Title 3, Title 3

If no judge attends before noon on the day appointed for the holding or sitting of a court or on a day to which it may have been adjourned, the sheriff or clerk may adjourn the same until the next day at 10 a.m. If no judge attends on that day before noon, the sheriff or clerk ma…

If no judge attends for 6 days and no written order or telegram be made or sent as provided in 3-1-304, the sheriff or clerk must adjourn the term until the time appointed for the holding of the next regular term.

No proceeding in any court of justice in an action or special proceeding pending therein is affected by a vacancy in the office of all or any of the judges thereof.

The sittings of every court of justice must be public, except as provided in 3-1-313.

(1) In an action for dissolution of marriage, criminal conversation, or seduction, the court may direct the trial of any issue of fact joined therein to be private and exclude all persons except the officers of the court, the parties, their witnesses, and counsel. (2) During the …

Every written proceeding in a court of justice in this state must be in the English language, and judicial proceedings must be conducted, preserved, and published in no other.

Such abbreviations as are in common use may be used, and numbers may be expressed by figures or numerals in the customary manner.

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), all courts of original jurisdiction shall impose: (a) on a defendant in criminal cases, a $10 user surcharge upon conviction for any conduct made criminal by state statute or upon forfeiture of bond or bail; (b) on the initiating party in…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), all courts of limited jurisdiction, except small claims courts, shall impose a $10 surcharge on a defendant who is convicted of criminal conduct under state statute or who forfeits bond. (2) A court may not waive payment of the surcharge …

A justice or judge may exercise out of court all the powers expressly conferred upon a justice or judge, as contradistinguished from the court.

A judicial officer has the power to: (1) preserve and enforce order in the officer's immediate presence and in proceedings before the officer when the officer is engaged in the performance of official duties; (2) compel obedience to the officer's official orders, as provided in t…

For the effectual exercise of the powers conferred by 3-1-402, a judicial officer may punish for contempt in the cases provided in this code.

Each of the justices of the supreme court and judges of the district courts may in any part of the state and each justice of the peace may within the justice's county take and certify: (1) the proof and acknowledgment of a conveyance of real property or of any other written instr…

The certificate of proof or acknowledgment made before a justice of the peace, when used in any county other than that in which the justice resides, must be accompanied by a certificate, under the hand and seal of the clerk and recorder of the county in which the justice resides,…

(1) The following acts or omissions in respect to a court of justice or proceedings in a court of justice are contempts of the authority of the court: (a) disorderly, contemptuous, or insolent behavior toward the judge while holding the court tending to interrupt the due course o…

(1) If an application for an order, made to a judge of a court in which the action or proceeding is pending, is refused in whole or in part or is granted conditionally, no subsequent application for the same order shall be made to any other judge, except of a higher court. (2) No…

A violation of 3-1-502 may be punished as a contempt. An order made contrary thereto may be revoked by the judge who made it or vacated by a judge of the court in which the action or proceeding is pending.

A person who is dispossessed of or ejected from or out of any real property by the judgment or process of a court of competent jurisdiction and who, not having the right so to do, reenters into or upon or takes possession of the real property or induces or procures any person not…

When a contempt is committed in the immediate view and presence of the court or judge at chambers and the contemptuous conduct requires immediate action in order to restore order, maintain the dignity or authority of the court, or prevent delay, it may be punished summarily. An o…

When the contempt is not committed in the immediate view and presence of the court or judge at chambers, an affidavit of the facts constituting the contempt or a statement of the facts by the referees or arbitrators or other judicial officer shall be presented to the court or jud…

When the contempt is not committed in the immediate view and presence of the court or judge, a warrant may be issued to bring the person charged to the court to answer the charge. The warrant must be accompanied by an adequate and specific statement of the charge. The answer to t…

Whenever a warrant of attachment is issued pursuant to this part, the court or judge shall direct, by an endorsement on the warrant, that the person charged may be left to bail for the person's appearance in an amount to be specified in the endorsement.

Upon executing the warrant of attachment, the sheriff shall keep the person in custody, bring the person before the court or judge, and detain the person until an order is made in the proceeding unless the person arrested is entitled to be discharged as provided in 3-1-516.

When a direction to release the person arrested on bail is contained in the warrant of attachment or endorsed on the warrant, the arrested person must be discharged from the arrest upon executing and delivering to the officer, at any time before the return day of the warrant, a w…

The officer shall return the warrant of arrest and undertaking, if any, received by the officer from the person arrested by the return day specified in the warrant.

(1) When a person arrested for a contempt not committed in the immediate view and presence of the court or judge at chambers has been brought up or appeared, the court or judge shall proceed to investigate the charge, shall schedule and hold a hearing on any answer that the perso…

When the sanction imposed for a contempt seeks to compel the contemnor to perform an act that is in the power of the contemnor to perform, the contemnor may be incarcerated, subjected to a fine in an amount not to exceed $500, or both, until the contemnor has performed the act. T…

When the warrant of arrest has been returned served, if the person arrested does not appear on the return day, the court or judge may issue another warrant of arrest or may order the undertaking to be prosecuted, or both. If the undertaking be prosecuted, the measure of damages i…

(1) Whenever an officer is required to keep a person arrested on a warrant of attachment in custody and to bring the person before a court or judge, the inability, from illness or otherwise, of the person to attend is sufficient excuse for not bringing the person before the court…

(1) The judgment and orders of the court or judge made in cases of contempt are final and conclusive. Except as provided in subsection (2), there is no appeal, but the action of a district court or judge can be reviewed on a writ of certiorari by the supreme court or a justice of…

(1) Except as provided in 3-1-604 and except for a judge pro tempore, a justice or judge of a court of record or clerk of any court may not practice law in any court in this state or act as attorney, agent, or solicitor in the prosecution of any claim or application for lands, pe…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a justice of the peace may not: (a) practice law; (b) draw contracts, conveyances, or other legal instruments or documents; (c) take any claim or bill for collection or act as a collection agent in any sense; or (d) perform any legal duti…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a judicial officer of a court of record may not have a partner acting as attorney or counsel in any court of this state. (2) A partner of either a municipal court judge or a judge pro tempore may act as attorney or counsel in any court of…

A municipal court judge may not practice law before the judge's own municipal court or hold office in a political party during the judge's term of office.

A judicial officer, as defined in 1-1-202, after the expiration of the officer's term of office, may not act as attorney or counsel in any action or special proceeding that has been before the officer in the officer's official capacity.

(1) A justice of the peace may not purchase or be interested in the purchase of any judgment or part of a judgment on the justice's docket or on any docket in the justice's possession. A constable may not purchase or be interested in the purchase of any judgment or part of a judg…

(1) If a person occupying the office of chief justice or associate justice of the supreme court or judge of a district court of the state of Montana becomes a candidate for election to any elective office under the laws of the state of Montana other than a judicial position, the …

In the event of a failure to resign, the office of chief justice, associate justice, or district judge automatically becomes vacant and the former occupant has no further right, power, or authority therein for any purpose and no right to any emoluments thereof, notwithstanding th…

(1) This section applies to all judicial officers, as defined in 1-1-202. (2) Judicial officers may not participate in any action or proceeding involving the constitutionality of a provision of a bill if: (a) the judicial officer has appeared before the Montana legislature or oth…

(1) Any party to a proceeding may request that the judicial officer assigned to the proceeding be recused if an opposing party or lawyer or a lawyer's law firm representing an opposing party meets the criteria in subsection (1)(a) or (1)(b): (a) the judicial officer has received …

There is established the office of court administrator. The chief justice shall appoint a court administrator. The court administrator holds the position at the pleasure of the chief justice.

The court administrator is the administrative officer of the court. Under the direction of the chief justice, the court administrator shall: (1) prepare and present judicial budget requests to the legislature, including the costs of the state-funded district court program; (2) co…

All court officers, including clerks of district courts, shall comply with requests made by the court administrator for information and statistical and financial data bearing on the business transacted by the courts.

(1) There is a court-appointed special advocate account in the state special revenue fund. There must be paid into this account the fees collected pursuant to 3-1-318. The money in the account must be used solely for the purpose of providing funding for court-appointed special ad…

(1) Within the limits of available funds, the office of court administrator shall develop and administer a pretrial program for misdemeanor or felony defendants that includes the use of a validated pretrial risk assessment tool. (2) The office of court administrator may use progr…

(1) Each quarter of the fiscal year, the office of court administrator shall report to the law and justice interim committee and the legislative finance committee on the number of civil cases that have been pending for more than 2 years by judicial district. The report must ident…