Miss. Code § 99-27-13 Owner May Interpose Claim to Seized Property; Jurisdiction and Procedure

• Library: Mississippi Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through the 2023 Regular Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: Miss. Code § 99-27-13

If any person claims the intoxicating liquors seized on any of the appliances either for handling, making, possessing, or transporting which have been seized, he may put in his claim therefor under oath stating in detail why said property, or any of it so seized, should not be destroyed, or sold for the benefit of the county, and said affidavit shall state the market value of the property so claimed by him, which amount as so fixed shall determine the jurisdiction of the court as to the amount involved or the value of the property. If the affidavit fixes the value of the property at $200.00 or less and the proceeding is returnable before a justice of the peace otherwise having jurisdiction, the said justice of the peace shall finally dispose of the issue in the case joined under his direction. But if the affidavit fixes the value of the property at more than $200.00 the justice of the peace before whom the case is returnable shall forthwith transfer said cause to the circuit court of the county having jurisdiction to try the case, where the issues shall, under the direction of the circuit court, be joined between the State of Mississippi and the said claimant, and the case there tried as other cases. But if the affidavit of the officer in the first instance shows that the value of the property does not exceed $200.00 and no claim is interposed by the parties in interest, on or before the return day of the summons and writ of seizure, the justice of the peace on the return day shall hear and dispose of the property, and may order all liquors, stills or integral parts thereof and all other unlawful articles to be destroyed, and may condemn all vehicles of transportation to be sold an...