Title 19, Counties and County Officers

The Legislature declares that records containing information essential to the operation of government and to the protection of the rights and interests of persons should be protected against the destructive effect of all forms of disaster whether fire, flood, storm, earthquake, e…

The board of supervisors of any county may, when in its opinion the interest of the county would be subserved thereby, procure by purchase or have made, a complete abstract of titles to land in the county, and may provide all books necessary for the purpose. The costs thereof sha…

Whenever any county records, documents, files or papers whatsoever are required by law to be preserved and retained, or which are necessary or desirable to be preserved or retained, the board of supervisors of the county shall have the power and authority, in its discretion, to d…

The board of supervisors of any county is authorized and empowered, in its discretion, to purchase all the necessary equipment and supplies needed for the electronic storage of documents out of the general fund of said county. Before purchasing such equipment advertisement shall …

The board of supervisors of any county may, when in its opinion the interest of the county would be served thereby, have made a complete index of all chancery court causes and probate court causes which have been finally disposed of in the courts of the county. Said board may pro…

The board of supervisors shall have rebound all record books of conveyances and of last wills and testaments, of indexes thereto, and all other record books of the county that need to be rebound. Said board shall have transcribed into new record books all conveyances and other in…

The clerk of the board of supervisors is the county auditor, and he shall perform the duties of auditor as provided by law.

The county auditor shall examine, audit and settle the accounts of the collector of taxes payable into the county treasury, and of all officers receiving funds payable into such treasury, and shall require all sums due from any officer to be paid into the county depository on the…

It shall be the duty of the clerk, as county auditor, on delivering the assessment rolls to the tax collector, to charge him with the full amount of all taxes required to be paid into the county treasury, as shown by the rolls and the law, or by the order of the board of supervis…

It shall be the duty of the clerk, on receiving from the circuit court the list of jury taxes accrued at any term of the circuit court, and of the fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed or accrued at each term of the court, at once, as county auditor, to charge the sheriff of t…

The clerk of the board of supervisors, as county auditor, is authorized and required to examine the accounts, dockets and records of clerks, sheriffs and other officers of the clerk’s county, to ascertain if any money payable into the county treasury is properly chargeable to the…

If any justice of the peace, or other officer required by law to make report or furnish a list to the clerk of the board of supervisors, or to make payment of any money accruing to the county or state and payable into the county treasury, shall fail to make such report or furnish…

It shall be the duty of the county auditor to place to the credit of the public school fund of the county all sums of money paid into the county treasury arising from the state Two Dollars ($2.00) poll tax, and, on the first day of October and April of each fiscal year, he shall …

The county auditor shall keep a well-bound book, in which he shall keep an account with each county office, and with the courthouse, jail, and poorhouse, and wherein he shall enter allowances for each. He shall keep accounts of allowances made for mileage and pay of the members o…

The county auditor shall keep, as a record in his office, a book to be styled “depository funds ledger” in which he shall record all receipts and disbursements of county funds, and he shall compare and reconcile said “depository funds ledger” with the depository’s report of funds…

The county auditor shall keep a suitable book, in which he shall enter the accounts of all officers whose duty it is to receive or collect any money for the county, exhibiting the debits and credits, and what they represent, whether money, warrants, or bonds, and whether belongin…

It shall be the duty of the county auditor to issue his receipt warrant to any person desiring to pay money into the county treasury, specifying the amount and the particular account on which such payment is to be made, and the fund to which it belongs. However, a receipt warrant…

(1) In accordance with the provisions of Section 19-19-2, there shall be a competent number of constables in each county of the state. (2) The board of supervisors shall furnish each constable with at least two (2) complete uniforms and with some type of motor vehicle identificat…

If any constable or other officer shall collect or receive any money by virtue of an execution issued by a justice of the peace, and shall not pay the same over, on demand to the plaintiff in execution, or other person authorized to receive the same, the plaintiff, or other perso…

If any constable or other officer make a false return on any execution or other process issued by a justice of the peace, such officer shall forfeit and pay the sum of Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00), to be recovered against such officer and his sureties by motion before the justic…

A constable who shall fail to discharge any of the duties required of him, when no other penalty is provided for such failure, shall be liable to be fined, as for a contempt, not exceeding Fifty Dollars ($50.00) by the justice of the peace before whom the proceedings may be pendi…

The board of supervisors of each county shall establish single member election districts in the county for the election of each of the constables at the 1987 general election and for each general election thereafter. Such districts shall be of the same number and shall have the s…

Constables shall take the oath of office prescribed by the Constitution and 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 not less than Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.0…

(1) It shall be the duty of every constable to keep and preserve the peace within his county, by faithfully aiding and assisting in executing the criminal laws of the state; to give information, without delay, to some justice court judge or other proper officer, of all riots, rou…

On or before January 7, 1990, the Board on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training shall submit to the Mississippi State Legislature a proposal describing the training program required by Section 19-19-5, which is specifically designed for the training of constables. The …

It shall be the duty of the constable to attend the justices’ courts of his district, and to obey their lawful orders. He shall execute all judgments of said courts in any criminal case before them.

A constable that serves as a bailiff in justice court for criminal cases may be paid by the county in an amount equal to the allowance paid to riding bailiffs as provided in Section 19-25-31.

If any constable or other officer fail to execute and return, according to law, any execution to him directed by any justice of the peace, on or before the return day thereof, the plaintiff in execution may recover the amount thereof, with interest and costs and five per centum d…

Sections 19-21-101 through 19-21-109 shall be known and cited as the “Mississippi Coroner Reorganization Act of 1986.”

(1) Beginning with the 1987 general election and thereafter, each candidate for the elected office of coroner shall, as a minimum, possess a high school graduation diploma or its equivalent, be twenty-one (21) years of age or older, and be a qualified elector of the county in whi…

(1) Each coroner elected in the 1987 general election and thereafter shall attend the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and State Medical Examiner Death Investigation Training School provided for in subsection (5) of Section 41-61-57, and shall successfully complete subsequent tes…

In the absence of an individual to serve in the office of coroner, there shall immediately be appointed a successor in the manner provided by law.

The duties of the county ranger, heretofore exercised by the coroner, shall be transferred to the sheriff of the county, who shall have all the duties and powers of the ranger’s office.

There shall be, in the counties where such an office now exists, a county prosecuting attorney, elected in the county at each general election for state and county officers. The several counties in the state shall have the right to come from under and within the provisions of thi…

(1) The county prosecuting attorney shall appear and represent the state in all investigations for felony before the various justice court judges in his county. He shall also appear before justice court judges and prosecute all cases against persons charged with offenses therein.…

The county prosecuting attorney shall not represent or defend any person in any criminal prosecution in the name of the state, county or municipality of the county, nor shall he or she give any advice against the state, his or her county or in a criminal case against a municipali…

The county prosecuting attorney may be employed by the supervisors as the attorney for the board of supervisors, and may be paid the additional salary otherwise provided by law for the board’s attorney, in addition to the salary of the county attorney, fixed for services as count…

The justice court judges of the county shall confer with the county prosecuting attorney as to the date of holding their respective courts, and by mutual arrangements, shall hold their courts as far apart as possible, so as to enable the county prosecuting attorney to attend thei…

The board of supervisors in each county in the State of Mississippi is hereby authorized, in its discretion, to pay a reasonable sum not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per month to the county prosecuting attorney for secretarial services actually rendered to said coun…

The county attorney of any county bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and having two (2) judicial districts may appoint an assistant county attorney from the judicial district in which the county attorney does not reside, to serve for a term commensurate with the county attorney; the…

The board of supervisors of any county, when requested thereto by a petition signed by twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of that county asking for an election to determine whether or not the office of county prosecuting attorney shall be established or abolished, sha…

The board of supervisors of any county where the county prosecuting attorney’s office has been abolished may by its own motion entered upon the minutes, make an order to reestablish the said office of county prosecuting attorney in said county. Said order shall be published in a …

Should the county prosecuting attorney’s office be re-created under Section 19-23-5, then the Governor shall appoint an attorney, whose term of office shall be until the next general election, whether the same be held for the election of congressmen, judges or other officers, whe…

The county prosecuting attorney shall possess all the qualifications of other county officers, and in addition thereto shall be a regular licensed and practicing lawyer.

There shall be chosen one (1) sheriff for each county, who shall be commissioned by the Governor. The sheriff shall continue in office for the term of four (4) years and until his successor shall be qualified, unless sooner removed. Before he enters upon the duties of his office …

In the event there is outstanding a warrant for the arrest of the sheriff of the county issued by any justice of the peace, mayor, or any police justice in said county whereby the said sheriff has been charged by affidavit duly made before said justice of the peace, mayor, or pol…