdiction exclusively from the Constitution of Tennessee

or from legislative act, Meighan v. U.S. Sprint Comm’ns Co., 924 S.W2d 632,

639 (Tenn. 1996); Kane v. Kane, 547 S.W.2d 559, 560 (Tenn. 1977), and

cannot exercise jurisdictional powers that have not been conferred directly on

them expressly or by necessary implication. Dishmon v. Shelby State Cmty.

College, 15 S.W.3d 477, 480 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1999).

Campbell v. Tenn. Dep’t Corr., No. M2001-00507-COA-R3-CV, 2002 WL 598547, at *2

(Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 19, 2002).

Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-14-103, governing declaratory judgments, states as follows:

Any person interested under a deed, will, written contract, or other writings

constituting a contract, or whose rights, status, or other legal relations are

affected by a statute, municipal ordinance, contract, or franchise, may have

determined any question of construction or validity arising under the

instrument, statute, ordinance, contract, or franchise and obtain a declaration

of rights, status or other legal relations thereunder.

In Colonial Pipeline v. Morgan, 263 S.W.3d 827 (Tenn. 2008), the Supreme Court held that

an action under the declaratory judgment statute against individual state officers which

challenged the constitutionality of a statute could proceed “to the extent that [the state

officers’] actions are grounded in an unconstitutional statute.” Morgan, 263 S.W.3d at 853.

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In so holding, the Supreme Courtspecifically noted that the declaration being sought was that

a particular statute was unconstitutional. The statute, as written and as interpreted by our

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Supreme Court, requires a claim that the petitioner’s rights be affected by the statute or its

implementation.

In this case, Mr. Ritchie does not contend that the habeas corpus statute is

unconstitutional or that his rights are affected by the statute; rather, he seeks a declaration

that he is entitled to a hearing on his claim that, because the crimes of which he was

convicted occurred on federal property, the Tennessee court did not have territorial

jurisdiction to prosecute him. The declaratory judgment statute simply does not grant the

court subject matter jurisdiction of his claim. Moreover, the rights available to him under

the habeas corpus statute were the subject of the earlier proceeding reported in State v.

Ritchie. His claim that the court from which he was convicted lacked territorial jurisdiction

has been determined, and he cannot seek to relitigate the issues raised in the previous habeas

corpus proceeding under the guise of seeking a declaratory judgment.

For the same reason, the trial court likewise lacked subject matter jurisdiction of Mr.

Ritchie’s claim under Article I, § 9 of the Tennessee Constitution. For purposes of this case,

the vehicle by which the rights enumerated in the Constitution are implemented is in the right

to appellate review of the conviction, provisions for post-conviction relief and in the habeas

corpus statute. The declaratory judgment statute does not create a cause of action to enforce

rights.

III. Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the Circuit court is AFFIRMED.

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RICHARD H. DINKINS, JUDGE

 The Court stated: 3

. . . the Plaintiff does not seek money damages or a refund of paid taxes; the relief sought

is a declaration of unconstitutionality. Thus, theChancery Court may issue declaratory and

injunctive relief against the Defendants in their individual capacity, so long as the court's

judgment is tailored to prevent the implementation of unconstitutional legislation and does

not “reach the state, its treasury, funds, or property.” Tenn.Code Ann. § 20-13-102.

Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 263 S.W.3d 827, 853 (emphasis added). 

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