Mississippi Advisory Opinions August 31, 1982: 19820831 (August 31, 1982)

Advisory Opinion Text

Honorable John W. Dulaney, Jr.

Attorney for Tunica County Board of Supervisors

Post Office Box 188

Tunica, Mississippi 38676

Dear Mr. Dulaney:

Attorney General Allain has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply.

Your letter states:

“In 1926, an election was held in Tunica County on the question of whether this County would have a County Court. The electorate then voted to establish the County Court under what now appears as Section 9-9-37 of the Mississippi Code of 1972 . Recently, the Board of Supervisors received a petition under that Section requesting that an election be called to abolish the County Court and an election will shortly be held in Tunica County on this question.

“To date, only one person has qualified as a candidate for this post in the general election to be held in November.

“We anticipate that the electorate of this County will vote to abolish the Court, and we would like your opinion as to whether or not that would immediately bring an end to the Court so that it would cease to exist immediately following the election. We would also like your opinion as to what obligation, if any, we would have to anyone who might be elected to this position in the general election in November, either with or without opposition. It is likely that the Court will be abolished prior to the general election in November.”

Mississippi Code Annotated § 9-9-37 (1972) provides in part as follows:

“In any county not brought within the provisions of this chapter by the terms of sections 9-9-1 and 9-9-3 thereof, and in which a county court has not been established, on a petition of ten per cent of the qualified electors of such county, addressed to the board of supervisors, an election shall be called by the said board and conducted in such a way and manner now provided by law for a special election for the purpose of determining whether or not said court shall be established in such county; . . . .

“In any county having a county court established by virtue of section 9-9-1 of this chapter, and which county has two judicial districts in which the rural population exceeds the urban population according to the last Federal census, and in any county which has heretofore or may hereafter come within the provisions of this chapter by an election as provided in this section, on petition of ten per cent of the qualified electors of such county, addressed to the board of supervisors of such county, an election shall be called by such board of supervisors and conducted in the way and manner now provided by law for a special election for the purpose of determining whether or not such county court shall be abolished in said county; and, if the majority vote at such election in favor of abolishing the county court, then the election commission shall so certify to the secretary of state. The governor shall then issue a proclamation declaring that the county court in said county be abolished on the first day of the month next succeeding such election.”

In response to your inquiry, should the majority of electors voting in an election properly held pursuant to the provisions of the above statute, vote in favor of abolishing the county court, said statute specifically requires the county election commission to so certify to the secretary of state. It further requires the governor to issue a proclamation declaring said county court to be abolished on the first day of the month next succeeding such election.

Therefore, assuming a majority vote favoring the abolishment of the county court and further assuming that the election commission and the governor fulfill their obligations as mandated by the above statute, it is the opinion of this office that the county court in question will cease to exist on the first day of the month immediately following said election.

It is our further opinion that, subsequent to the officially proclaimed date of abolishment of the court, the county would have no obligation to either the present county court judge or any county court judge-elect

Very truly yours,

Bill Allain Attorney General.