A. Except for parties granted free process because of indigency, any party filing any civil action or requesting services from the magistrate court shall pay in advance the costs required by law to be collected by magistrates.

B. Any person filing a complaint in a criminal action in the magistrate court shall pay in advance the costs required by law to be collected by magistrates, except that no costs shall be collected from a person filing a complaint in a criminal action alleging domestic violence, a campus security officer, a municipal police officer, an Indian tribal or pueblo law enforcement officer or from a full-time, salaried county or state law enforcement officer filing the complaint.

History: 1953 Comp., § 36-8-3, enacted by Laws, 1968, ch. 62, § 94; 1969, ch. 198, § 2; 1977, ch. 164, § 2; 1991, ch. 82, § 9; 1995, ch. 176, § 2.

Repeals. — Laws 1968, ch. 62, § 171, repealed former 36-8-3, 1953 Comp., relating to service of notice, effective January 1, 1969.

Cross references. — For costs of criminal processes associated with domestic abuse offenses, see 40-13-3.1 NMSA 1978.

The 1995 amendment, effective July 1, 1995, inserted "a person filing a complaint in a criminal action alleging domestic violence" in Subsection B.

The 1991 amendment, effective June 14, 1991, deleted former Subsection C which read "Except for persons granted free process because of indigency, any magistrate who dockets any civil or criminal action or performs any service without collecting the required costs in advance is guilty of a petty misdemeanor and shall be removed from office."

Scope of department of agriculture exemption. — No docket fee is to be paid by the state department of agriculture for filing complaints in magistrate courts provided the complaint is filed by a full-time, salaried, county or state law enforcement officer, a campus security officer, an Indian tribal or Pueblo law enforcement officer or a municipal police officer. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-66.

Full-time, salaried county sanitarian is a law enforcement officer as that term is used here. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 70-68.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 47 Am. Jur. 2d Justices of the Peace § 43 et seq.

Power of justice to require payment in advance of fees for trying case, 117 A.L.R. 1393.

24 C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 408 to 418; 51 C.J.S. Justices of the Peace §§ 4, 16, 23, 27, 43.