§ 28-4-314 — District Attorneys to Institute Prosecutions for or Make Reports to Grand Juries as to Violations of Prohibition Laws

Any district attorney in the county whose duty it is to prosecute criminal cases on behalf of the state shall not be prohibited from commencing prosecution on his own affidavit against any party violating any provision of any law of the State of Alabama for the suppression of the evils of intemperance, and every such district attorney, upon receiving information giving him probable cause to believe that there has been a violation of any statute upon the subject named, shall proceed to lay the matter before the grand jury or to institute a criminal prosecution against said party by affidavit before a court or judge of competent jurisdiction, if he is willing and able to make such affidavit for the institution of a criminal prosecution. If he is not, he must superintend the preparation of the papers and the institution of the prosecution if any citizen is willing to make an affidavit for the institution of a criminal prosecution against any party for such violation; provided, that the district attorney is of opinion from the facts at hand that there is reasonable ground to believe that the offense has been committed.

Legislative History

(Acts 1909, No. 191, p. 63; Acts 1915, No. 2, p. 8; Code 1923, §4642; Code 1940, T. 29, §117.)