Miss. Code Ann. tit. 31, ch. 13 — Validation of Public Bonds | Mississippi Code Annotated — Mississippi

Miss. Code Ann. § 31-13-1 State Bond Attorney.

The Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint a qualified and practicing attorney at law, to be known as the State Bond Attorney, who shall possess the same qualifications for office as the Attorney General, who shall serve a term of office concurrent with that of the Governor or until his successor is appointed and qualified, and whose duties shall be those hereinafter specified.

Miss. Code Ann. § 31-13-3 “Bonds” defined.

The word “bond” or “bonds,” when used in this chapter, shall be deemed to include every form of written obligation that may be now or hereafter legally issued by any county, municipality, school district, road district, drainage district, levee district, sea wall district, and of any other district or subdivision whatsoever, as now existing or as may be hereafter created.

Miss. Code Ann. § 31-13-5 Determination of validity of bond issues.

When any county, municipality, school district, road district, drainage district, levee district, sea wall district, or any other district or subdivision authorized to issue bonds shall take steps to issue bonds for any purpose whatever, the officer or officers of such county, municipality, or district charged by law with the custody of the records of same shall, if the board issuing same so determine by order entered on its minutes, transmit to said bond attorney a certified copy of all legal papers pertaining to the issuance of said bonds, including transcripts of records and ordinances, proof of publication, and tabulation of vote, if any, and any other facts pertaining to said issuance. Said bond attorney shall thereupon as expeditiously as possible examine said legal papers, pass upon the sufficiency thereof, and render an opinion in writing, addressed to the board proposing to issue said bonds, as to the validity of same; and if any further action on the part of said board is necessary or any further data is desired, he shall indicate what is necessary to be done in the premises in order to make said bonds legal, valid, and binding. When in his opinion all necessary legal steps have been taken to make the said bond issue legal, valid, and binding, he shall render a written opinion to that effect and shall transmit all legal papers, together with his opinion, to the clerk of the chancery court of the county in which the district or municipality proposing to issue said bonds is situated, or if said district embraces more than one (1) county or parts of more than one county, then to the chancery clerk of any one of said counties. The chancery clerk shall file the same, enter the same on the docket of the chancery court, and shall promptly notify the chancellor of the district in writing that said papers are on file and the cause has been docketed. 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, and the clerk shall give not less than five (5) days’ notice by making at least one (1) publication in some paper published in the county where the case is docketed, addressed to the taxpayers of the county, municipality, or district proposing to issue said bonds, advising that the matter will be heard on the day named. If on the day set for hearing there is no written objection filed by any taxpayer to the issuance of said bonds, a decree approving the validity of same shall be entered by the chancellor; and if the chancellor be not present the clerk shall forward him the decree prepared by the state’s bond attorney for his signature, and shall enter the said decree upon his minutes in vacation. If no written objection is filed to the validation of the bonds, certificates of indebtedness, or other written obligations which are being validated, by any taxpayer to the issuance of same, then the validation decree shall be final and forever conclusive from its date, and no appeal whatever shall lie therefrom. If at the hearing any taxpayer of the county, municipality, or district issuing said bonds appears and files, or has filed written objection to the issuance of said bonds, then the chancellor, or the chancery clerk if the chancellor be not present, shall set the case over for another day convenient to the chancellor, not less than ten days thereafter, and shall notify the bond attorney to appear and attend the hearing. On the hearing the chancellor may hear additional competent, relevant and material evidence under the rules applicable to such evidence in the chancery court, so as to inquire into the validity of the bonds or other obligations proposed to be issued, and enter a decree in accordance with his finding. Where written objections have been filed to the validation but not otherwise, if either party shall be dissatisfied with the decree of the chancellor, an appeal shall be granted as in other cases, provided such appeal be prosecuted and bond filed within twenty (20) days after the chancellor enters his decree. However, no appeal shall lie in any case unless written objection has been filed to the validation of the bonds or other obligations by the time set for the validation hearing. The chancery clerk shall certify the record to the supreme court as in other cases, and the supreme court shall hear the case as a preference case.

Miss. Code Ann. § 31-13-7 Final decree validating bonds to be forever conclusive.

If the chancellor shall enter a decree confirming and validating said bonds and there shall be no appeal by either party from said decree, or if on appeal the supreme court enters its decree confirming and validating said bonds or other written obligations, the validity of said bonds or other written obligations so issued shall be forever conclusive against the county, municipality, or district issuing same; and the validity of said bonds or other written obligations shall never be called in question in any court in this state.

Miss. Code Ann. § 31-13-9 Validated bonds to be so stamped; use of facsimile.

Whenever any bonds are validated under the provisions of this chapter, the clerk or other proper officer of the county, municipality, or district issuing same shall stamp or write on each of said bonds over his signature and the seal of the issuer the words “validated and confirmed by decree of the chancery (or supreme) court,” together with the date of the rendition of the final decree validating same, which entry shall be taken as evidence of the validation of said bonds in any court in this state. If the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds shall so provide, such signature and seal under this section may be a facsimile.

Miss. Code Ann. § 31-13-11 Court costs and bond attorney’s fee and expenses.

The court costs in all such cases shall be paid by the county, municipality, or district proposing to issue said bonds or other written obligations, and in addition to such costs it shall also pay to the bond attorney a fee of not more than one-tenth of one percent (1/10 of 1%), provided said fee shall not be less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), of the amount of the bonds or other obligations issued or proposed to be issued. The payment of this fee shall be full compensation for all legal services rendered in connection with the issuance of said bonds, except that when the state’s bond attorney attends a hearing of objection to the validation of said bonds, his actual and necessary expenses and a reasonable rate of compensation for attending the said hearing as required by this chapter shall be taxed as a part of the costs of the validation proceedings, upon approval by the clerk or chancellor of an itemized account of such expenses and time expended. If objection is filed to the validation of said bonds, then in that event the taxation of court costs, including expenses and a reasonable rate of compensation for the bond attorney, shall be discretionary with the chancellor, as in other cases in the chancery court, against the issuing board or district, or the objector or objectors, or apportioned as the chancellor may deem proper.