Senate Bill No. 142
(By Senators Bailey, Mitchell and Hunter)
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[Introduced January 19, 2000; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article two, chapter
fifty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to conferring on
magistrates the authority to perform marriages; and allowing
magistrates to charge up to fifty dollars for performing a
marriage.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article two, chapter fifty of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. JURISDICTION AND AUTHORITY.
§50-2-1. Civil jurisdiction.
Except as limited herein and in addition to jurisdiction
granted elsewhere to magistrate courts, such courts shall have
jurisdiction of all civil actions wherein the value or amount in
controversy or the value of property sought, exclusive of
interest and cost, is not more than five thousand dollars.
Magistrate courts shall have jurisdiction of all matters
involving unlawful entry or detainer of real property or
involving wrongful occupation of residential rental property, so
long as the title to such property is not in dispute. Except as
the same may be in conflict with the provisions of this chapter,
the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-five of this code,
regarding unlawful entry and detainer, shall apply to such
actions in magistrate court. Magistrate courts shall have
jurisdiction of actions on bonds given pursuant to the provisions
of this chapter. Magistrate courts shall have continuing
jurisdiction to entertain motions in regard to post-judgment
process issued from magistrate court and decisions thereon may be
appealed in the same manner as judgments.
Individual magistrates may perform marriages upon request
by persons entitled, by virtue of meeting all lawful requirements, to be married: Provided, That a magistrate
performing a marriage under this provision may charge a fee up to
fifty dollars to perform the marriage, such fee to be included as
additional remuneration to the magistrate's annual salary.
Magistrate courts shall not have jurisdiction of actions in
equity, of matters in eminent domain, of matters in which the
title to real estate is in issue, of proceedings seeking
satisfaction of liens through the sale of real estate, of actions
for false imprisonment, of actions for malicious prosecution or
of actions for slander or libel or of any of the extraordinary
remedies set forth in chapter fifty-three of this code.
Magistrates, magistrate court clerks, magistrate court
deputy clerks, and magistrate assistants shall have the authority
to administer any oath or affirmation, to take any affidavit or
deposition, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, and to
take, under such regulations as are prescribed by law, the
acknowledgment of deeds and other writings.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to confer authority on
magistrates to perform marriages. The bill would allow
magistrates to charge up to $50 to perform a marriage, a sum that would be collected by the magistrate in addition to his or her
regular salary.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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