§ 162-5. Vacancy filled; duties performed by coroner or chief deputy. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 162‑5.  Vacancyfilled; duties performed by coroner or chief deputy.

If any vacancy occurs in the office of sheriff, the coroner of thecounty shall execute all process directed to the sheriff until the firstmeeting of the county commissioners next succeeding such vacancy, when theboard shall elect a sheriff to supply the vacancy for the residue of the term,who shall possess the same qualifications, enter into the same bond, and besubject to removal, as the sheriff regularly elected. If the board should failto fill such vacancy, the coroner shall continue to discharge the duties ofsheriff until it shall be filled.

In those counties where the office of coroner has been abolished, thechief deputy sheriff, or if there is no chief deputy, then the senior deputy inyears of service, shall perform all the duties of the sheriff until the countycommissioners appoint some person to fill the unexpired term. In all countiesthe regular deputy sheriffs shall, during the interim of the vacancy, continueto perform their duties with full authority. (1829, c. 5, s. 8; R.S., c. 109, s. 11; R.C., c. 105, s. 11; Code, s.2071; Rev., s. 2811; C.S., s. 3929; 1973, c. 74; 1983, c. 670, s. 2.)