MCA Chapter 55

MCA Chapter 55
in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-1 Applicability of the chapter.

The provisions of this chapter shall apply as well to records heretofore as hereafter lost, stolen, or destroyed.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-3 Remedy for lost record of deed.

Whenever the record of deeds of any county, or any book or part of a book thereof shall be destroyed, stolen, or lost, the same may be remedied– By the re-record of the original of whatever may have been therein recorded; or By the recording of decrees adjudicating the execution of lost or destroyed or stolen instruments of all kinds, and perpetuating testimony, and of decrees confirming titles to land or cancelling titles thereto; or By the recording of certified copies of whatever may have been recorded in the lost, destroyed, or stolen record, which may have been taken from the said record, or which may be taken from the records of any other county in which the original may have been recorded, or from the files of any court of record in this state or any other state, or of the United States, or of any public office of this state or of the United States, in which the original or authenticated copies may be found.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-5 Duty of chancellor and supervisors as to abstracts.

In any county in which the record of deeds, or any material part thereof, may be destroyed, the chancellor may examine into the matter; and if he find any abstracts, copies, minutes, or extracts from said records existing after such destruction, he shall appoint two (2) persons learned in such matters to act with him, and the three (3) shall investigate the same. If they find that the abstracts, copies, minutes, or extracts were fairly made before such destruction of the records, and that they contain material and substantial parts of the destroyed records, they shall so certify to the board of supervisors; and thereupon the board of supervisors shall have power to purchase such abstracts, minutes, copies, or extracts, or any part thereof, or to procure copies thereof and to pay therefor, out of the county treasury, a reasonable compensation.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-7 Effect of such abstracts.

Such abstracts, copies, minutes, or extracts, or the copy thereof if so procured, shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the chancery court and copies recorded and arranged in such form as the board of supervisors may direct. In case the originals have been lost or destroyed, or are not in the power of the party asking to use the same on any trial or other proceedings, copies of such abstracts, copies, minutes, or extracts, or any part thereof, duly certified by the chancery clerk, shall be admissible in evidence, and shall establish prima facie that all deeds or other instruments appearing thereby to have been executed by any person, were executed and acknowledged at the date given, according to law.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-9 Record in books.

Where any part of the court record was recorded or enrolled in a book, and the record thereof is stolen, lost or destroyed – as the record of wills, register of claims, minute-book, judgment-roll, or the like – the court shall direct its record or enrollment anew, as of the date of its original record or enrollment.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-11 In pending suits.

If the record lost, destroyed, or stolen be that of a pending suit, or a part thereof, process on the petition for its substitution may be returnable on any day of a term of court, and it may be served on the attorney of the party defendant to the petition; but in such case the plaintiff or complainant, if he so elect, may bring another suit on the same cause of action.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-13 Loss first discovered during trial.

If the loss or absence of the record, or any part thereof, be first discovered during the progress of a trial, the cause may be proceeded with notwithstanding the loss; but if a substitute therefor be essential, the trial may be suspended temporarily, and the record or instrument substituted at once, without any other notice than the direction of the court to the parties to proceed to substitute the lost and absent document.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-15 Assessment rolls.

When the assessment rolls of a county, or either of them, shall be stolen, lost, or destroyed, it shall be the duty of the board of supervisors to obtain certified copies thereof from the office of the state tax commission or the proper custodian thereof, and to pay for the same out of the county treasury. If the assessment have been so recently made that copies thereof are not on file in the auditor’s office, then the assessment roll or rolls of the county used the preceding year shall be in force and, if necessary, copies thereof shall in like manner be obtained, and the taxes of the current year collected thereon; but in such case new assessments shall be made for the following year.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-17 Records of board of supervisors.

The board of supervisors shall have power to re-establish any of its records that may be lost, destroyed, or stolen, in the same manner as other courts. It may, of its own motion and without petition or process, re-establish any levy for taxes or other public or legislative matter and make the same of record; and in all proceedings thereafter in respect thereto the same shall be conclusively presumed to have been correctly re-established, except in respect to rights which may have accrued before the order of re-establishment and, as to such rights, the same shall be prima facie correct.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-19 State, county, town, or levee board bonds or warrants.

Whenever any outstanding bond or warrant of this state or any county, city, town, village, or levee board shall become so far mutilated as to be unfit for circulation, or shall be lost or destroyed, a duplicate thereof may be issued by the officer authorized by law to issue such bonds or warrants, under the regulations and restrictions prescribed in the next section.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-21 Content of duplicate bond or warrant.

Such duplicate shall correspond in number, date, amount, and unpaid coupons, if any, with the original bond or warrant, and shall in all respects be a copy thereof, and shall have indorsed on its face the word “duplicate,” together with the date of its issuance.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-23 Duplicate for mutilated original.

A duplicate shall not be issued for a mutilated bond or warrant until the original shall be delivered to such officer, and not until an examination has been made by such officer and the treasurer on whom it may be drawn, or who is to pay the same, to see if it be genuine and have not been already paid. If genuine and not previously paid, the duplicate may issue upon the cancellation of the original and the entry of a statement of facts on the proper record or registry of its issuance, with the words “pay duplicate only.”

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-25 Duplicate for lost or destroyed original.

A duplicate for a lost or destroyed bond shall not issue until there shall have been filed with the officer an affidavit and a bond. The affidavit must be that of some credible person knowing the facts, and it must set forth the ownership of such bond, the number of unpaid coupons, if any, thereto attached, and the description thereof, embracing, if can be, its number, to whom and for what issued, its date, and when mature. The bond must be that of a person to whom the duplicate is to be issued, with at least two (2) sufficient sureties, in a sum equal to double the amount of the lost, destroyed or stolen bond, payable to the state, conditioned to pay all damages which the state, county, city, town, or levee board, as the case may be, may sustain if compelled to pay such bond or coupons, together with all costs and expenses and lawyers’ fees, if any, incurred in enforcing the bond. A duplicate for a lost or destroyed warrant shall not issue until there shall have been filed with the officer an affidavit. The affidavit must be that of some credible person knowing the facts, and it must set forth the ownership of such warrant and the description thereof, embracing, if can be, its number, to whom and for what issued, and its date.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-27 Officer issuing duplicates of bonds and warrants to keep records and preserve indemnity bonds and affidavits.

Any officer issuing duplicates of bonds shall keep a record showing: The numbers, dates and amounts of such mutilated, lost or destroyed bonds and of the coupons thereto attached; The date of the issuance of the duplicate; The name of the person to whom the duplicate was issued; and The name of the sureties and penalty of the indemnity bond, if a bond is required. The officer issuing duplicates of bonds shall preserve the bond and affidavit taken in each case. Any officer issuing duplicates of warrants shall keep a record showing: The numbers, dates and amounts of such mutilated, lost, or destroyed warrants; The date of issuance of the duplicate; and The name of the person to whom issued. The officer issuing duplicates of warrants shall preserve the affidavit taken in each case.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-28 Presentation of photocopy of state warrant where original has been lost or destroyed.

When a state warrant has been lost or destroyed before having been paid by the State Treasurer, and a photocopy of such warrant is presented for payment to the State Treasurer by a qualified state depository bank or a Federal Reserve bank, a duplicate warrant need not be issued in order for payment to be made. The State Treasurer may treat the photocopy as the warrant or certificate of the State Auditor or State Fiscal Management Board issued pursuant to law and may pay the same, provided the photocopy is presented in accordance with applicable Federal Reserve Board rules and such regulations as the State Treasurer may prescribe.

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-29 Registration and poll-books.

The mutilation, loss, or destruction of the registration or poll-books in any county shall be remedied as provided in the chapter on “Registration and Elections.”

Miss. Code Ann. § 25-55-31 Proceedings to perfect record.

A lost, stolen, or destroyed record shall not constitute constructive notice longer than three (3) years from the loss, theft, or destruction thereof, unless within that time the instrument shall be again placed on the record, or proceedings be begun to perfect the record. In all cases where the record of any instrument affecting the title, lien, or interest in real estate is lost or destroyed by tornado, fire, or otherwise, any person claiming to be the owner of or having a legal interest in or title to any real estate described in or affected by said lost or destroyed record may file his petition to the chancery court of the county in which the record has been lost or destroyed, setting forth a description of the land involved, with a statement of petitioner’s claim and the nature thereof, the names, places of residence, and post-office addresses of all persons known to the petitioner to have or claim any interest in land by virtue of such lost or destroyed record or having a recordable instrument affecting the title to such land described in or affected by the lost or destroyed instrument or instruments, and giving in clear and succinct language petitioner’s claim to or ownership of the land involved, with a prayer that summons be issued and served on all persons named as defendants, whether resident or nonresident. Upon the filing of such petition, the clerk of the chancery court shall issue summons for the defendants as in other cases in equity, returnable at a day not less than four (4) weeks nor more than eight (8) weeks from such filing, and requiring all defendants to appear and plead, answer, or demur to the petition. When the summons has been personally served upon the resident defendants not less than five (5) days before the return-day and proof of publication has been made for any nonresident defendants, as now required by law, and no one of the named defendants appears and contests the petition, then the chancery court or presiding chancellor, either in term time or vacation, may forthwith hear said petition, adjudicate the sufficiency of process, render any and all necessary decrees pro confesso and enter a final decree or decrees disposing of said petition. If any defendant appears and contests the petition, the chancery clerk shall promptly notify the chancellor of the district in writing of the pendency of said petition and the contest thereon, and the chancellor shall then notify the chancery clerk to set the matter for hearing at some future date not less than ten (10) days thereafter. The clerk shall give the parties or their solicitors of record not less than five (5) days’ notice by letter addressed to the parties or their solicitors, advising that the matter will be heard on the day named, and on the day set for the hearing the chancellor shall hear and determine the controversy as other suits in chancery and enter a decree in accordance with his finding. The chancellor may by his final decree adjudicate the execution of any lost or destroyed or stolen instruments involved in the proceeding, and may order the final decree recorded as provided by law in other cases affecting land titles.