§ 9-4-7.Only parties affected; when municipality made party; when Attorney General served and heard

Three separate protections sit inside this section, each addressing who has to be brought into a declaratory judgment case and whose interests the resulting declaration can affect. Subsection (a) sets the outer boundary: a declaration binds only the people who were parties to the proceeding, not anyone who was not there to be heard.

Subsection (b) requires a municipality to be joined whenever a case questions the validity of one of its own ordinances or franchises, and gives the municipality the right to be heard as a party rather than a bystander. A court cannot rule on whether a city ordinance is valid without the city itself in the room.

Subsection (c) reaches further than declaratory judgment actions alone — it applies to any action, declaratory or otherwise, that alleges a state statute, an Act of the General Assembly, an administrative order or regulation, or a state-granted franchise is unconstitutional or invalid. The Attorney General has to be served with a copy of the proceeding and gets the right to be heard in defense of the challenged law, which can include appearing as a party as of right if the Attorney General decides that role is appropriate.