13-5-47 - Judge to charge the grand jury.
§ 13-5-47. Judge to charge the grand jury.
The judge shall charge the grand jury concerning its duties and expound the law to it as he shall deem proper, and he shall particularly charge it concerning enforcement of the following statutes:
(1) those against gambling and the unlawful selling and handling of intoxicating liquors;
(2) those relating to gambling with minors, and the giving or selling to them tobacco, narcotics, or liquors;
(3) those providing for the assessment, collection and disbursement of the public revenues, both state and county;
(4) those defining the duties of public officers;
(5) those relating to the collection and paying over of fines and forfeitures;
(6) those relating to providing fire escapes in hotels, theaters and other buildings;
(7) those relating to the management of sixteenth section school trust lands; and
(8) all such other statutes as he shall deem proper at any time.
Moreover, the judge shall especially charge the grand jury with respect to the state forest fire laws as set forth in Section 95-5-25 and Section 92-17-13, and charge that the grand jury shall report to him as to the status of forest protection in the county.
It shall be unlawful for the district attorney or other officer, or person, to deliver to the grand jury the charge required by this section to be delivered by the judge, but this shall not prevent the judge from having the circuit clerk read the charge proposed by the judge, to the grand jury in the presence of the judge, when, by reason of physical infirmity, the judge shall be unable to deliver his charge.
Sources: Codes, 1892, § 2373; 1906, § 2702; Hemingway's 1917, § 2195; 1930, § 2048; 1942, §§ 1781, 1782; Laws, 1908, ch. 179; Laws, 1932, ch. 145; Laws, 1970, ch. 340, § 1; Laws, 1978, ch. 525, § 3, eff from and after July 1, 1978.