Opinion ID: 2982593
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: “Habitation”:

Text: (A) Means any structure, including buildings, module units, mobile homes, trailers, and tents, which is designed or adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons; (B) Includes a self-propelled vehicle that is designed or adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons and is actually occupied at the time of initial entry by the defendant; and (C) Includes each separately secured or occupied portion of the structure or vehicle and each structure appurtenant to or connected with the structure or vehicle. TENN. CODE ANN. § 39-14-401(1) (West 2009).2 We begin by examining the meaning of structures “appurtenant to” “any structure” or vehicle “designed or adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons.” Black’s Law Dictionary defines “appurtenant to” as “[a]nnexed to a more important thing.” BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 123 (10th ed. 2014). The government argues that, under this definition, subsection (C) applies only to structures attached to the principal structure or vehicle—i.e., that annexation implies physical attachment. Appellee Br. at 12. This is certainly one plausible interpretation. But there are numerous other definitions of “annex,” too: