Except as otherwise provided by law, magistrates shall be nominated and elected at large within each magistrate district at the primary and general elections. In magistrate districts having more than one magistrate, the separate offices shall be designated by divisions and, in all appointments to fill vacancies and in all nominations and elections to these offices, candidates shall be designated as appointed or elected to the office of magistrate of a specific division. Magistrates shall be nominated and elected in the 1968 primary and general elections to serve terms from January 1, 1969 until December 31, 1970. Subsequent terms shall be for four years.
History: 1953 Comp., § 36-1-3, enacted by Laws 1968, ch. 62, § 5; 2000, ch. 99, § 1.
ANNOTATIONSRepeals. — Laws 1968, ch. 62, § 171, repealed former 36-1-3, 1953 Comp., relating to oath of office for justices of the peace, effective January 1, 1969.
The 2000 amendment, effective March 7, 2000, in Subsection A, inserted "Except as otherwise provided by law" and "at large" in the first sentence.
Election of city attorney as magistrate. — There is no legal prohibition precluding a city attorney from serving as a magistrate, but if there is only one magistrate court available there may be ethical considerations. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 70-67.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 46 Am. Jur. 2d Judges §§ 239, 240; 47 Am. Jur. 2d Justices of the Peace § 7 et seq.
Induction into military service as creating vacancy in office, 156 A.L.R. 1457, 157 A.L.R. 1456.
Power to appoint public officer for term commencing at or after expiration of term of appointing officer or body, 75 A.L.R.2d 1277.
51 C.J.S. Justices of the Peace §§ 1 to 9.