Amendment 5 strikes obsolete ‘orphans’ business’ language
The Alabama Law Institute was created by the Legislature in 1967 to revise and clarify Alabama’s laws, including those that are obsolete.
Statewide Amendment 5 on the ballot next week is a small example of the Alabama Law Institute’s work.
Amendment 5 would remove from the Alabama Constitution a provision that says probate judges have jurisdiction over “orphans’ business.”
The listing of “orphans’ business” as a duty of probate judges is obsolete language, said David Kimberley, deputy director of the Alabama Law Institute. Kimberley said the change would have no practical impact. The amendment came from a recommendation by a committee that proposed changes to Article VI, the judicial article of the constitution.
Sen. Will Barfoot, a Republican from Montgomery, sponsored the bill proposing the amendment. The Senate and House of Representatives passed Barfoot’s bill without a dissenting vote in 2021, putting it on the ballot Tuesday.
Amendment 5 is one of 10 statewide amendments on ballots across Alabama on Tuesday.
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