Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 447

FORMERLY, SENATE BILL NO. 674

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 7, TITLE 21, DELAWARE CODE BY REQUIRING ALL ALDERMAN'S COURTS AND MAYOR'S COURTS IN THE STATE TO FURNISH COMPLETE INFORMATION REGARDIING MOVING TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS TO THE STATE MOTOR VEHICLE DIVISION. AND PROVIDING THAT ADJUDICATION OFFICIALS IN SUCH COURTS BE PAID BY SALARY ONLY FOR SERVICE AS ADJUDICATORS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware (two-thirds of all members elected to each house thereof concurring therein):

Section 1. Amend subsection (c), section 704, Title 21, Delaware Code, by striking the said subsection in its entirety and by substituting the following new subsection (c) in lieu thereof:

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, in those incorporated municipalities which provide duly constituted Alderman's Courts or Mayor's Courts, the Alderman and Mayor shall continue to hear and adjudicate those cases in which a person is arrested without a warrant and where the Alderman's Court or the Mayor's Court is the court of original jurisdiction.

Section 2. Amend subsection (d), section 704, Title 21, Delaware Code, by striking the said subsection in its entirety and by substituting the following new subsection (d) in lieu thereof:

(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of 21 Delaware Code, section 704 (c), no Alderman, Mayor, or other municipal official shall be authorized to adjudicate any alleged moving traffic violation unless said court complies with the following:

( I) All convictions in said Alderman's Court or Mayor's Court for moving traffic violations and the disposition of those cases shall become a matter of record to be filed with the State Division of Motor Vehicles. Records of all such convictions shall be forwarded to the Division no later than ten (10) days after disposition of the case.

(2) The adjudicating official shall be paid only by salary for his duties as adjudicating official. All fees, fines, costs and other funds collected by the court in the course of its business shall be deposited to the account of the municipality from which the adjudicating official derives his authority.

Section 3. Amend section 704, Title 21, Delaware Code, by adding thereto a new subsection (e) to read as follows:

(e) Superior Court shall have jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus to adjudicating officials of any Alderman's Court or Mayor's Court to compel compliance with the provisions of this section.

Approved June 20, 1972.