COLUMBIA --- A memo from South Carolina's top judge says any courts created to consider violations of local ordinances such as smoking bans are illegal under the state Constitution, an edict that has some municipal officials wondering how they should deal with violators.

"The courts are purportedly established for the purpose of hearing smoking infractions, as well as various other local ordinance violations," Chief Justice Jean Toal wrote in the memo sent Monday to state municipal administrators and judges. "The creation of these courts is repugnant to the long-standing concept of the state uniform judicial system."

Instead, she wrote, infractions of local ordinances should be heard by magistrate and municipal courts.

Last year, soon after ruling that cities and towns have the power to ban indoor smoking in public places, Chief Justice Toal's court perplexed some local officials with a unanimous ruling about smoking enforcement on Sullivan's Island. The court ruled that the town can't make violating the smoking ban a crime and can't jail people who disobey.