. CODE 1972 litSSiSSIPiPI '''Aniioialoa ; %] ,, :. .:. \hh\or, Vtalcr j<(,f.£)\iv(.()fi, V/r.tor ; Oil, Gas, and Other Minerals 'jMcK^ltoK'S I i . TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME 12A TITLE 51 WATER, WATER RESOURCES, WATER DISTRICTS, DRAINAGE, AND FLOOD CONTROL BEGINNING CHAP. SECTION 1 Navigable Waters 51-1-1 2. Mississippi Marine Litter Act 51-2-1 3. Water Resources, Regulation and Control 51-3-1 4. Mississippi Scenic Streams Stewardship Act 51-4-1 5. Subsurface Waters; Well Drillers 51-5-1 7. Water Management 51-7-1 8. Joint Water Management Districts 51-8-1 9. Development of Region Bordering Supply District; Met- ropolitan Area Water Supply Act 51-9-1 11. Pearl River Basin Development District 51-11-1 13. Tombigbee Valley Authority and Water Manage- ment District 51-13-1 15. Pat Harrison Waterway Commission and District 51-15-1 17. Big Black River Basin District 51-17-1 19. West Central Mississippi Waterway Commission [Repealed] 51-19-1 21. Lower Mississippi River Basin Development Dis- trict [Repealed] 51-21-1 23. Lower Yazoo River Basin District [Repealed] 51-23-1 25. Yellow Creek Watershed Authority 51-25-1 27. Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Compact 51-27-1 29. Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners 51-29-1 31. Drainage Districts with County Commissioners 51-31-1 33. Provisions Common to Drainage Districts and Swamp Land Districts 51-33-1 35. Flood Control 51-35-1 37. Watershed Districts 51-37-1 39. Storm Water Management Districts 51-39-1 41. Public Water Authorities 51-41-1 TITLE 53 OIL, GAS, AND OTHER MINERALS 1. State Oil and Gas Board 53-1-1 3. Development, Production and Distribution of Oil and Gas 53-3-1 5. Geological and Mineral Survey 53-5-1 7. Surface Mining and Reclamation of Land 53-7-1 9. Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation of Land 53-9-1 Digitized by the Internet Archive 2013 in http://archive.org/details/govlawmscode197212a CODE MISSISSIPPI 1972 ANNOTATED ADOPTEDASTHEOFFICIALCODEOFTHE STATEOFMISSISSIPPI BYTHE 1972SESSIONOFTHELEGISLATURE VOLUME TWELVE A WATER, WATER RESOURCES, WATER DISTRICTS, DRAINAGE, AND FLOOD CONTROL OIL, GAS AND OTHER MINERALS §§ 51-1-1 to 53-9-123 CONTAININGPERMANENTPUBLIC STATUTESOFMISSISSIPPI TOTHEEND OFTHE 2003REGULARLEGISLATIVE SESSION LexisNexis1 QUESTIONSABOUT THIS PUBLICATION? ForEDITORIALQUESTIONSconcerningthispublication,orREPRINTPERMISSION,pleasecall: 800-833-9844 ForCUSTOMERSERVICEASSISTANCE concerningreplacementpages,shipments,billingorother matters,pleasecall: CustomerServiceDepartmentat 800-833-9844 OutsidetheUnitedStatesandCanada 518-487-3000 FAX 518-487-3584 ForINFORMATIONONOTHERMATTHEWBENDERPUBLICATIONS,pleasecall: Youraccountmanageror 800-223-1940 OutsidetheUnitedStatesandCanada 518-487-3000 Copyright © 1973—2003 by THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI All rights reserved. LexisNexis, the knowledge burst logo, and Michie are trademarks ofReed ElsevierProperties Inc. used under license. Matthew Bender is a registered trademark ofMatthew Bender Properties Inc. 4454510 ISBN 0-820-58953-5 (Volume 12A) ISBN 0-327-09628-4 (Code set) LexisNexisTM Matthew Bender& Company, Inc. P.O. Box 7587, Charlottesville,VA22906-7587 ww com w.lexisnexis. (Pub.44510) PREFACE The Mississippi Code of 1972, which became effective on November 1, 1973, is the culmination of nearly four years of effort on the part of the Legislature, the Attorney General's office and the publishers, which brings together provisions ofgeneral statutory law having a common subject matter into a more orderly and logical framework of code titles and chapters, and employing a modern and effective section numbering system. A major by- product ofthe code revision will be the state-owned magnetic computer tape containingthe Mississippi Codeof1972,whichwillbeofinvaluableassistance to the Legislature and to the state. The enabling act for the code was a recommendation of the Mississippi StateBar,whichresultedintheconsiderationandpassageofSenateBill 1964, Chapter 465, Laws of1970, signed into law by Governor John Bell Williams. The Code Committee provided for in that act was comprised of A. F. Summer,Attorney General, Heber Ladner, Secretary ofState, Representative EdgarJ. Stephens, Jr., Chairman, HouseAppropriations Committee, Senator William G. Burgin, Jr., Chairman, Senate Appropriations Committee, Repre- sentativeH. L. Meredith,Jr., Chairman, HouseJudiciary"A*andJudiciaryen banc Committees, Senator E. K. Collins, Chairman, Senate Judiciary "A"and Judiciary en banc Committees, Representative Ney McKinley Gore, Jr., Chairman,HouseJudiciary"B"Committee, andSenatorWilliamE.Alexander, Chairman, Senate Judiciary "B" Committee. In 1972, Representative Marby RobertPentonand SenatorHerman B. Decell, Chairman ofHouseand Senate Judiciary "B" Committees, respectively, became members of the Committee, replacingRepresentativeGore andSenatorCollins, SenatorAlexanderhaving been appointed Chairman of Senate Judiciary "A" and Judiciary en banc Committees. The DeputyAttorney General, Delos H. Burks, served the Code CommitteeasSecretary. SpecialAssistantAttorneyGeneralFredJ. Lotterhos, under the supervision of the Attorney General, was assigned the principal responsibilityfor the supervision ofthe recodification, includingthe consider- ation and treatment ofsome 16,000 sections ofcode manuscript. Final legislative'approval was given to the Mississippi Code of 1972 by passage of Senate EMU 3034* Laws of 1972, which was signed by Governor William L. Waller onApril 26, 1972. Acopyofthat act is set out in Volume 1, following the Publisher's Foreword. The Code Committee is of the opinion that the recodification has been thoroughly and well accomplished, and will result in a greatly improved repository ofthe general statutory law ofthe state. A. F. Summer Attorney General iii PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD This 2003 Replacement Volume 12A of the Mississippi Code of 1972 Annotated represents material appearing in both the original 1973 bound volume and the 1999 Replacement Volume 12, as well as reflecting amend- ments, repeals, and new Code provisions enacted by the Mississippi Legisla- ture through the 2003 Regular Legislative Session. ThisvolumecontainsthefulltextofTitles51through53oftheMississippi Code of 1972 Annotated, as amended through the 2003 Regular Legislative Session. Case annotations are included based on decisions ofthe state and federal courts in cases arisingin Mississippi. Many ofthese cases were decided under the former statutes in effect priorto the enactment ofthe Code of1972. These earlier cases have been moved to pertinent sections ofthe Code where they may be useful in interpreting the current statutes. Annotations to collateral research references are also included. lb better serve our customers by making our annotations more current, LexisNexishaschangedthesourcesthatarereadtocreateannotationsforthis publication. Rather than waiting for cases to appear in printed reporters, we now read court decisions as they are released by the courts. Aconsequence of this more current reading ofcases, as they are posted online on LexisNexis, is thatthemostrecentcasesannotatedmaynotyethaveprintreportercitations. These will be provided, as they become available, through later publications. This publication contains annotations taken from decisions ofthe Missis- sippi Supreme Court and the Court ofAppeals with decision dates up to May 1, 2003, and decisions ofthe appropriate federal courts with decision dates up toApril 25, 2003. These cases will be printed in the following reporters: Southern Reporter, 2nd Series United States Supreme Court Reports Supreme Court Reporter United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition, 2nd Series Federal Reporter, 3rd Series Federal Supplement, 2nd Series Federal Rules Decisions Bankruptcy Reporter Additionally, annotations have been taken from the following sources: American Law Reports, 5th Series: through 103 A.L.R.5th American Law Reports, Federal Series: through 181 A.L.R.Fed Mississippi College Law Review: through Volume 20, No. 1, p. 211 Mississippi Law Journal: through Volume 71, No. 3, p. 1029 Finally, published Opinions ofthe Attorney General and opinions ofthe Ethics Commission have been examined for annotations. Acomprehensive Index appears at the end ofthis volume. < Publisher's Foreword Visit the LexisNexis website at http://www.lexisnexis.com for an online bookstore, technical support, customer support, and other company informa- tion. For further information or assistance, please call us toll-free..at-(800) 833-9844, fax us toll-free at (800) 643-1280, e-mail us at [email protected], or write to: Mississippi Code Editor* LexisNexis, P.O. Box 7587, Charlottesville, VA22906-7587. August 2003 LexisNexis vi