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Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.491

Public records; disposal; removal, mutilation, or destruction; violation as misdemeanor; penalty

Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Gogebic County Clerk v. Gogebic County Board of Commissioners (1980)

Most recently applied in 239 Mich. App. 49 - People v. Carlin (March 2000)

1931, Act 328, Eff

How often courts cite this section

19801990200010
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

Sec. 491. (1) All official books, papers, or records created by or received in any office or agency of this state or its political subdivisions are public property belonging to the people of this state. All such books, papers, or records must be disposed of only as provided in section 11 of the Michigan history center act, 2016 PA 470, MCL 399.811, section 2a of the records reproduction act, 1992 PA 116, MCL 24.402a, and sections 2137 and 2138 of the revised judicature act of 1961, 1961 PA 236, MCL 600.2137 and 600.2138. (2) An individual shall not willfully carry away, mutilate, or destroy the books, papers, records, or any part of a book, paper, or record described in subsection (1) and shall not retain and continue to hold the possession of those books, papers, or records, or parts of those books, papers, or records and refuse to deliver up those books, papers, records, or parts of those books, papers, or records to the proper officer having charge of the office to which those books, papers, or records belong upon demand being made by that officer or, if the office is defunct, the Michigan history center created in the Michigan history center act, 2016 PA 470, MCL 399.801 to 399.812. An individual who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 2 years or a fine of not more than $1,000.00.

Official source: Michigan Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Michigan statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.