§6-2-10. Bonds of county officers; required for deputy sheriffs.

Every commissioner of a county commission and every clerk of a circuit court shall give bond with good security, to be approved by the circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation; and every sheriff, deputy sheriff, surveyor of lands, clerk of a county commission, assessor, county superintendent of schools, notary public and magistrate shall give bond with good security, to be approved, unless otherwise provided by law, by the county commission of the county in which such officer is to act. The penalty of the bond of each commissioner of a county commission shall be not less than $20,000 and not more than $200,000, the amount to be fixed by the circuit court of the county, or the judge thereof in vacation, by order entered of record on the proper order books of both the county and circuit courts; of the clerk of the circuit court, not less than $10,000 nor more than $50,000; of the sheriff, not less than $100,000 nor more than the aggregate amount of all state, county, district, school, municipal and other moneys which will probably come into his hands during any one year of his term of office; of the deputy sheriff, not less than $35,000 nor more than $100,000; of the surveyor of lands, not less than $1,000 nor more than $3,000; of the clerk of the county commission, not less than $10,000 nor more than $50,000; of the assessor, not less than $2,000 nor more than $5,000; of the county superintendent of schools, not less than $10,000 nor more than $50,000; of a notary public, not less than $250 nor more than $1,000. Any public body required to pay the premiums on official bonds may provide a blanket bond policy for two or more such official bonds: Provided, That the bond herein required to be given by a notary public may be given before the clerk of the county commission, in the vacation of said commission, and approved by it at its next regular session.

For the purposes of this section, "deputy sheriff" shall mean a person appointed by a sheriff as his deputy whose primary duty as such deputy is within the scope of active, general law enforcement and as such is authorized to carry deadly weapons, patrol the highways, perform police functions, make arrests or safeguard prisoners.

The bond described in this section is not required for deputy sheriffs if a county purchases professional liability insurance pursuant to the provisions of section three, article fourteen-a, chapter seven of this code.