A justice of the peace with whom the docket of the justice's predecessor or of any other justice is deposited has and may exercise over all actions and proceedings entered in the docket the same jurisdiction as if the actions and proceedings were originally commenced before the justice. In the case of the creation of a new county or the change of the boundary between two counties, any justice into whose hands the docket of a justice formerly acting as justice within that territory is, for the purpose of this section, considered the successor of the former justice.
§ 3-10-514, MCA