Request By:
Mr. Paul Stilton
Rural Route 1
Printer, Kentucky 41655
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of March 16 in which you initially raise the question as to the age and residential requirements for one seeking the office of magistrate or constable.
Section 100 of the Constitution requires a person to be twenty-four (24) years of age, a resident of the state two (2) years and one (1) year next preceding the election in the magisterial district, in order to be qualified for the office of magistrate or constable.
You next raise the question as to whether a person on probation may become a candidate for public office.
We assume that you are referring to a person who has been convicted of a felony and then probated. Assuming this to be the case, we are enclosing a copy of OAG 77-95 covering this question.
You next raise the question as to whether a constable is allowed a fee for serving a summons in a magistrate's court.
The answer to the above question is to the effect that the constable is permitted the fees authorized by KRS 64.190, which includes a fee for serving a summons in a justice of the peace court. However, as of January 2, 1978, justices of the peace will be stripped of their judicial duties by virtue of the judicial amendment and pursuant to Ch. 14 of the Acts of the 1976 Special Session held last December, the fees allowed for constables for serving summonses in said court are abolished as of January 2, 1978. See Section 30 which amends KRS 64.190.