The Mississippi Code is the official compilation of every general and permanent statute in force in the state, organized into Titles 1 through 99. You can read it online at no cost through the Mississippi Secretary of State’s website, and any provision is cited in the form Miss. Code Ann. § Title-Chapter-Section (Rev. Year).
How the Code Is Organized
The code uses a three-level hierarchy: Titles, Chapters, and Sections. Each Title covers a broad legal subject. Title 11 deals with Civil Practice and Procedure. Title 97 collects criminal offenses like assault, burglary, and fraud. Within a Title, Chapters break the subject into narrower topics, and Sections hold the actual text of the law.
Section numbers use a decimal system. When the legislature passes a new law that belongs between two existing sections, it slots in as a decimal rather than forcing everything after it to be renumbered. Section 97-3-7 covers simple assault, and a related provision can be added as 97-3-7.1 without disturbing the rest of Title 97.1Justia Law. Mississippi Code 97-3-7 – Simple Assault The practical benefit is that citations in older court opinions and contracts keep pointing to the right place year after year.
Reading the Code Online for Free
The Mississippi Secretary of State’s office publishes the full unannotated code online through a portal powered by LexisNexis.2Mississippi Secretary of State. Mississippi Law You can browse by Title and Chapter or run a keyword search. The interface is basic, but it works for anyone who has a section number or a topic to search.
One caveat about the online version. Mississippi has not adopted the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act, the model law that would require states to authenticate their online statutes as tamper-proof and preserve them permanently. The digital code isn’t unreliable in ordinary use, but it doesn’t carry the same formal legal weight as the printed volumes. If you’re relying on a specific provision for something that matters, cross-check it against a current print supplement at a law library or courthouse.
Annotated Versus Unannotated Editions
The free online code is unannotated. It gives you the statute text and nothing more. That’s enough for most people who just want to read what the law says.
The Mississippi Code Annotated adds editorial material on top of the statute: summaries of court decisions interpreting the section, attorney general opinions, historical notes showing when the section was amended, and cross-references to related provisions. Attorneys and judges use the annotated edition because it shows how courts have actually applied a statute. It’s kept at the Mississippi State Law Library in Jackson, at many county courthouses, and at some larger public libraries. Commercial digital access through Lexis or Westlaw is subscription-based.
When a Statute Takes Effect
A newly passed bill doesn’t become enforceable the moment the governor signs it. Under the Mississippi Constitution, a law of general application cannot be enforced until sixty days after passage unless the legislature specifies an earlier date in the bill itself.3Mississippi Secretary of State. Mississippi Constitution Many bills include a specific effective date, often July 1 of the year they pass, which overrides the sixty-day default. Before assuming a recent statute is in force, check the effective date clause at the end of the bill.
New statutes are also presumed to apply going forward, not backward. Courts treat retroactive application with skepticism, grounded in the due process principle that holding someone liable under a law that didn’t exist when they acted is fundamentally unfair. Exceptions exist, particularly in tax law, but the default is that a Mississippi statute governs conduct occurring after its effective date.
New laws first appear as Session Laws, a chronological record of every act passed during a legislative session. They only become part of the numbered code after codification, when each act is analyzed, assigned to the correct Title and Chapter, and slotted into the existing numbering.
How to Cite the Mississippi Code
The standard citation format is:
Miss. Code Ann. § [Title]-[Chapter]-[Section] (Rev. [Year]).
“Miss. Code Ann.” abbreviates Mississippi Code Annotated. The section symbol is followed by the three-part number, hyphenated. The parenthetical at the end tells the reader which edition of the published volume you’re referencing.4Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Mississippi Supreme Court Citation Practice
The prefix inside the parenthetical matters. “Rev.” followed by a year points to the revised bound volume with that copyright date. If the provision appears in a pocket supplement inserted into the back of the volume rather than in the main volume itself, use “Supp.” with the supplement year. A provision in the 2009 revised volume reads Miss. Code Ann. § 43-13-115 (Rev. 2009); a provision updated by a later supplement carries the supplement year instead.4Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Mississippi Supreme Court Citation Practice
For court filings, the Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure and the Bluebook both inform the expected format, and the sample citations used by the Mississippi Supreme Court itself follow the pattern above. When in doubt, match what the court uses.
When Federal Law Overrides the Code
The Mississippi Code covers a wide range of subjects, but it doesn’t operate on its own. Under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, federal law overrides any conflicting state statute. When a provision of the Mississippi Code directly conflicts with a federal statute, regulation, or constitutional requirement, the federal rule controls.
Preemption takes several forms. Congress sometimes explicitly declares that federal law replaces state regulation in a given area. Other times the conflict is implied because a party cannot comply with both the state and federal requirements at once. In some fields, federal regulation is so comprehensive that it leaves no room for state legislation at all.5Department of Justice (Office of Legal Counsel). Preemptive Effect of Defense Production Act Order on State Law Areas where the Mississippi Code most often bumps against federal preemption include immigration, bankruptcy, patent and copyright, and certain environmental and workplace safety regulations.
The practical takeaway: a Mississippi statute you find in the code can be unenforceable in a situation where federal law applies. If your research touches a federally regulated area, check for preemption before building an argument on a state provision a court might set aside.