QUESTIONS CONCERNING VALIDITY OF

STATUTES AND ORDERS (a) Service. If the validity of any statute, executive order or regulation, municipal ordinance, franchise or written directive of any governmental officer, agent, or body is raised in the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals, and the state, municipal corporation, or governmental body which enacted or promulgated it is not a party to the proceeding, the party raising such question shall serve a copy of its brief, which shall clearly set out the question raised, on the Attorney General, the city attorney, or other chief legal officer of the governmental body involved. (b) Right to Respond. The state, municipal corporation, or governmental body shall, within the time allowed for the filing of a response to the brief, be entitled to file a response and may subsequently be heard orally in the discretion of the court. (c) Necessity. Except by special order of the court to which the case is assigned, in the absence of such notice neither the Supreme Court nor the Court of Appeals will decide the question until the notice and right to respond contemplated by this rule has been given to the appropriate governmental body. Advisory Committee Historical Note Effective January 1, 1995, Miss.R.App.P. 44 replaced Miss.Sup.Ct.R. 44, embracing proceedings in the Court of Appeals. 644-647 So.2d LXXXIII-LXXXIV (West Miss.Cases 1994). Comment