Opinion Number

Dear Judge McBride:

Your request for the opinion of this office has been forwarded to the undersigned for disposition. As I appreciate it, your question concerns the authority of justices of the peace (1) to fix bail in non-capital cases, (2) to discharge on recognizance persons arrested by the sheriff upon warrant of the district judge for offenses not capital or necessarily punishable by hard labor. As you correctly noted in your letter, Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 315 provides that justices of the peace, throughout their territorial jurisdiction, shall have the authority to…