Miss. Code Ann. tit. 1 | Title 1 — Laws and Statutes

Mississippi Code of 1972 — Title 1. Laws and Statutes

Text as published by FindLaw, current as of 2025-01-01.

Miss. Code Ann. § 1-1-9 asserts that copyright in the Mississippi Code of 1972, including catchlines, section numbering, source lines and annotations, is owned by the State of Mississippi.

Chapter 1 Code of 1972

§ 1-1-7

The Mississippi Code of 1972 shall cover all sections of and amendments to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Mississippi; all operative and effective sections of the Mississippi Code of 1930 and amendments thereto; all operative and effective sections of the Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled, and amendments thereto; and all operative and effective session laws of a general and permanent nature enacted since the publication of the Mississippi Code of 1930 down through the 1971 Regular Session of the Legislature.

The Mississippi Code of 1972 shall contain, in addition to the material set out above, case notes or case statements covering pertinent court decisions construing or applying Mississippi statutes, volume and general indexes, and such other useful matters, tables, information, and ancillaries as the Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation deems to be desirable and practicable to include. Opinions of the Attorney General also may be annotated.

§ 1-1-8

(1) The Mississippi Code of 1972 Annotated, as amended, modified and revised from time to time, that is published by the company with which the Joint Legislative Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation has contracted under Section 1-1-107(a):

(a) Is the official code of the public statute laws of the State of Mississippi that are enacted by the Legislature; and

(b) Shall be used, received, recognized and referred to as the official code of the public statute laws of the State of Mississippi, and shall be considered as evidence of the public statute laws of the State of Mississippi, in all courts of the State and by all public officers, offices, departments and agencies of the state and its political subdivisions, and in all other places or instances where the public statute laws of the State may come into question. However, if there is any conflict between the language of any statute as it appears in the Mississippi Code of 1972 Annotated and in the General Laws of Mississippi, the language in the General Laws shall control; and if there is any conflict between the language of any statute as it appears in the General Laws of Mississippi and in the original enrolled bills enacted by the Legislature, the language in the enrolled bills shall control.

(2) No publisher of a code of the public statute laws of the State of Mississippi, other than the publishing company with which the Joint Legislative Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation has contracted under Section 1-1-107(a), shall be authorized to use as the name, title or designation of the code that is published, the words “Mississippi Code of 1972,” “Mississippi Code 1972,” “Mississippi Code of 1972 Annotated,” “Mississippi Code 1972 Annotated,” “Annotated Mississippi Code of 1972,” “Annotated Mississippi Code 1972,” or any other combination of words containing “Code of 1972,” “Code 1972” or “1972 Code.” The joint committee may seek injunctive relief, or authorize the publisher of the official code to seek injunctive relief on behalf of the joint committee, against any person or entity to enforce the provisions of this subsection.

§ 1-1-9

(1) Copyrights of the Mississippi Code of 1972 and the notes, annotations, and indexes thereof, shall be taken by and in the name of the publishers of the compilation who shall thereafter promptly assign the same to the State of Mississippi and be owned by it.

(2) All parts of any act passed by the Mississippi Legislature, or of any code published or authorized to be published by the Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation, including, without limitation, catchlines or frontal analyses; numbers assigned to sections, articles, chapters and titles; historical citations or source lines; editor's notes; amendment notes; cross references; annotations; and summaries of judicial decisions and Attorney General's opinions, shall become and remain the exclusive property of the State of Mississippi, to be used only as the joint committee may direct.

(3)(a) If any person or entity uses any part of any act passed by the Mississippi Legislature, or any part of any code published or authorized to be published by the joint committee, in any manner other than as authorized by the committee, the person or entity shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for each violation, and each day upon which a violation occurs shall be deemed a separate and additional violation.

(b) If the joint committee suspects that any person or entity is violating or has violated this section, the Attorney General shall investigate the matter upon the request of the joint committee. If the Attorney General determines, after investigation, that the person or entity is violating or has violated this section, the Attorney General shall institute an action to impose a civil penalty against the person or entity, or seek injunctive relief against the person or entity to prevent further violations of this section, or both, as requested by the joint committee.

(c) Civil penalties may be recovered in a civil action brought by the Attorney General in the Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi, or in the chancery court of the county of residence of the person or entity against whom the penalty is sought. If the person or entity is a nonresident of the State of Mississippi, the action shall be brought in the Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi.

(d) All civil penalties recovered shall be deposited into the State General Fund.

§ 1-1-11

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, the Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation shall distribute or provide for the distribution of the sets of the compilation of the Mississippi Code of 1972 purchased by the state as follows:

Fifty-seven (57) sets to the Mississippi House of Representatives and forty (40) sets to the Mississippi Senate for the use of the Legislative Reference Bureau, Legislative Services Offices, staffs and committees thereof.

Ten (10) sets to the Governor's Office; nine (9) sets to the Secretary of State; and twenty (20) sets to the Auditor's Office.

One (1) set to each of the following: the Lieutenant Governor; each member of the Legislature; the Treasurer; each district attorney; each county attorney; each judge of the Court of Appeals and each judge of the Supreme, circuit, chancery, county, justice and municipal courts; each Mississippi Senator and Mississippi Representative in Congress; State Superintendent of Education; Director of the Department of Finance and Administration; the Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce; each Mississippi Transportation Commissioner; the Insurance Commissioner; the Clerk of the Supreme Court; the State Board of Health; each circuit clerk; each chancery clerk in the state for the use of the chancery clerk and the board of supervisors; each sheriff in the state for the use of his office and the county officers; and each county for the county library (and an additional set shall be given to each circuit clerk, chancery clerk, sheriff and county library in counties having two (2) judicial districts).

Six (6) sets to the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) Committee; three (3) sets to the Director of the Legislative Budget Office; six (6) sets to the Department of Corrections; two (2) sets to the Department of Archives and History; two (2) sets to the State Soil and Water Conservation Commission; sixty-eight (68) sets to the Attorney General's office; six (6) sets to the Public Service Commission; four (4) sets to the Public Utilities Staff; thirty-five (35) sets to the Department of Revenue; one (1) set to the Board of Tax Appeals; two (2) sets to the State Personnel Board; six (6) sets to the State Law Library; one (1) set to the Library of Congress; ten (10) sets to the University of Mississippi Law School; one (1) set each to the Mississippi School for the Deaf and the Mississippi School for the Blind; one (1) set each to the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women, University of Southern Mississippi, Delta State University, Alcorn State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi Valley State University, and the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning; and one (1) set to the Supreme Court judges' conference room. In furtherance of the State Library's reciprocal program of code exchange with libraries of the several states, the joint committee shall, at the direction and only upon the written request of the State Librarian, distribute or provide for the distribution of sets of the code to such libraries.

One (1) set to each state junior or community college; three (3) sets to the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks; two (2) sets to the Department of Environmental Quality; two (2) sets to the Department of Marine Resources; two (2) sets to the Mississippi Ethics Commission; six (6) sets to the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission; four (4) sets to the State Department of Rehabilitation Services; three (3) sets to the Department of Child Protection Services; and four (4) sets to the Department of Human Services. One (1) set to each of the following: State Textbook Procurement Commission; University Medical Center; State Library Commission; Department of Agriculture and Commerce; Forestry Commission; and seventeen (17) sets to the Department of Public Safety. Also, one (1) set to each of the following: Adjutant General, Mississippi Development Authority, Department of Banking and Consumer Finance, Bureau of Building, Grounds and Real Property Management, the State Educational Finance Commission, the Mississippi Board of Vocational and Technical Education, Division of Medicaid, State Board of Mental Health, and Department of Youth Services.

The joint committee is authorized to distribute or provide for the distribution of additional sets of the Mississippi Code, not to exceed three (3) sets, to the office of each district attorney for the use of his assistants.

The joint committee shall provide to the Mississippi House of Representatives and the Mississippi Senate the annual supplements to the Mississippi Code of 1972 for each set of the code maintained by the House and Senate.

An elected or appointed officeholder in the State of Mississippi, except for a member of the Legislature, shall deliver to his successor in office, or to the joint committee if there is no successor, the set of the Mississippi Code of 1972 provided the officeholder under this section.

Before the joint committee delivers or provides for delivery of a copy of the Mississippi Code of 1972 to an individual officeholder, the joint committee shall prepare and submit a written agreement to the officeholder. The agreement shall, among other provisions, state that the code is the property of the State of Mississippi, that it shall be transferred to the officeholder's successor in office, that the officeholder has an obligation to make such transfer and that the officeholder shall be responsible for the failure to deliver the code and for any damage or destruction to the code, normal wear and tear excepted. The joint committee shall execute the agreement and forward it to the officeholder for execution. The joint committee shall not deliver or provide for delivery of the code to the officeholder until the executed agreement is received by the committee. The joint committee may include in the agreement such other provisions as it may deem reasonable and necessary. In addition to damages or any other remedy for not transferring a set of the code to his successor, an officeholder who does not transfer his set of the code shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00). Upon request of the joint committee, the Attorney General shall assist the joint committee in taking such actions as necessary to require an officeholder to transfer the set of code provided under this section to his successor, or to the joint committee if there is no successor, and to recover reimbursement or damages from any officeholder for the loss of or damage or destruction to any volumes of the set of the code provided under this section, other than normal wear and tear.

Replacement of missing, damaged or destroyed sets or volumes of the code provided by this chapter may be obtained from the code publisher through the joint committee at the established state cost, the cost to be borne by the recipient.

No more than one (1) set of the Mississippi Code of 1972 shall be furnished to any one (1) individual, regardless of the office or offices he may hold.

(2) The sets of actual bound volumes of the Mississippi Code of 1972 referenced in subsection (1) shall be provided to each elected state official, elected state district official and member of the Legislature upon written request by the official or member of the Legislature to the Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation.

§ 1-1-12

The sets of the Mississippi Code of 1972 purchased by the State to be distributed by the joint committee according to the designation in Section 1-1-11 shall be bound in a different color binding from that used in binding sets offered for sale to private purchasers. In addition to the distinctive color, the binding of each volume shall have stamped thereon in a contrasting color the words “Property of the State of Mississippi.” Each of such sets of the Code as distributed shall be for use of the official in his official business and shall be returned to the state when the official vacates the office or when the office is abolished, as provided in Section 1-1-11. However, none of the provisions of this section shall apply to those sets to be distributed to members of the Legislature.

§ 1-1-13

The Mississippi Code of 1972, except as expressly provided, shall take effect on the first day of November, one thousand nine hundred and seventy-three, and from that day it shall be received in use, and shall supersede all prior statutes and clauses therein revised, and hereby repealed.

§ 1-1-17

The cost of the recodification of the laws of Mississippi will be provided by appropriations to implement the purposes of Sections 1-1-1, 1-1-3 and 1-1-5.

§ 1-1-19

From and after the effective date of the Mississippi Code of 1972, subject to any express provisions relating thereto which may be found in the Mississippi Code of 1972, all acts or parts of acts, all sections or parts of sections of the Mississippi Code of 1930, and all sections or parts of sections of the Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled, the subjects whereof are revised, consolidated and re-enacted in the Mississippi Code of 1972, or repugnant to the provisions contained therein, shall be, and the same are hereby, repealed, but with respect to statutes brought forward in the Mississippi Code of 1972, that code shall be deemed to be a continuation and not a new enactment. It is especially provided, however, that no curative or validation statute, of any nature or kind whatsoever, shall be affected by the adoption of the Mississippi Code of 1972, in so far as the curative or validation provisions or portions of any such statute are concerned.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the first paragraph of this section, no section or provision of the Mississippi Code of 1972 shall supersede or repeal by implication any law passed at the same session of the legislature at which the Mississippi Code of 1972 is adopted, or passed after the adoption of the Mississippi Code of 1972 but before it shall have taken effect; and an amendatory law passed at such session or at any subsequent session before the Mississippi Code of 1972 takes effect shall not be deemed repealed, unless the contrary intent clearly appears.

Any amendment to any section or sections of the Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled, or to any part or parts of acts, the subjects of which are revised, consolidated and enacted in the Mississippi Code of 1972, passed at the same session at which the Mississippi Code of 1972 is adopted, or passed after the adoption of the Mississippi Code of 1972 but before it shall take effect, shall be deemed to amend the corresponding section or sections of the Mississippi Code of 1972.

§ 1-1-21

The repeal of any statutory provisions by the Mississippi Code of 1972 shall not affect any act done, or any cause of action, or any right accruing or accrued or established, or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil case, or any plea or defense or bar thereto, previous to the time when such repeal shall take place; but the proceedings in every such case shall be conformed, as far as practicable, to the provisions of the Mississippi Code of 1972.

§ 1-1-22

Nothing in Section 1-1-35 shall affect or defeat any claim, assessment, suit, appeal right or cause of action for taxes due prior to April 26, 1972, whether such assessment, suit, appeal, or claim therefor shall have been begun before said date, or shall thereafter be begun; and the laws amended or repealed are expressly continued in full force, effect and operation for the purpose of the assessment and collection of any taxes due under any such laws prior to said date, and for the imposition of any penalty, forfeiture, or claim for a failure to comply therewith.

§ 1-1-23

An offense committed, and a penalty or forfeiture incurred, previous to the time when the Mississippi Code of 1972 shall take effect, and an indictment or prosecution for any offense, or for the recovery of any penalty or forfeiture, pending at the time when the Mississippi Code of 1972 shall take effect, shall not be affected by its adoption; but all such offenses, penalties, and forfeitures shall remain subject to the laws in force before the Mississippi Code of 1972 shall take effect, except that all the proceedings had thereafter shall be conducted according to the provisions thereof, and except that when any punishment, penalty, or forfeiture shall have been mitigated by the provisions of the Mississippi Code of 1972, such provisions may be applied to any judgment to be pronounced after the Mississippi Code of 1972 shall take effect.

§ 1-1-24

Nothing in Section 1-1-35 shall be construed to defeat or affect in any manner whatsoever the prosecution of any person, association, firm or corporation, for the violation of any law occurring prior to the first day of November, 1973 in any court of record, the trial therefor, or appeal therefrom, and nothing in Section 1-1-35 shall be construed to defeat or affect in any manner whatsoever any right of a civil cause of action in equity or law in any court of record, the trial thereof, or appeal therefrom occurring prior to the first day of November, 1973.

§ 1-1-25

All statutes and parts of statutes which are repealed or abrogated by, or are repugnant to any law repealed by the Mississippi Code of 1972, and which have not been re-enacted or consolidated therein, shall continue to be so repealed, and shall remain abrogated.

§ 1-1-27

The repeal of any statutory provision which is revised and consolidated in the Mississippi Code of 1972, by virtue of which any appointment shall have been made or any office is held, shall not be construed to vacate the office, or in any way to affect the appointment, except when otherwise expressly provided; but the appointment shall continue and the office shall be held subject to the provisions contained in the Mississippi Code of 1972.

§ 1-1-29

Private and local laws not revised and brought into the Mississippi Code of 1972 are not affected by its adoption unless it is expressly so provided therein.

§ 1-1-31

If any chapter, article, section, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or any part of the Mississippi Code of 1972 is declared to be unconstitutional or void, or for any reason is declared to be invalid or of no effect, the remaining chapters, articles, sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases shall be in no manner affected thereby but shall remain in full force and effect.

§ 1-1-33

Where any officer has received a set of the Mississippi Code of 1972 by virtue of his office and is required by law to deliver it to his successor in office, and the officer fails to deliver it to his successor, the successor may make application to the Joint Legislative Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation, in writing, setting forth that fact, and the joint committee, if satisfied of the truthfulness of the application, may issue to the applicant a set of the Mississippi Code of 1972. The joint committee may consider any official application for a set of the Mississippi Code of 1972, and if the facts warrant furnishing a code or codes as applied for, it shall be furnished to the applicant.

§ 1-1-35

The legislature finds and so declares that the code committee, comprised of the Attorney General, Secretary of State, chairmen of the appropriations committees and judiciary “A” and “B” committees of the House of Representatives and Senate has, to date, fulfilled its obligations and responsibilities within its statutory powers as set forth in Senate Bill No. 1964 (Chapter 465), Laws of 1970, and that the entire manuscript for the Mississippi Code of 1972, emanating from the Mississippi Code of 1930, all enactments of a general and permanent nature subsequent to the regular session of 1930 and through the regular session of 1942 comprising the original Mississippi Code of 1942, and all such enactments from adjournment of the 1942 regular session through the regular session of 1971 and now a part of the Mississippi Code of 1942, has been thoroughly analyzed by experienced and trained lawyer-editors of the lawbook publishers and by the publishers' computer facilities, and the publishers' findings and recommendations to the Attorney General to date have been agreed upon by and between the publishers, the Attorney General, and the code committee, and that said proposed manuscript, as prepared by The Lawyers Co-Operative Publishing Company and associates and approved by the attorney general, for the Mississippi Code of 1972, has been reported to the Legislature and revised, amended and adopted by the two houses of the Legislature, an enrolled draft of which has been prepared by the said code committee, said manuscript is hereby approved, adopted and declared to be the official code of the State of Mississippi on the first day of November, 1973.

§ 1-1-37

In the enrollment of the Code of 1972, it shall be sufficient and legal to enroll the code either by clipping the text from the original code or from other sources and attaching the same on paper approximately 8 1/2 x 11 inches, and/or by writing the same in longhand or typewriter, and/or by some method of photographic reproduction, and where necessary making corrections in the text before final approval and signature.

§ 1-1-39

The enrolled draft of the official Mississippi Code of 1972 shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, and shall be carefully preserved by that officer as the official code of the public statute laws of this state, adopted and declared to be such by Section 1-1-35.

§ 1-1-57

The Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation shall purchase such numbers of sets of the pocket part supplements and the replacement volumes, including index replacement volumes, as may be required to maintain in a current status the sets of the Code of 1972 authorized to be furnished under the provisions of Section 1-1-11, and shall distribute or provide for the distribution of the same to the proper parties. In furtherance of the State Library's reciprocal program of Code exchange with libraries of the several states, the joint committee shall, at the direction and only upon the written request of the State Librarian, distribute or provide for the distribution of those supplements and replacement volumes to such libraries.

§ 1-1-58

(1) The Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation shall contract with a publishing company for the publication of the advance sheets of the general laws enacted at each session of the Legislature. This contract may be with the same publishing company contracted with under Section 1-1-107(a) and may be included as a provision of that contract with the publishing company instead of being a separate contract.

(2) The joint committee shall distribute or provide for the distribution of the advance sheets to the proper parties. One (1) volume of the advance sheets shall be provided free of cost to each state government agency, to each respective Legislative Services Office of the House of Representatives and the Senate, to the Legislative Reference Bureau, and to each sheriff, chancery clerk, circuit clerk, superintendent of education, tax assessor, county prosecuting attorney, justice court judge, attorney for each county's board of supervisors, each municipal clerk, district attorney, circuit judge, chancellor, county court judge and Supreme Court judge. The joint committee shall authorize the publishing company to make copies of the advance sheets available to each member of the Mississippi Bar Association in good standing, according to the records of the secretary of the Mississippi Bar Association, at a reasonable cost, including preparation, printing, shipping and handling.

(3) The Office of the Secretary of State shall provide or make available to the publishing company such information regarding the general laws enacted by the Legislature as necessary for the publishing company to prepare and publish the advance sheets.

§ 1-1-59

The Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation may contract with a reputable and competent company to perform any services necessary to update any computer tape, disc or other technological medium furnished with the Mississippi Code of 1972, and to provide for and update a CD-ROM (compact disc, read-only memory) or other disc or technological medium containing the Mississippi Code of 1972 and its annotations, so that all laws of a general nature passed by the Legislature subsequent to the 1971 Session thereof will be incorporated therein in the same format as the pocket part supplements and supplemental material contained in replacement volumes to the Code of 1972. This contract may be made with the same publishing company contracted with under Section 1-1-107(a) and may be included as a provision of that contract with the publishing company instead of being a separate contract.

If the same cannot be contracted for, at and for a consideration considered reasonable, the joint committee may request the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services to perform such services and pay over to the department such sums as may be appropriated for such purposes, and the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services may expend such sums as paid over for the employment of personnel and the purchase of such services, supplies, materials and equipment as may be required to perform the work.

§ 1-1-60

The dean of the law school of the University of Mississippi may make requisitions to the Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation for the Mississippi Code and supplements thereto to exchange with other states for similar publications and make the same available in the University of Mississippi law school library for the purpose of increasing the facilities of the library. The joint committee may furnish or provide for the furnishing of these publications upon requisition from the dean of the law school of the University of Mississippi.

§ 1-1-62

The Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation shall provide for the publication of sufficient volumes of the Mississippi Code and supplements thereto and advance sheets as necessary to meet the requirements of Sections 1-1-11, 1-1-57, 1-1-58 and 1-1-60.

§ 1-1-101

The Legislature finds that the compilation, revision and publication of legislation enacted by the Legislature is a legislative function.

§ 1-1-103

(1) There is created the Joint Legislative Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation, which is hereinafter referred to as the “joint committee.” The joint committee shall be composed of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Mississippi, the Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the Mississippi State Senate, the Chairman of the Rules Committee of the House of Representatives, the Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, four (4) members of the House of Representatives to be named by the Speaker of the House, and four (4) members of the Senate to be named by the Lieutenant Governor. If any ex officio member of the joint committee holds two (2) positions entitling him to membership on the committee, the Speaker of the House or the Lieutenant Governor, as the case may be, shall appoint another member of the respective house to membership on the committee. The chairmanship of the committee shall alternate for twelve-month periods, beginning on May 1 of each year, between the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Lieutenant Governor, with the Speaker of the House of Representatives serving as the first chairman. In the absence of the Chairman of the House Rules Committee or of the Senate Rules Committee, the vice chairman of that committee shall be entitled to attend; if the vice chairman is unable to attend or if an appointed member is unable to attend, another legislator may be designated to attend by the Speaker of the House or the Lieutenant Governor, as the case may be. If the Speaker of the House or the Lieutenant Governor is unable to attend a meeting, he may designate a legislator to substitute for him at that meeting. Any person serving as such a designated proxy shall have a vote at the meeting he was selected to attend and also when attending, shall receive compensation and expenses in the same manner and amount as regular members of the joint committee.

There shall be no business transacted, including adoption of rules of procedure, without the presence of a quorum of the joint committee. A quorum shall be eight (8) members, to consist of four (4) members from the House of Representatives and four (4) members from the Senate. No action shall be valid unless approved by the majority of those members present and voting, entered upon the minutes of the joint committee and signed by the chairman and vice chairman.

(2) In addition to their legislative salaries as provided by law, the members of the committee shall receive per diem as authorized by law for their services in carrying out the duties of the committee and, in addition thereto, shall receive a daily expense allowance equal to the maximum daily expense rate allowable to employees of the federal government for travel in the high rate geographical area of Jackson, Mississippi, as may be established by federal regulations, including mileage as authorized by Section 25-3-41. However, in no case shall the members of the committee draw per diem while the Legislature is in regular or special session, except that members may receive the per diem and expenses authorized by this section when the Legislature is in session but in recess under the terms of a concurrent resolution, or in recess during a special session.

(3) The committee shall meet at least one (1) time during the interim that the Legislature is not in regular session, and the chairman may call additional meetings at such times as he deems necessary or advisable.

(4) All expenses incurred by and on behalf of the committee shall be paid from funds appropriated therefor, or from a sum to be provided in equal portion from the contingency funds of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

(5) Upon the request of the joint committee, the Attorney General shall provide legal assistance or legal representation to the committee on any matter within the jurisdiction of the committee, including bringing suits on behalf of the committee and representing the committee in any suits brought against the committee.

§ 1-1-105

The Director of the House Legislative Services Office and the Director of the Senate Legislative Services Office shall assist the joint committee with regard to staffing the committee to the extent feasible. The joint committee shall appoint one (1) attorney employed by the House Legislative Services Office and one (1) attorney employed by the Senate Legislative Services Office to serve as co-counsel for the committee and as liaisons to the publishing company or companies with which the joint committee has contracted.

§ 1-1-107

The joint committee shall have the following powers and duties:

(a) To select and contract with a reputable and competent publishing company on such terms and conditions and at such prices as it may deem proper for the editing, printing, indexing, annotating, binding and publishing of all the acts of the Legislature passed since adjournment of the 1998 Session of the Mississippi Legislature and annually thereafter, provided that the expenditure of state funds shall be contingent upon the Legislature appropriating the necessary funds therefor. Nothing in this act [Laws 1998, Ch. 546] or in Chapter 502, Laws of 1996, shall be construed to render invalid or impair the obligations of any contract entered into on behalf of the State of Mississippi on or before September 30, 1988, and any revisions or modifications to such contract other than extending the contract beyond September 30, 1998, for any of the purposes set forth in this act [Laws 1998, Ch. 546] or in Chapter 502, Laws of 1996.

(b) To undertake such substantive revisions, recodifications and compilations of the Mississippi Code of 1972, and subsequent amendments thereto, as may be necessary or as may be directed by the Legislature.

(c) To formulate with the publishing company all the details associated with the codification of the laws enacted by the Mississippi Legislature.

(d) To review, approve or disapprove the work of the publishing company in preparing, supplementing, indexing or revising the Mississippi Code of 1972, or any volume, pocket part or portion thereof.

(e) To grant exclusive or nonexclusive publication and sales rights to the Mississippi Code of 1972, and subsequent amendments thereto, or portions thereof to the publishing company.

(f) In its discretion, to seek the advice and assistance of members and committees of the Mississippi Bar Association.

(g) To provide for the preparation and introduction of legislation containing its recommendations for the revisions in substance and form or both, or the repeal or amendment of statutes or portions thereof.

(h) To provide for procedures for the implementation or execution of its powers and duties.

(i) To take such other action or exercise such additional powers as may be necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

§ 1-1-109

In preparing the acts of the Legislature for publication in the Mississippi Code of 1972 after the adjournment of each session and without altering the sense, meaning or effect of the acts, the joint committee is authorized to:

(a) Correct the spelling of words;

(b) Change capitalization for the purpose of uniformity;

(d) Substitute the proper code section number, chapter number, or other number or designation for the terms “this act,” and similar words or phrases;

(e) Change cross-reference numbers to agree with renumbered chapters, code sections or portions of the Code;

(f) Substitute the proper calendar date for “the effective date of this chapter” and other phrases of similar import;

(g) Correct manifest errors in references to laws;

(h) Correct inaccurate references to the titles of officers, the names of departments or other agencies of the state, local governments, or the federal government, and such other name changes as are necessary to be consistent with the laws of the state;

(i) Insert or delete hyphens in words so as to follow correct grammatical usage;

(j) Change nouns from the singular to the plural or vice versa for purposes of style and grammar;

(k) Change punctuation for purposes of uniformity and consistency of style; and

(l) Integrate the amendments that may have been made in more than one (1) act of the Legislature in a single session to the same code section or provisions of law, so that all versions of the same code section or law that were enacted during a single session may become effective, if effectuating all such amendments is consistent with the intent of the Legislature.

§ 1-1-111

From and after July 1, 1998, the manuscript of acts of the Mississippi Legislature that have been edited, compiled, annotated and indexed by the publishing company holding the contract with the Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation shall be submitted to the joint committee for its approval and acceptance after each regular session of the Legislature. Upon the approval and acceptance of the manuscript by the joint committee, the same shall be printed in insertable pocket supplement form or replacement bound volume or volumes where necessary, containing appropriate chapters, titles and subdivisions of titles.

Chapter 3 Construction of Statutes

§ 1-3-1

This chapter is applicable to every statute unless its general object, or the context of language construed, or other provisions of law indicate that a different meaning or application was intended from that required by this chapter.

§ 1-3-3

The term “bond,” when used in any statute, shall embrace every written undertaking for the payment of money or acknowledgment of being bound for money, conditioned to be void on the performance of any duty or the occurrence of any thing therein expressed and subscribed, and delivered by the party making it, to take effect as his obligation, whether it be sealed or unsealed.

§ 1-3-4

The terms “capital case,” “capital cases,” “capital offense,” “capital offenses,” and “capital crime” when used in any statute shall denote criminal cases, offenses and crimes punishable by death or imprisonment for life in the state penitentiary. The term “capital murder” when used in any statute shall denote criminal cases, offenses and crimes punishable by death, or imprisonment for life in the state penitentiary.

§ 1-3-5

The term “crime,” when used in any statute, shall mean any violation of law liable to punishment by criminal prosecution.

§ 1-3-7

The term “drugs,” when used in any statute, shall embrace all medicines for internal or external use for man or beast.

§ 1-3-9

The term “established” or “hereafter established” when used in any legislative act or municipal ordinance or resolution shall mean with reference to time the date at which the plant, building or structure referred to has progressed to that degree of completion as to be ready for the use intended.

§ 1-3-11

The term “felony,” when used in any statute, shall mean any violation of law punished with death or confinement in the penitentiary.

§ 1-3-13

All substances, chemicals and compounds commonly known as commercial fertilizers, and all manures, whether natural or artificial products, except animal excrement, cotton seed, and unmixed cotton seed products.

§ 1-3-15

The term “food,” when used in any statute, shall embrace every article used as food or drink by man.

§ 1-3-17

Words in the masculine gender shall embrace a female as well as a male, unless a contrary intention may be manifest.

§ 1-3-19

The term “infamous crime,” when used in any statute, shall mean offenses punished with death or confinement in the penitentiary.

§ 1-3-21

The term “infant,” when used in any statute, shall include any person, male or female, under twenty-one years of age.

§ 1-3-23

The term “insurrection,” when used in any statute, means an armed assembly of persons having intent to resist or subvert lawful authority.

§ 1-3-24

The term “intellectual disability,” when used in any statute, means a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, originates before the age of eighteen (18) years, and refers to persons who were, are and continue to be diagnosed with mental retardation.

§ 1-3-25

The term “land,” when used in any statute, shall include all corporeal hereditaments whatever, and any interest therein, whether an estate for years or a different estate.

§ 1-3-26

Wherever the phrase “minimum education program,” “minimum program,” “minimum foundation program,” “Mississippi Adequate Education Program,” “adequate education program,” or “MAEP” shall appear in the laws of this state, it shall be construed to mean the “total funding formula” created under Chapter 151, Title 37, Mississippi Code of 1972.

§ 1-3-27

The term “minor,” when used in statute, except as otherwise provided by law, shall include any person, male or female, under twenty-one (21) years of age. If a statute refers to the ability to enter into a contract affecting personal property or real property, “minor” shall mean any person, male or female, under eighteen (18) years of age.

§ 1-3-29

The term “month,” when used in any statute, means a calendar month, unless a contrary intention be expressed.

§ 1-3-31

Except as otherwise provided in Section 27-109-1, all rivers, creeks and bayous in this state, twenty-five (25) miles in length, and having sufficient depth and width of water for thirty (30) consecutive days in the year to float a steamboat with carrying capacity of two hundred (200) bales of cotton, are navigable waters of this state and public highways.

§ 1-3-33

Words used in the singular number only, either as descriptive of persons or things, shall extend to and embrace the plural number; and words used in the plural number shall extend to and embrace the singular number, except where a contrary intention is manifest.

§ 1-3-35

The term “oath,” when used in any statute, shall include the word “affirmation,” in all cases where by law an affirmation may be substituted for an oath.

§ 1-3-37

The term “offense,” when used in any statute, shall mean any violation of law liable to punishment by criminal prosecution.

§ 1-3-39

The term “person,” when used in any statute, shall apply to artificial as well as natural persons; and when used to designate the party whose property may be the subject of offense, shall include the United States, this state, or any other state, territory, or country, and any county, city, town or village which may lawfully own property in this state; also all public and private corporations, as well as individuals.

§ 1-3-41

The term “personal property,” when used in any statute, means all tangible and intangible personal property and shall include cash, goods, deposit accounts, chattels, effects, evidences of rights of action, and all written instruments, including promissory notes, by which any pecuniary obligation, or any right, title, or interest in any real or personal estate, shall be created, acknowledged, transferred, incurred, defeated, discharged, or diminished.

§ 1-3-42

The terms “photo identification,” “photographic identification,” “valid identification,” “valid identification card” or any similar term when used with reference to a personally identifying document required as legal documentation or required to be presented as part of a transaction includes all of the following:

(a) A current and valid Mississippi driver's license;

(b) A current and valid identification card issued by a branch, department, agency or entity of the State of Mississippi;

(d) A current and valid employee identification card containing a photograph of the employee and issued by any branch, department, agency or entity of the United States government, the State of Mississippi, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of this state;

(e) A current and valid Mississippi license to carry a pistol or revolver;

(f) A valid tribal identification card containing a photograph of the holder;

(g) A current and valid United States military identification card;

(h) A current and valid student identification card, containing a photograph of the student, issued by any accredited college, university or community or junior college in the State of Mississippi;

(i) An official Mississippi voter identification card containing a photograph of the elector; or

(j) Any other valid and unexpired government-issued identification card that contains a color photograph of the card holder and the card holder's legal name, residence address and date of birth.

§ 1-3-43

Every promise in writing whereby any person, firm or body politic or corporate promises or agrees to pay a sum of money or acknowledges the same to be due.

§ 1-3-45

The term “property,” when used in any statute, includes personal property as defined in Section 1-3-41 and also every estate, interest, and right, in lands, tenements, and hereditaments.

§ 1-3-47

Every person, firm, association of persons or company, whether incorporated or not, who shall own or operate a railroad as a common carrier.

§ 1-3-49

The term “state,” when applied to different parts of the United States, shall, when used in any statute, extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories created or recognized by congress.

§ 1-3-51

The term “stationery,” as applied to purchases for the state, includes everything properly so called.

§ 1-3-53

The term “sworn,” when used in any statute, shall include the word “affirmed,” in all cases where by law an affirmation may be substituted for an oath.

§ 1-3-55

The term “United States,” when used in any statute, shall include the District of Columbia and the territories, as well as the states of the union.

§ 1-3-57

The term “unsound mind,” when used in any statute in reference to persons, shall include persons with an intellectual disability, persons with mental illness, and persons non compos mentis.

§ 1-3-58

Whenever the term “ward” is used, it shall be liberally construed and held to include any and all persons under every form of legal disability, including, but not limited to, the disabilities of minority, intellectual disability, mental illness, unsound mind, alcoholism, addiction to drugs, and convicted felons.

§ 1-3-59

The term “will,” when used in any statute, shall include codicils.

§ 1-3-61

The term “written,” when used in any statute, may include, but is not limited to, printing, engraving, and lithographing. In all cases where the signature of any person is required by law, it shall always be the proper handwriting of such person, or, in case he be unable to write, his proper mark, unless a different form of legal signature is specified in another statute.

§ 1-3-63

The term “year,” when used in any statute, means a calendar year, unless a contrary intention be expressed.

§ 1-3-65

All words and phrases contained in the statutes are used according to their common and ordinary acceptation and meaning; but technical words and phrases according to their technical meaning.

§ 1-3-67

When process shall be required to be served or notice given any number of days, the day of the act, event or default from which the designated period of time begins to run shall not be included. The last day of the period so computed shall be included unless it is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday, or any other day when the courthouse or the clerk's office is in fact closed, whether with or without legal authority, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is not a Saturday, a Sunday, a legal holiday, or any other day when the courthouse or the clerk's office is closed. When the period of time prescribed or allowed is less than seven (7) days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays shall be excluded in the computation.

§ 1-3-69

When publication shall be required to be made in some newspaper “for three (3) weeks,” such publication shall be made once each week for three (3) successive weeks, and the time within which the noticed party is required to act or within which the noticing party may proceed shall be computed from the first date of publication. This rule shall furnish a guide for any similar case, whether the time required be more or less than three (3) weeks.

§ 1-3-71

In each and every statute of this state heretofore enacted, and now in effect, in which the phrase “kindred within the third degree” or “relationship within the third degree” is used, and in which no other rule is applied or indicated, the civil law rule in computing relationship shall govern.

§ 1-3-73

The civil law rule of computing kinship or relationship is hereby adopted and shall hereafter control in this state where the computation of relationship or kinship, either by blood or marriage, is brought in question in construing any legislative enactment or statutory law in the State of Mississippi.

§ 1-3-75

All petitions presented to any governing body of the State of Mississippi, or any of its subdivisions, or municipalities thereof, must be signed personally by each petitioner; otherwise, said signature shall not be counted as a valid signature of such petition.

§ 1-3-76

When any petition is filed by qualified electors of a county or municipality requesting a vote on matters affecting all or any portion of a county or municipality, the certifying official shall post a list of all names disqualified from the petition and the reason for disqualification at the courthouse or city hall, as the case may be. A person whose signature has been disqualified by the certifying official may, within ten (10) days after said notice has been posted, appear before such certifying official and present evidence of his qualification accompanied by a notarized affidavit stating the reason that his signature is qualified for the petition. Based upon such information, the certifying official shall reconsider his disqualification and may allow the signature to be counted if such action appears justified.

§ 1-3-77

If any section, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or any part of any act passed hereafter is declared to be unconstitutional or void, or if for any reason is declared to be invalid or of no effect, the remaining sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases or parts thereof shall be in no manner affected thereby but shall remain in full force and effect.

Unless the contrary intent shall clearly appear in the particular act in question, each and every act passed hereafter shall be read and construed as though the provisions of the first paragraph of this section form an integral part thereof, whether expressly set out therein or not.

§ 1-3-79

(1) Except as otherwise provided in Section 1-1-109, whenever the same section of law is amended by different bills during the same session of the Legislature and the effective dates of the amendments to that section of law as specified in the bills are on different dates, the version of that section in each bill shall take effect on the effective date of the amendments to that section as specified in the bill, regardless of the dates on which the bills are approved by the Governor, become law without the Governor's signature, or are approved by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, and at the time that each version of that section takes effect, the version taking effect shall supercede all other versions of that section that took effect earlier, unless specifically provided otherwise in any of the bills amending that section.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in Section 1-1-109, whenever the same section of law is amended by different bills during the same session of the Legislature and the effective dates of the amendments to that section of law as specified in the bills are on the same date, the version of that section in the bill that is approved by the Governor, becomes law without the Governor's signature, or is approved by the Legislature subsequent to a veto on the latest date shall supercede all other versions of that section, unless specifically provided otherwise in any of the bills amending that section.

(3) As used in this section, “section of law” or “section” means a section of the Mississippi Code of 1972, any other valid code of statutory laws of the State of Mississippi or the session laws of the Legislature.

§ 1-3-81

(1) “Caption” means the words used to describe the substance of a title, chapter, article, subarticle, part or section of the Mississippi Code of 1972.

(2) Captions shall not constitute a part of the Mississippi Code of 1972 unless specifically so provided by law.

(3) The wording of captions that are not specifically provided to constitute law shall be editorial in nature and may be revised by a publisher of the code as the publisher deems appropriate. There shall be no exclusive right in any publisher of the code to the use of a caption that has appeared in any bill that is approved by the Governor, has become law without the Governor's signature, or is approved by the Legislature subsequent to a veto; captions that have appeared in such a bill shall be subject to editorial revision without legislative action.

§ 1-3-83

(1) “Female” means an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces eggs.

(2) “Male” means an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces sperm.

(3) “Sex,” when used to classify a natural person, means the biological indication of male and female as observed or clinically verified at birth, without regard to a person's psychological, chosen, or subjective experience, feelings, actions, or sense of self.

(4) The following additional provisions apply to the use of “sex” and related terms:

(a) There are only two (2) sexes, and every individual is either male or female.

(b) “Sex” is objective and fixed.

(c) Persons with “DSD conditions” (sometimes referred to as “differences in sex development”, “disorders of sex development”, or “intersex conditions”) are not members of a third sex.

(d) The foregoing definition of “sex,” for purposes of state law, neither requires nor precludes the accommodation of persons with a congenital and physically verifiable diagnosis of “DSD condition” (sometimes referred to as “differences in sex development”, “disorders of sex development”, or “intersex conditions”); however, such accommodation may be required by federal law.

Chapter 5 Session Laws and Journals

§ 1-5-1

The Office of the Secretary of State shall provide for and may enter into contracts for the complete, accurate and timely printing of the general laws and the local and private laws passed at each session of the Legislature.

§ 1-5-3

The Office of the Secretary of State shall be responsible for the disposition of the general laws, local and private laws and journals of the Legislature as provided for by law.

§ 1-5-5

The Office of the Secretary of State shall provide five (5) volumes of the general laws and journals and five (5) volumes of the local and private laws of each session of the Legislature to the State Law Library.

§ 1-5-7

(1) The Office of the Secretary of State shall distribute and transmit, free of cost, the general laws and journals of each session of the Legislature, as follows: One (1) volume of each to the following: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Clerk of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals; Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women, Alcorn State University, University of Southern Mississippi, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi Valley State University, University of Mississippi and University of Mississippi School of Law; the sheriff of each county for the county law library; each member of the Legislature; the Secretary of the Senate; the Clerk of the House; each attorney employed in the Legislative Services Offices of the House of Representatives and the Senate; each legislative committee meeting room in the New Capitol; the Legislative Reference Bureau; the Legislative Budget Office; the Legislative PEER Committee; the Department of Archives and History; and the Library of Congress at Washington, D.C.

The copies of the general laws and journals to be provided to each sheriff, member of the Legislature and the attorneys employed in the Legislative Services Offices of the House and Senate under this subsection (1) shall not be provided unless specifically requested by such sheriff, legislator or attorney in writing, and the copies to be provided for legislative committee meeting rooms in the New Capitol shall not be provided unless specifically requested in writing by the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate for the committee rooms of their respective house. Any other recipient of the general laws and journals listed in this subsection (1) may waive the receipt of the general laws, journals or both by written request to the Office of the Secretary of State.

(2) The Office of the Secretary of State shall provide, free of cost, one (1) volume of the local and private laws to each attorney employed in the Legislative Services Offices of the House of Representatives and the Senate; each legislative committee meeting room in the New Capitol; the Legislative Reference Bureau; and the Legislative PEER Committee.

The copies of the local and private laws to be provided to the attorneys employed in the Legislative Services Offices of the House and Senate under this subsection (2) shall not be provided unless specifically requested by such attorney in writing, and the copies to be provided for legislative committee meeting rooms in the New Capitol shall not be provided unless specifically requested in writing by the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate for the committee rooms of their respective house.

§ 1-5-9

The Secretary of State shall, in the same manner, further distribute one (1) copy of the general laws of the Legislature alone to each of the judges of the United States courts in this state.

§ 1-5-11

The Office of the Secretary of State shall provide for the publication of sufficient additional volumes of the general laws, local and private laws and journals not otherwise provided for by law, to be made available for sale at a reasonable cost, including preparation, printing, shipping and handling. The Office of the Secretary of State shall pay the proceeds of such sales into the State General Fund in the manner prescribed by law.

§ 1-5-17

The dean of the law school of the University of Mississippi may make requisitions to the Secretary of State for the general session laws and journals of the Legislature to exchange with other states for similar publications and make the same available in the University of Mississippi law school library for the purpose of increasing the facilities of the library. The Secretary of State may furnish these publications upon requisition from the dean of the law school of the University of Mississippi.

§ 1-5-19

The Office of the Secretary of State shall provide for the publication of sufficient volumes of the House journal, Senate journal, general laws and local and private laws necessary to meet the requirements of this chapter.

§ 1-5-21

The Secretary of State may sell the volumes of the House journal, Senate journal, general laws, local and private laws and the Southern Reporter--Mississippi Cases in excess of the number thereof necessary for distribution or retention, the sale price for each volume to be the cost price of printing, binding and mailing. The funds realized by the Secretary of State from the sale of those excess volumes shall be paid by him into the State General Fund in the manner prescribed by law.

§ 1-5-25

The Secretary of State shall receive from the several sheriffs all extra copies of the acts of the Legislature, which the sheriffs are required to return to him, and he shall see that the several sheriffs perform the duty required of them in this behalf. If there be less than ten copies of any of the acts, in the State Library, he shall supply the deficiency from the acts so returned to him, and out of the residue of the acts so returned, he shall, as far as can be, supply each county with the books needed to complete the set belonging to each respectively, and shall take the receipt of the sheriff therefor; and any books not thus disposed of shall be preserved in his office, and sold as other like books.