Judges: RICHARD P. IEYOUB
Filed Date: 4/21/1993
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Dear Mr. Ponder:
This office is in receipt of your opinion request regarding the appropriate procedure to be followed in order to change the method of electing judges to the Baton Rouge City Court.
Your request states that a member of the Baton Rouge city council has introduced an item to authorize the establishment of election subdistricts for the Baton Rouge City Court, and you seek an opinion on whether election subdistricts can be created by municipal ordinance, or would require an amendment to either the plan of government for the City of Baton Rouge, the Revised Statutes or the State Constitution.
You note in your request that LSA-R.S.
Our research of the history of the City Court of Baton Rouge reveals that Act
Your office has provided a copy of Section 11.04 of the plan of government of the city of Baton Rouge that was enacted on May 28, 1952. That provision which in pertinent part, is identical to the current charter provision, reads:
There shall continue to be a City Court of the City of Baton Rouge, which shall have jurisdiction over the territorial area of the City of Baton Rouge, as extended by this Plan of Government, and the provisions of Title 13, Sections 2071 through 2080 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 shall continue in force and effect except to the extent that they are in conflict with the provisions of this section.
It, like its successor provision, is silent on the nature of the election districts from which city judges are to be elected. This silence can only be interpreted as an intent to continue the use of the method of electing a city court judge in place at the time of its enactment, i.e. election from a district consisting of the entire city.
Act
"The City Court of the City of Baton Rouge, heretofore created and established by the provisions of LSA-R.S.
13:2071 , as amended, is hereby continued and shall have jurisdiction over the territorial area of the City of Baton Rouge, as extended from time to time. The court shall consist of two judges.The provisions of this act are made subject to the rights privileges and duties of the city council of the City of Baton Rouge under the provisions of Section 11.04 of the Plan of government for the Parish of East Baton Rouge and City of Baton Rouge as to term, compensation and such matters in said section as may be under the constitution and laws of the State of Louisiana properly within the province of said city council."
The Act's deference to Section 11.04 of the plan of government as to the term, compensation and related matters of the City Court, and its silence on the method of electing the judges can be interpreted as an intent by the legislature to continue the election method used prior to its enactment.
Act
The court shall have two divisions, to be known as Division `A' and `B'. The judge who is senior in point of service on the court shall be the presiding judge. In the event both have served the same length of time, then the oldest in years shall be presiding.
A candidate for nomination and election as city judge of the City of Baton Rouge, at the time of filing his declaration as candidate therefore, shall designate only one division of the Court for the judgeship of which he is a candidate and he shall be elected to and serve in the division so designated."
This Act did not change, but rather, maintained and facilitated the method of electing city judges from a district consisting of the entire city, by requiring each candidate to declare which Division of the Court he or she sought, thus allowing each division's election to be conducted separately but from the same geographical area.
Act
Thus, at least since 1944, Baton Rouge City Court judges have been elected from a city-wide district. No provisions of the plan of government have ever been enacted to change that method, nor has the legislature enacted legislation that either changed that procedure or repealed the delegation of authority to the city to provide for such a procedure in its plan of government.
LSA-R.S.
It is hoped that this sufficiently answers your inquiry. If we can be of further assistance, please contact the undersigned at your convenience.
Yours very truly
RICHARD P. IEYOUB Attorney General
BY: ROY A. MONGRUE, JR. Assistant Attorney General
RPI/RAM, jr./cdw