Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.8281 (2026)
Clerk of court and deputy clerks; appointment; term.
REVISED JUDICATURE ACT OF 1961
Act 236 of 1961
600.8281 Clerk of court and deputy clerks; appointment; term.
Sec. 8281.
(1) In each county within a district of the first class, in each district of the second class, and in each political subdivision where the court sits within a district of the third class, the district judge or judges of the district shall appoint a clerk of the court. In districts of the first class the judge or judges may appoint the county clerk to act as clerk of the court.
(2) The clerk of the court shall appoint deputy clerks of the court subject to the approval of the judges.
(3) The clerk of the court, including a county clerk to the extent he or she is serving as clerk of the court, shall serve at the pleasure of the district judge or judges of the district.
(4) In the thirty-sixth district the chief judge of the district shall appoint the clerk of the court and deputy clerks pursuant to sections 8272, 8273, and 9104.
History: Add. 1968, Act 154, Imd. Eff. June 17, 1968 ;-- Am. 1971, Act 49, Eff. Jan. 1, 1972 ;-- Am. 1980, Act 438, Eff. Sept. 1, 1981
Compiler's Notes:
Sections 2 and 4 of Act 438 of 1980 provide:
“Conditional effective date; action constituting exercise of option; effect of exercising option.
“Section 2. (1) This amendatory act shall not take effect unless the city of Detroit and the county of Wayne, by resolutions adopted not later than May 1, 1981, by the governing bodies of the city and the county, respectively, agree to assume responsibility for any expenses required of the city or the county by this amendatory act, and the bills listed in enacting section 7 which are enacted and take effect.
“(2) If the city of Detroit and the county of Wayne, acting through their governing bodies, agree to assume responsibility for any expenses required of the city and the county by this amendatory act, and the bills listed in enacting section 7 which are enacted and take effect, that action constitutes an exercise of the city's and the county's option to provide a new activity or service or to increase the level of activity or service offered in the city of Detroit and the county of Wayne beyond that required by existing law, as the elements of that option are defined by Act No. 101 of the Public Acts of 1979, being sections 21.231 to 21.244 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, and a voluntary acceptance by the city and the county of all expenses and capital improvements which may result from establishment of the district court in the thirty-sixth district and the reorganization of the circuit court in the third judicial circuit and the recorder's court of the city of Detroit. However, the exercise of the option does not affect the state's obligation to pay the same portion of each district or circuit judge's salary which is paid by the state to the other district or circuit judges, or to appropriate and disburse funds to the district control units, city, or county, for the necessary costs of state requirements established by a state law, other than this amendatory act or the bills listed in enacting section 7 which becomes effective on or after December 23, 1978.”
The resolutions referred to in Section 2 were adopted by the city council of the city of Detroit on April 29, 1981, and by the board of commissioners of the county of Wayne on April 30, 1981.
“Effective date of certain sections.
“Section 4. Sections 304, 555, 563, 564, 567, 591, 592, 593, 594, 595, 641, 821, 1114, 1123, 1168, 1302, 1303, 1306, 1417, 1471, 1481, 5706, 8202, 8271, 8272, 8273, 8275, 8281, 8283, 8302, 8314, 8322, 8501, 8521, 8525, 8535, 8621, 9924, 9944, and 9947 shall take effect September 1, 1981.”