reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MS Code § 21-1-15 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Incorporation|§ 21-1-15. Publication of notice of proposed incorporation

 After the filing of said petition, and upon request therefor by the petitioners, the chancellor shall set a day certain, either in term time or in vacation, for the hearing of such petition and notice shall be given to all persons interested in, affected by, or having objections to the proposed incorporation, that the hearing on the petition will be held on the day fixed by the chancellor and that all such persons will have the right to appear and enter their objections, if any, to the proposed incorporation. The said notice shall be given by publication thereof in some newspaper published or having a general circulation in the territory proposed to be incorporated once each week for three consecutive weeks, and by posting a copy of such notice in three or more public places in such territory. The first publication of such notice and the posted notice shall be made at least thirty days prior to the day fixed for the hearing of said petition, and such notice shall contain a full description of the territory proposed to be incorporated. However, if any of the territory proposed to be incorporated is located within three miles of the boundaries of an existing municipality, then such existing municipality shall be made a party defendant to such petition and shall be served with process in the manner provided by law, which process shall be served at least thirty days prior to the date set for the hearing.
MS Code § 21-1-17 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Incorporation|§ 21-1-17. Hearing on petition; decree

 At the time fixed, the chancellor shall proceed to hear all evidence offered in support of said petition, together with all objections, if any, that may be presented touching or bearing upon the question of whether or not the proposed incorporation is reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity. The chancellor shall have the power, however, to grant such reasonable continuances as justice may require. If the chancellor finds from the evidence that the proposed incorporation is reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity, then he shall enter a decree declaring such municipal corporation to be created as requested in such petition, which decree shall give an accurate description of the territory included in such municipal corporation, shall classify such municipal corporation according to law, and shall set forth the names of the persons which the petitioners desire as officers of such municipality. The chancellor shall have the power, however, in granting any such incorporation to grant same in whole or in part by modifying or decreasing the territory to be included within such municipal corporation. If the chancellor finds from the evidence that the proposed incorporation is not reasonable and is not required by the public necessity and convenience, then a decree shall be entered denying such incorporation. Whenever any municipal corporation shall be created as herein provided, a map or plat of the boundaries of such municipal corporation shall be filed with the chancery clerk and shall be recorded by him in the official plat book of the county. The decree of the chancellor, either creating or denying such incorporation, shall become effective after the passage of ten days from the date of such decree, unless an appeal be taken therefrom as is provided in Section 21-1-21.
MS Code § 21-1-19 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Incorporation|§ 21-1-19. Costs

 In the event no objection is made to such petition, all costs of the hearing before the chancellor shall be taxed against the petitioners. In the event objection is made to such petition, such costs may be taxed by the chancellor in such manner as may be deemed by him to be equitable.
MS Code § 21-1-21 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Incorporation|§ 21-1-21. Appeal

 Any person interested in or aggrieved by the decree of the chancellor, and who was a party to the proceedings in the chancery court, may prosecute an appeal therefrom to the supreme court within ten days from the date of such decree by furnishing an appeal bond in the sum of five hundred dollars with two good and sufficient sureties, conditioned to pay all costs of the appeal in event the decree is affirmed. Such appeal bond shall be subject to the approval of the chancery clerk and shall operate as a supersedeas. If the decree of the chancellor be affirmed by the supreme court, then such decree shall go into effect after the passage of ten days from the date of the final judgment thereon, and the party or parties prosecuting such appeal and the sureties on their appeal bond shall be adjudged to pay all costs of such appeal.
MS Code § 21-1-23 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Incorporation|§ 21-1-23. Copy of decree sent to Secretary of State

 In the event the decree of the chancellor be in favor of the creation of such municipal corporation and no appeal is taken therefrom within ten days from the date of such decree, as is provided in Section 21-1-21, the chancery clerk shall forward to the secretary of state a certified copy of the decree creating such municipal corporation and such decree shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state and remain a permanent record thereof. In the event an appeal is taken from the decree creating such a municipal corporation, and the action of the chancellor is affirmed, then a copy of said decree shall be forwarded to the secretary of state within ten days after receipt of the mandate from the supreme court notifying the clerk of the affirmance of such decree.
MS Code § 21-1-25 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Incorporation|§ 21-1-25. Commissioning of officers; first meeting

 Upon receipt of the certified copy of the decree creating a municipal corporation, the secretary of state shall issue commissions to the persons named therein to be appointed as the officers of such municipality.   As soon as practicable after receipt of such commissions from the Secretary of State, the officers receiving such commissions shall meet, upon the call of the mayor-designate and at a time and place to be fixed by him, and shall take the oath of office and shall give bond and security as other like officers are required to do under the provisions of this title. Such officers shall hold office until their successors are elected at the next ensuing municipal election and shall have qualified according to law. Such first meeting of the governing authorities shall be held within thirty days after the date such commissions are issued by the secretary of state, and at such meeting a certified copy of the decree of the chancery court creating such municipal corporation shall be entered upon the minutes of the board.
MS Code § 21-1-29 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Extension or Contraction of Corporate Boundaries|§ 21-1-29. Preparing and filing of petition

 When any such ordinance shall be passed by the municipal authorities, such municipal authorities shall file a petition in the chancery court of the county in which such municipality is located; however, when a municipality wishes to annex or extend its boundaries across and into an adjoining county such municipal authorities shall file a petition in the chancery court of the county in which such territory is located. The petition shall recite the fact of the adoption of such ordinance and shall pray that the enlargement or contraction of the municipal boundaries, as the case may be, shall be ratified, approved and confirmed by the court. There shall be attached to such petition, as exhibits thereto, a certified copy of the ordinance adopted by the municipal authorities and a map or plat of the municipal boundaries as they will exist in event such enlargement or contraction becomes effective.
MS Code § 21-1-31 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Extension or Contraction of Corporate Boundaries|§ 21-1-31. Publication of notice of proposed enlargement or contraction

 Upon the filing of such petition and upon application therefor by the petitioner, the chancellor shall fix a date certain, either in term time or in vacation, when a hearing on said petition will be held, and notice thereof shall be given in the same manner and for the same length of time as is provided in Section 21-1-15 with regard to the creation of municipal corporations, and all parties interested in, affected by, or being aggrieved by said proposed enlargement or contraction shall have the right to appear at such hearing and present their objection to such proposed enlargement or contraction. However, in all cases of the enlargement of municipalities where any of the territory proposed to be incorporated is located within three miles of another existing municipality, then such other existing municipality shall be made a party defendant to said petition and shall be served with process in the manner provided by law, which process shall be served at least thirty days prior to the date set for the hearing.
MS Code § 21-1-33 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Extension or Contraction of Corporate Boundaries|§ 21-1-33. Hearing on petition; decree

  If the chancellor finds from the evidence presented at the hearing that the proposed enlargement or contraction is reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity and, in the event of an enlargement of a municipality, that reasonable public and municipal services will be rendered in the annexed territory within a reasonable time and that the governing authority of the municipality complied with the provisions of Section 21-1-27, the chancellor shall enter a decree approving, ratifying and confirming the proposed enlargement or contraction, and describing the boundaries of the municipality as altered. In so doing the chancellor shall have the right and the power to modify the proposed enlargement or contraction by decreasing the territory to be included in or excluded from the municipality, as the case may be.   If the chancellor shall find from the evidence that the proposed enlargement or contraction, as the case may be, is unreasonable and is not required by the public convenience and necessity, or in the event of an enlargement of a municipality, that the governing authority of the municipality failed to comply with the provisions of Section 21-1-27, then he shall enter a decree denying the enlargement or contraction.   In any event, the decree of the chancellor shall become effective after the passage of ten (10) days from the date thereof or, in the event an appeal is taken therefrom, within ten (10) days from the final determination of the appeal. In any proceeding under this section the burden shall be upon the municipal authorities to show that the proposed enlargement or contraction is reasonable.
MS Code § 21-1-35 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Extension or Contraction of Corporate Boundaries|§ 21-1-35. Costs

 In the event no objection is made to the petition for the enlargement or contraction of the municipal boundaries, the municipality shall be taxed with all costs of the proceedings. In the event objection is made, such costs may be taxed in such manner as the chancellor shall determine to be equitable pursuant to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. In the event of an appeal from the judgment of the chancellor, the costs incurred in the appeal shall be taxed against the appellant if the judgment be affirmed, and against the appellee if the judgment be reversed.
MS Code § 21-1-37 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Extension or Contraction of Corporate Boundaries|§ 21-1-37. Appeal

 If the municipality or any other interested person who was a party to the proceedings in the chancery court be aggrieved by the decree of the chancellor, then such municipality or other person may prosecute an appeal therefrom within the time and in the manner and with like effect as is provided in Section 21-1-21 in the case of appeals from the decree of the chancellor with regard to the creation of a municipal corporation.
MS Code § 21-1-39 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Extension or Contraction of Corporate Boundaries|§ 21-1-39. Copy of decree sent to secretary of state

 Whenever the corporate limits of any municipality shall be enlarged or contracted, as herein provided, the chancery clerk shall, after the expiration of ten days from the date of such decree if no appeal be taken therefrom, forward to the secretary of state a certified copy of such decree, which shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state and shall remain a permanent record thereof. In the event an appeal be taken from such decree and such decree is affirmed, then the certified copy thereof shall be forwarded to the secretary of state within ten days after receipt of the mandate from the supreme court notifying the clerk of such affirmance.
MS Code § 21-1-41 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Extension or Contraction of Corporate Boundaries|§ 21-1-41. Chancery clerk to be furnished map or plat of alterations

 In all cases where the limits of a municipality are enlarged or contracted the municipal authorities shall furnish to the chancery clerk a map or plat of the boundaries of the municipality as altered. Such map or plat shall be recorded in the official plat book of the county.
MS Code § 21-1-43 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Combination|§ 21-1-43. Combining of municipalities

 Any two or more cities or towns being adjacent or situated sufficiently near to each other may combine into and become one municipality in the same manner as is provided for the enlargement or contraction of municipal boundaries. It shall be necessary for the governing authorities of each municipality to adopt the ordinance with regard thereto in the same manner as is provided in Section 21-1-27 with regard to the enlargement or contraction of municipal boundaries. It shall also be necessary that such municipal authorities shall file a joint petition in the proper chancery court, and thereafter proceedings shall be had in the same manner as is provided in cases of enlargement or contraction of municipal boundaries. The ordinance and the petition filed with the chancery court shall state the name that shall be given to the municipality to be formed. In the event of the consolidation of two or more municipalities into one as herein provided, the decree of the chancellor shall correctly classify the municipality so formed in accordance with the facts, based upon the total population of all of such municipalities as shown by the latest available federal census. When said consolidation shall have become final and operative, all of such municipalities shall be merged into one under the name set forth in the ordinances adopted by the governing authorities of the municipalities so consolidated. The governing authorities of all the municipalities so consolidated shall become members of the governing authority of the municipality so formed until the next regular election, when the proper number of members of the governing authority shall be elected as provided by law, and the mayor or chief executive officer of the largest municipality, according to population, shall become the mayor or chief executive officer of the municipality so formed. The assessments and levies for ad valorem taxation in force at the time of the consolidation of such municipalities for the territory of each municipality shall be the assessment and levy upon which taxes shall be collected for the then current fiscal year, but in all other respects the existing laws and ordinances of the largest municipality, according to population, shall be operative throughout the enlarged limits.   Nothing in this section shall authorize the combination of two or more villages unless such villages shall have a combined population of five hundred or more, according to the latest available federal census.
MS Code § 21-1-45 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Inclusion or Exclusion from Existing Municipality|§ 21-1-45. Electors' option to be included in or excluded from existing municipality; preparing and filing of petition

 The qualified electors of any territory contiguous to and adjoining any existing municipality and the qualified electors of any territory which is a part of an existing municipality, may be included in or excluded from such municipality, as the case may be, in the manner hereinafter provided. Whenever the inhabitants of any incorporated territory adjacent to any municipality shall desire to be included therein, and whenever the inhabitants of any territory which is a part of an existing municipality shall desire to be excluded therefrom, they shall prepare a petition and file same in the chancery court of the county in which such municipality is located, which said petition shall be signed by at least two-thirds of the qualified electors residing in the territory proposed to be included in or excluded from such municipality. Said petition shall describe accurately the metes and bounds of the territory proposed to be included in or excluded from such municipality, shall set forth the reasons why the public convenience and necessity would be served by such territory being included in or excluded from such municipality, as the case may be, and shall be sworn to by one or more of the petitioners. In all cases, there shall be attached to such petition a plat of the municipal boundaries as same will exist in the event the territory in question is included in or excluded from such municipality. No territory may be so excluded from a municipality within two years from the time that such territory was incorporated into such municipality, and no territory may be so excluded if it would wholly separate any territory not so excluded from the remainder of the municipality. No petition for the inclusion or exclusion of any territory under this section shall be filed within two years from the date of any adverse determination of any proceedings originated hereinafter under this chapter for the inclusion or exclusion of the same territory.
MS Code § 21-1-47 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Inclusion or Exclusion from Existing Municipality|§ 21-1-47. Proceedings in chancery court

 Upon the filing of such a petition, all of the proceedings of this chapter with regard to proceedings in the chancery court upon petitions for the creation, enlargement, and contraction of municipalities shall apply in like manner thereto. Notice of the filing of such petition and the time for the hearing shall be given in the manner and for the length of time as is required in cases of proceedings for the creation, enlargement, or contraction of a municipality. Any parties to the proceedings aggrieved by the decree of the chancellor may appeal therefrom in the same manner and within the same time as is provided in cases of decrees on petitions involving the creation, enlargement or contraction of a municipal corporation. In all proceedings under this section, however, the municipal corporation involved shall be made a party to such proceedings and shall be served with process in the manner provided by law at least thirty days prior to the date of the hearing. If the chancellor finds from the evidence that the proposed inclusion or exclusion is reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity, then he shall enter a decree declaring the territory in question to be included in or excluded from the municipality, as the case may be, which decree shall contain an adjudication of the boundaries of the municipality as altered. In so doing, the chancellor shall have the right and power to modify the proposed enlargement or contraction by decreasing the territory to be included in or excluded from the municipality, as the case may be. If the chancellor shall find from the evidence that the proposed inclusion or exclusion, as the case may be, is unreasonable and is not required by the public convenience and necessity, then he shall enter a decree denying same. In any event, the decree of the chancellor shall become effective after the passage of ten days from the date thereof or, in the event an appeal is taken therefrom, within ten days from the final determination of such appeal. In all cases where territory is included in or excluded from a municipality under the provisions hereof, a certified copy of the decree of the chancellor shall be sent to the Secretary of State and a map or plat of the boundaries of the municipality as altered shall be filed with the chancery clerk, all as provided in Sections 21-1-39 and 21-1-41.
MS Code § 21-1-49 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 21 - Municipalities|Chapter 1 - Classification, Creation, Abolition, and Expansion|Abolition|§ 21-1-49. Automatic by virtue of census results

 In the event any census taken under an act of congress shall show that any municipality contains less than fifty (50) inhabitants, then such municipality shall be automatically abolished and all its rights and powers as a municipal corporation shall thereupon cease. In such cases it shall be the duty of the secretary of state to make an appropriate notation on the records of such municipal corporation in his office showing that such municipal corporation has been abolished because of having less than fifty (50) inhabitants, and he shall forthwith send a notice to the municipal authorities advising them of such fact, and shall send a copy of the notice to the chancery clerk of the county in which such municipality is located. However, the failure of the secretary of state to make such notation or to send such notice shall not prevent the abolition of such municipal corporation as is herein provided, but such abolition shall result automatically from the fact that the census shows that such municipal corporation has less than fifty (50) inhabitants. Any municipality having not less than fifty (50) inhabitants and having heretofore been abolished under the federal census of 1970 by operation of language formerly employed in this section providing for such abolition should a municipality contain less than ninety-two (92) inhabitants, is hereby restored to all rights and privileges as a municipality after the most recent governing authority of the municipality gives notice to the secretary of state that such municipality desires to be restored to all rights and privileges as a municipality.