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The following opinion is presented on-line for informational use only and does not replace the official version. (Mich Dept of Attorney General Web Site - www.ag.state.mi.us)


STATE OF MICHIGAN

FRANK J. KELLEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL

Opinion No. 6232

June 19, 1984

APPEARANCE:

Appearance tickets--authority of city building inspectors and zoning enforcement personnel to issue and serve

WORDS AND PHRASES:

'Authorized by Law'

City building inspectors and zoning enforcement personnel may issue and serve appearance tickets only when authorized by statute to do so.

Honorable Joseph Forbes

State Representative

Capitol Building

Lansing, Michigan

You have asked whether building inspectors and zoning enforcement personnel of a home rule city are authorized to issue and serve appearance tickets under the terms of 1927 PA 175, c IV, Sec. 9c(2), as amended; MCLA 764.9c(2); MSA 28.868(3)(2), which provides as follows:

'A public servant other than a police officer, who is specially authorized by law to issue and serve appearance tickets with respect to a particular class of offenses of less than felony grade, may issue and serve upon a person an appearance ticket if the public servant has reasonable cause to believe that the person has committed an offense.'

Since there is no state law which so authorizes city building inspectors and zoning enforcement personnel to issue and serve appearance tickets, your question is rephrased as follows: whether a home rule city may empower its building inspectors and zoning enforcement personnel to issue and serve appearance tickets in accordance with the terms of 1927 PA 175, c IV, Sec. 9c(2), supra.

Answer to this question turns upon the meaning of the statutory phrase 'authorized by law.' In Fennell v Common Council of Bay City, 36 Mich 186, 190 (1877), the Court stated:

'The term law, as defined by the elementary writers, emanates from the sovereignty and not from its creatures. The legislative power of the state is vested in the state legislature, and their enactments are the only instruments that can in any proper sense be called laws.'

Delta County v City of Gladstone, 305 Mich 50; 8 NW2d 908 (1943).

It is my opinion, therefore, that city building inspectors and zoning enforcement personnel are not authorized by law to issue and serve appearance tickets upon persons who violate the building code or the zoning ordinance of a city. It is my further opinion that city building inspectors and zoning enforcement personnel may not be empowered to do so by city ordinance or charter provision.

Frank J. Kelley

Attorney General

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