Title 19, Counties and County Officers

The board of supervisors of any county in which is located, in whole or in part, a federal flood control reservoir, of a federal waterway, is authorized and empowered, in its discretion, to expend out of the general fund of the county a sum not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5…

Every sheriff shall have power to appoint one or more deputies to assist him in carrying out the duties of his office, every such appointment to be in writing, to remove them at pleasure, and to fix their compensation, subject to the budget for the sheriff’s office approved by th…

(a) The minimum number of deputies having law enforcement duties for each sheriff shall be based upon the total population of his county according to the latest federal decennial census in the following categories:(a) in counties with a total population of more than fifty thousan…

Each sheriff shall maintain and cause to be paid a sufficient number of regular deputies, properly trained and adequately equipped, to ensure the domestic tranquility within his county. In addition thereto, each sheriff may maintain an adequate number of properly trained auxiliar…

The sheriff shall have the same remedy and judgment against his deputies and their sureties, for failing to pay money received on executions or other process to the sheriff, or to the party to whom the same is payable, or for any other act or default in office, as the creditor at…

When any fine, penalty, or judgment shall be assessed or rendered against a sheriff or his sureties, for or on account of any misconduct of a deputy, the court in which the fine, penalty, or judgment shall be rendered shall, upon motion by the sheriff or his sureties, give judgme…

When a deputy sheriff has served any writ whatever, he shall indorse thereon the date of the service and the proper return of his proceedings, and subscribe his own name, as well as that of his principal, thereto, as follows: “, sheriff, by , deputy sheriff”. Any deputy sheriff f…

A person shall not be eligible to the office of sheriff who shall, at the time of the election, be a defaulter to the state, or any county or municipality thereof, or to the United States. Any person who is not a qualified elector, or who denies the existence of a Supreme Being, …

Each judge of a circuit, chancery or county court, or a court of eminent domain may, in the judge’s discretion, by order entered on the minutes of the court, allow the sheriff riding bailiffs to serve in the respective court of such judge, not to exceed four (4) bailiffs. Any suc…

In all civil cases, where there is a jury, and in criminal case capital, the judge of the county court or circuit court, as the case may be, may, in his discretion, dispense with the appointment of bailiffs.

The sheriff shall be the executive officer of the circuit and chancery court of his county, and he shall attend all the sessions thereof with a sufficient number of deputies or bailiffs. He shall execute all orders and decrees of said courts directed to him to be executed. He sha…

Every sheriff, by himself or his deputy, shall from time to time execute all notices, writs, and other process, both from courts of law and chancery, and all orders and decrees to him legally issued and directed within his county, and he shall make due returns thereof to the prop…

If the sheriff finds that resistance will be made against the execution of any process, he shall forthwith go in his proper person, taking the power of the county if necessary, and execute the same. He shall certify to the court the names of the persons making resistance, their a…

If any sheriff or other officer properly authorized to act for him, shall fail to return any execution to him directed, on the return day thereof, the plaintiff in execution shall be entitled to recover judgment against the sheriff or other officer, and his sureties, for the amou…

A sheriff or other officer properly authorized to act for him shall not return an execution or attachment for not performing a decree in chancery to the office whence it issued without noting thereon how he has executed the same, unless by the express direction, in writing, of th…

If any sheriff or other officer properly authorized to act for him, shall collect, by virtue of an execution or attachment, the whole or a part of the money which, by the writ, he is required to levy, and shall not immediately pay the same to the party entitled thereto, or his at…

If a sheriff or other officer properly authorized to act for him, make a false return on any process whatever, he shall, for every such offense, be liable to pay the sum of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) to the plaintiff named in the process, such sum being recoverable against th…

If any sheriff fails to execute any process for the execution of which his fees have been paid in advance, and does not return with the writ the money so advanced, he shall be liable on his bond, if the process issued from the circuit or chancery court, for Three Hundred Dollars …

The sheriffs of the several counties shall give bond, with sufficient surety, to be payable, conditioned and approved as provided by law and in the same manner as other county officials, in a penalty equal to One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00), the premium for which shall…

When the amount of the sale of property under execution or attachment shall exceed the debt, damages, interest, and costs for which the execution issued, the sheriff or other officer properly authorized to act for him shall pay the surplus to the debtor or other person entitled t…

Every sheriff, at the expiration of his term of office, or on resigning, or otherwise vacating the office, shall deliver all writs in his possession unexecuted to his successor, who shall give a receipt for the same, and shall execute and return them. The sheriff shall also deliv…

All warrants, writs, orders, process, and precepts of any kind, or the attested copies thereof, by which any prisoner may be committed to or enlarged from any jail, shall be filed in their order of time, and kept by the sheriff. Upon the death, removal, resignation, or expiration…

Every sheriff who shall have levied an execution or other process on goods and chattels which shall remain in his possession unsold at the expiration of his term of office, shall deliver the same to his successor in office, taking his receipt therefor. The sheriff to whom such go…

It shall be the duty of every sheriff to keep a record, to be called the “Mesne Process Docket,” in which he shall note each writ, other than an execution, received by him for service, specifying the names of the parties, the court from which issued, the date of its reception, ho…

It shall be the duty of every sheriff to keep a record, to be called the “Execution docket,” in which he shall note each execution received by him, specifying the names of all the parties, the amount and date of the judgment, the court from which issued and when returnable, the a…

It shall be the duty of every sheriff to keep a record, to be called the “Jail docket,” in which he shall note each warrant or mittimus by which any person shall be received into or placed in the jail of his county, entering the nature of the writ or warrant, by whom issued, the …

(1) (a) The sheriff shall be the custodian of the books other than record books belonging to the county, and he shall keep the Mississippi Department Reports, census reports, statutes of the state, the “Mississippi Reports,” digests, and legislative journals assigned to his count…

It shall be the duty of every sheriff to keep the peace within his county, by causing all offenders in his view to enter into bonds, with sureties, for keeping the peace and for appearing at the next circuit court, and by committing such offenders in case of refusal. He shall cer…

The sheriff shall have charge of the courthouse and jail of his county, of the premises belonging thereto, and of the prisoners in said jail. He shall preserve the said premises and prisoners from mob violence, from any injuries or attacks by mobs or otherwise, and from trespasse…

The remedy upon sheriff’s bond shall be joint and several against all or any one or more of the obligors. In all suits thereon against the surety or sureties, the liability of the sheriff shall be first fixed, except when the sheriff is a party to the suit, has died or removed or…

(1) The sheriff shall be the jailer of his county and, in the performance of his duties as jailer, he shall employ a jailer or jailers to have charge of the prisoners in the jail. However, in any county in which there is a jointly owned jail, the jailer, pursuant to Section 47-1-…

(1) In respect to the feeding of prisoners by the sheriff’s office, the board of supervisors is authorized to choose one (1) of the following methods:(a) It shall only contract with a local caterer or restaurant owner to bring in food for the prisoners, and the contract shall be …

In any event, regardless of which method in respect to the feeding of prisoners is selected by the board of supervisors, the sheriff shall maintain a log, showing the name of each prisoner, the date and time of incarceration and release, to be posted by the tenth calendar day of …

If the jail be insufficient or if there be danger of escape, lynching or rescue of any prisoner therein, or danger of an attack upon the jail by any person or persons, or if there be no jail, or if the sheriff or jailer shall have any person or persons lawfully in his custody and…

When a prisoner in custody for contempt of court shall be unable to support himself, the sheriff shall be allowed the same compensation for the support of such person as is allowed for keeping other prisoners, to be paid in the same way out of the county treasury. Such person sha…

The sheriff of any county shall receive and keep any prisoner committed by a justice of the peace according to the order of commitment.

It shall be the duty of all sheriffs as jailors to receive and safely keep, until discharged by due course of law, all prisoners arrested or committed under legal process from the officers of the courts of the United States, if the officer or person delivering such prisoner shall…

The sheriff shall keep those hounds bought pursuant to Section 19-5-3, closely confined in the jail yard or in some suitable inclosure to be provided for them, and he shall not permit any person to handle or in any way to be familiar with them except himself and one other person …

The sheriff of Harrison County shall be the proper officer to execute all process required by law to be executed by the sheriff and to return the same to such district of said county as the same may belong. He shall keep an office at Gulfport therein, and an office at Biloxi ther…

The sheriff of any county in which the federal government owns land is hereby authorized, with the approval of the board of supervisors, to receive funds from the corps of engineers of the United States Army for the purpose of defraying expenses incident to providing law enforcem…

If the sheriff be a party to or interested in any suit, or for other cause be incapable or unfit to execute his office in any particular case, or if the sheriff shall have outstanding against him a warrant for his arrest, duly executed by any justice court judge, mayor or municip…