Mississippi Code
Miss. Code Ann. § 97-29-47 (2026)
Profanity or drunkenness in public place
✓ current as of July 2026
If any person shall profanely swear or curse, or use vulgar and indecent language, or be drunk in any public place, in the presence of two (2) or more persons, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) or be imprisoned in the county jail not more than thirty (30) days or both.
Codes, Hutchinson's 1848, ch. 64, art. 4(1); 1857, ch. 64, art. 340; 1871, § 2833; 1880, § 2974; 1892, § 1219; 1906, § 1295; Hemingway's 1917, § 1028; 1930, § 1059; 1942, § 2291; Laws, 1912, ch. 212; Laws, 1971, ch. 448, § 2, eff. 3/25/1971.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 10
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1992–2023 · leading case: Jones v. State, 798 So. 2d 1241 (Miss. 2001).
Jones v. State, 798 So. 2d 1241 (Miss. 2001). “Miss.Code Ann. § 97-29-47 (2000) proscribes the use of profanity in a public place.”
Brendle v. City of Houston, 759 So. 2d 1274 (Miss. Ct. App. 2000). “In the case sub judice, Miss.Code Ann. § 97-29-47 (Rev.1994) does not distinguish between language directed at the average person and that directed at police officers.”
United States v. Erick Garcia-Sandobal, 703 F.3d 1278 (11th Cir. 2013). “46 (2); Miss.Code Ann. § 97-29-47; Va.Code Ann. § 18.”
Goforth v. City of Ridgeland, 603 So. 2d 323 (Miss. 1992). “Miss. Code Ann. § 97-29-47 (1972); Gregg, 374 So.”
Miss. Com'n on Jud. Performance v. Guest, 717 So. 2d 325 (Miss. 1998). “See Miss.Code Ann. § 97-29-47 (1994). This, in itself, renders the judiciary a subject of derision and undermines public respect in the laws.”
Lewis v. State, 831 So. 2d 553 (Miss. Ct. App. 2002). “Miss.Code Ann. § 97-29-47 (Rev.2000). Being found alone in a vehicle alongside the road, even when an excuse is later offered, may be sufficient to infer past driving.”
Kramm v. State, 949 So. 2d 18 (Miss. 2007). “Miss.Code Ann. § 97-29-47 (Rev.2000). Being found alone in a vehicle alongside the road, even when an excuse is later offered, may be sufficient to infer past driving.”
Thomas v. State, 734 So. 2d 339 (Miss. Ct. App. 1999). “NOTES [1] Miss.Code Ann. § 97-29-47 (Rev.1994) states in part that: If any person shall profanely swear or curse, or use vulgar and indecent language.”
Harris v. Dobbins (S.D. Miss. 2023). “23 See Miss. Code Ann. § 97-29-47 (“If any person shall profanely swear or curse, or use vulgar and indecent language, or be drunk in any public place, in the presence of two (2) or more persons,” he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor).”
Richard Mark Jones v. State of Mississippi (Miss. 1999). “Miss. Code Ann. § 97-29-47 (2000) proscribes the use of profanity in a public place.”
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