Mississippi Advisory Opinions March 06, 1981: AGO 000002355 (March 6, 1981)

AGO 000002355.

Dear Mrs. Pryor:

Attorney General Bill Allain has received your opinion request dated i[arch 3, 1981, and has assigned it to me for research and reply, your letter of request stating:

"Please furnish us with an opinion as to the Statute of Limitation on keeping inactive re- cords on file in the Circuit Clerk's Office.

"Please let me know how long are we to keep the following:

"1. Registration Applications

"2. Marriage Applications

"3. All civil court files that have been dis- posed of, such as cases passed to files, orders on dismissals, and default judgments entered, etc."

Section 23-5-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, states, in part:

"The registrar, or any successor in office, shall file and retain in his office all applications for registration, together with any affidavits of disa- bility received in connection therewith for a period of two (2) years from the date thereof."

Although the pocket part of the volume reflects this section to have been repealed by Chapter 433 (of the Laws of 1979), Chapter 433 was not, in fact, approved by the United States Attorney General under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, so that the above-quoted section is still in full force and effect.

As to marriage license applications, under Section 93-1-5, ibid., and "all civil court files that have been disposed of, such as cases passed to files, orders on dismissals, and default judg- ments entered, etc.," I find only Section 9-7-128, ibid., which states:

"Where there is no requirement for a permanent record to be made, the clerk, upon order of the court, may dispose of and destroy all case files of the circuit or county court which have been in existence for twen- ty years or which have been reduced to judgment and that judgment satisfied and cancelled.

The clerk may also dispose of and destroy any loose re- cords not required by law to be kept as permanent records after a period of thirty-one years.

"Nothing in this section shall serve as authority to destroy any docket book, minute book, issue docket, subpoena docket, witness docket book, execution doc- ket book, voter registration book, marriage record book, trial order, abstract of judgment, judgment roll, criminal file where an indictment was return- ed and the defendant convicted if the file is not at least fifty years old, habeas corpus docket, pre- liminary hearing docket, supreme court appeals docket, or any record requested to be preserved by the Missis- sippi Historical Society for the purpose of being co- pied or microfilmed for historical purposes."

Yours very truly,

BILL ALLAIN, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:

Richard Allen Special Assistant Attorney General

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