Mississippi § 11-38-5 - Preliminary hearing.

§ 11-38-5. Preliminary hearing.

The clerk or justice issuing the writ may also, by a separate summons, require the parties to appear before him for a preliminary hearing to determine the rights of the parties to immediate possession of the property involved, at a time and place fixed in the summons, but shall allow the defendant not less than two (2) days’ notice. At the preliminary hearing the clerk or justice shall determine whether the temporary possession of the property is to be delivered to the plaintiff, retained by the defendant, or whether the proper officer shall seize and hold the property until a hearing on the merits to determine what bond, if any, should be required. An appropriate writ shall thereupon be issued for the enforcement of the temporary order. Upon written demand of either party the clerk, when the action is before a clerk of the court, shall refer the action for such preliminary hearing before any justice of the county or the judge of the court from which the process was issued. If temporary possession be granted to the plaintiff, the bond shall be for double the value of the property, and if temporary possession be granted to the defendant and bond be required, it shall be for not less than double the value of the plaintiff’s interest therein. Preliminary hearings may be determined by the justice or judge designated without regard to jurisdictional amount.