CHAPTER 158 AN ACT 10 ESTABLISH A RECORDERS COURT IN THE TOWN OF HENDERSON. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 5. The jurisdiction of said court shall be as follows: (a) Said court shall have final, exclusive, original jurisdiction of all criminal offenses committed within the town of Henderson which are now within the jurisdiction of the justices of the peace or which may hereafter be within the jurisdiction of the justices of the peace. (b) Said court shall have final, exclusive, original jurisdiction of all violations of the town ordinances committed within the limits of the town of Henderson. (c) Said court shall have final, concurrent, original jurisdiction of all criminal offenses committed within Henderson Township, out- side of the corporate limits of the town of Henderson, which are now or may hereafter be within the jurisdiction of the justices of the peace. (d) Said court, in addition to the jurisdiction conferred in subsections (a), (b) and (c) of this section, shall have final, exclusive, original jurisdiction of the following criminal offenses, to wit: Carrying concealed weapons; gaming; gambling; keeping gambling tables and houses; keeping bawdy houses and disorderly houses; the larceny of and the receiving stolen goods, knowing them to be stolen, when the property stolen does not exceed ten dollars in value; failure to list taxes; assault and battery with a deadly weapon, or where serious damage is done; fornication and adultery; abandonment; failure to provide adequate support; cruelty to animals; malicious injury to real or personal property; trespassing on land after forbidden; forcible trespass; enticing servants to leave masters; indecent exposure of person; retailing spirituous liquors without license; selling or giving away spirituous liquors to a minor; selling or giving away cigarettes to a minor; obtaining advances by a FALSE pretense; disposing of mortgaged property; maintaining nuisances; all crimes against public health, as contained in The Revisal of one thousand nine hundred and five from section thret thousand four hundred and forty to three thousand four hundred and forty-eight inclusive, and all acts amendatory thereof and not within the jurisdiction of justices of the peace; all misdemeanors as contained in chapter eighty-one of The Revisal of one thousand nine hundred and five, or any act amendatory thereof, where the punishment does not exceed a fine of two hundred dollars and imprisonment for one year, and which are not within the jurisdiction of justices of the peace; and all crimes which at. common law are misdemeanors, wherein the punishment is in the discretion of the court; and all such crimes hereinbefore enumerated are hereby declared by this act to be petty misdemeanors, and the punishment thereof shall be as now prescribed by law. (e) In any other criminal matter wherein said court has not final jurisdiction it shall have power and it is hereby fully authorized to hear and bind over to the proper court all persons charged with any crime committed within the town of Henderson or Henderson Township, whereof the preliminary investigation is now conferred on justices of the peace or the mayor of the town of Henderson, and to render such judgment in such matters as now provided by law: Provided, that in any case where prosecution has been commenced prior to the ratification of this act the court in which said prosecution has been instituted shall have jurisdiction thereof, and any and all cases heard by the mayor as recorder of the court established by this act as committing magistrate against any person or persons for any offense whereof said court herein established has not final jurisdiction, in which probable cause of guilt is found, such person or persons so charged shall be bound in bond or recognizance with sufficient surety, if the crime be bailable under the law, to appear at the next term of the superior court of Vance County for the trial of criminal cases, and in default of such bond or recognizance such person or persons shall be committed to the common jail of Vance County to await trial as aforesaid; if the crime be not bailable, then to commit the defendant so charged to the common jail of Vance County to await the action of the superior court thereof. (f) Said mayor as recorder shall have all the power and jurisdiction and authority now conferred by law upon justices of the peace or the superior court of Vance County to sentence any person convicted in said court of a misdemeanor for which the punishment prescribed by law is imprisonment to be worked on the public roads of said county, as now or may hereafter be provided by law. (g) Warrants may be issued by the mayor as recorder of said court for any person or persons charged with commission of any criminal offenses of which the said court has jurisdiction, and any person convicted in said court shall have the right to appeal to the superior court of Vance County; and upon such appeal the trial in the superior court shall be de novo. (h) The said recorders court shall have jurisdiction of any and all criminal offenses as hereinbefore in this section enumerated, which have been committed before the ratification of this act, and of which no court has taken jurisdiction.
Section 7. The warrants, summons, subpenas and other process issued by said court or its clerk shall be directed to the chief of police or any police officer of the town of Henderson or any other lawful officer of Vance County, and service thereof shall be lawfully made in 10 any part of Vance County, when made by the sheriff of said county or any township constable of said county or any police officer of the town of Henderson or, in the absence of such officers by any proper person specially deputized by the recorder in writing to make service; and said warrants, summons, subpenas and other process of said court, when attested by the seal of said court, shall run anywhere in the State of North Carolina and shall be executed by all officers according to law.