2021 Georgia Code
Title 15 - Courts
Chapter 6 - Superior Courts
Article 2 - Clerks of Superior Courts
§ 15-6-62. Additional Clerk Duties

1. The clerk of superior court is required to record all the proceedings relating to any civil action or criminal case within six months after the final determination of the case. Such recording may be in well-bound books, on microfilm, or in digital format. If a clerk elects to record proceedings on microfilm or in digital format, he or she shall make available to the public a machine for reading and reproducing such microfilmed or digitally formatted records. If a clerk elects to record proceedings in digital format, the provisions of Code Section 15-6-62.1 shall apply.
2. Every clerk of superior court shall record, microfilm, or digitally image for the purpose of permanently preserving:
   1. Every part of the pleadings in every case;
   2. All garnishments, affidavits, bonds, and answers thereto;
   3. All attachment affidavits, bonds, and writs of attachment; and
   4. All claim affidavits and bonds and all bonds given in any judicial proceeding.

      The clerk shall not allow any record to be taken from his or her office before recording them as required in this Code section.

3. Where any paper becomes lost or destroyed, a certified copy thereof from the clerk of superior court may be substituted. No fee shall be charged or collected for any such copy if the loss of the same is caused by or results from any negligence or fault of the clerk.
4. This Code section shall not apply to cases dismissed and settled before the record is made.

(Ga. L. 1880-81, p. 93, §§ 1-3; Civil Code 1895, § 4361; Civil Code 1910, § 4892; Code 1933, § 24-2715; Ga. L. 1968, p. 1117, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1787, § 1; Ga. L. 2001, p. 1001, § 2; Ga. L. 2012, p. 173, § 1-11/HB 665.)

- Use of photostatic and photographic equipment by clerks, § 15-6-87.

Public records, § 24-10-1005.

Standards governing use of microforms by agencies of state government or any of its political subdivisions, § 50-18-120 et seq.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Authority of legislature regarding form of permanent records.

- General Assembly has the authority to provide that such records as are required to be kept by courts of record may be kept in any reasonable form so long as the form adopted appears to be reasonably calculated to be one which lends itself to permanency. Crosby v. Dixie Metal Co., 227 Ga. 541, 181 S.E.2d 823 (1971).

There is a presumption that the clerk did the clerk's duty. Benton v. Maddox, 56 Ga. App. 132, 192 S.E. 316 (1937).

Actual date of filing is the date upon which the paper is handed to the clerk to be filed. Brinson v. Georgia R.R. Bank & Trust Co., 45 Ga. App. 459, 165 S.E. 321 (1932).

- Record in a case consists of the declaration, process, return of service by the sheriff, and other official entries, plea, verdict, judgment, and all interlocutory orders passed by the court during the pendency of the case, and in case of a motion for an order nisi, and an order granting or refusing a new trial, together with any order passed by the court, setting it down for a hearing in vacation, or adjourning the hearing from time to time, and in case a new trial is granted, all subsequent orders passed by the court, including the final judgment. White v. Newton Mfg. Co., 38 Ga. 587 (1869); Cloer v. Vulcan Elec. Co., 113 Ga. App. 766, 149 S.E.2d 722 (1966).

- Duty of the clerk of the superior court to record all the proceedings relating to the suit does not embrace the evidence given in the trial. If so, it would be necessary for the clerk in all cases to take down the oral evidence on the trial, and record it as part of the proceedings. Cloer v. Vulcan Elec. Co., 113 Ga. App. 766, 149 S.E.2d 722 (1966).

- Clerk's writ record, although presumably correct, and possibly conclusive as against parol testimony as to what the record does contain, is not conclusive as to what the record does not contain. Benton v. Maddox, 56 Ga. App. 132, 192 S.E. 316 (1937).

- If the defendant introduced the writ record which contained a copy of the petition, the process, and the judgment taken, and the record was silent as to service, defendant's testimony that defendant had not been served was not subject to objection, as being incompetent, for the reason that evidence had been introduced which tended to disprove that any entry of service had been made, to wit, the silence of the writ record. Benton v. Maddox, 56 Ga. App. 132, 192 S.E. 316 (1937).

- Object of the records required by this section is not to give notice of liens by judgments. Plant v. Gunn, 7 F. 751 (S.D. Ga. 1881).

- Applying the maxim that when certain things are expressly required others are excluded, this section should be construed as providing that only when a case is dismissed or settled, and thereby finally terminated, and not otherwise, would the clerk be excused from recording the pleadings in the writ book. Reeve Bros. v. Allen, 67 Ga. App. 514, 21 S.E.2d 244 (1942).

- Under the law, and under an order removing cases to the federal court, the proceedings are only stayed in the city court. This certainly does not contemplate that the cases are dismissed or settled or finally disposed of in the city court. The situation is the same as it would have been had the cases, instead of being removed to the federal court, been taken to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court of this state. In the later event, on the certification and the filing of the bill of exceptions, the court in which the cases were pending would temporarily lose jurisdiction until the cases were passed on by the appellate court and remanded to the trial court. Reeve Bros. v. Allen, 67 Ga. App. 514, 21 S.E.2d 244 (1942).

- When a case is removed from the state court to the federal court on an order of the state court, it is not necessarily finally settled or disposed of as respects the state court. The cases may possibly afterwards be remanded by the federal court to the state court, and the cases would then resume their positions in the state court as originally filed therein together with all the pleadings. Reeve Bros. v. Allen, 67 Ga. App. 514, 21 S.E.2d 244 (1942).

- Requisite costs of the recording of the cases on the writ book in the city court were legally collectible by the clerk on the removal of the cases to the federal court, notwithstanding at the time of the removal the clerk had not in fact recorded the pleadings on the writ book. This ruling applies only as respects pleadings actually filed in the city court before the court lost jurisdiction on removal to the federal court. No papers could have been legally filed in the city court after the removal of the cases and no costs of recording such papers could be exacted by the clerk. Reeve Bros. v. Allen, 67 Ga. App. 514, 21 S.E.2d 244 (1942).

- On removal to a federal court as required by an act of Congress of a case pending in a state court, if the law requires the accrued costs in the state court to be paid, the party removing the case is liable for the costs of placing on the writ book or docket of the state court the existing pleadings on file in the office of the clerk of the state court, notwithstanding at the time the clerk has not in fact placed such pleadings on the writ book or docket. Reeve Bros. v. Allen, 67 Ga. App. 514, 21 S.E.2d 244 (1942).

Cited in Atlanta Title & Trust Co. v. Tidwell, 173 Ga. 499, 160 S.E. 620 (1931); Atlanta Coach Co. v. Simmons, 55 Ga. App. 532, 190 S.E. 610 (1937); Mize v. Harber, 189 Ga. 737, 8 S.E.2d 1 (1940); DeKalb County v. Deason, 221 Ga. 237, 144 S.E.2d 446 (1965); Hopkins v. Harris, 130 Ga. App. 489, 203 S.E.2d 762 (1973); Burger v. Burgess, 234 Ga. 388, 216 S.E.2d 294 (1975).

Purpose of this section is to preserve precise history of each case, including conclusions of law drawn by the proper officer; the proceedings which are to be recorded are the complaint, process, return of service, and other official entries, the plea and answer, the verdict, judgment, all interlocutory orders, and any motions and orders relating to new trial. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U70-232.

- Since the transcript of testimony and other evidence taken in administrative law cases on appeal to the superior court would not be part of the proceedings in the superior court, the clerk of the superior court is not required to record the transcript of testimony and other evidence in administrative law cases that are on appeal to the court. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U79-3 but see Opinion No. U82-29, annotated below.

- O.C.G.A. § 15-6-62 requires recordation of pleadings and proceedings filed during pendency of workers' compensation appeals in superior courts, and the clerk is authorized to collect fees for such recordation pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 15-6-77. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U82-29.

Transcripts and other evidence introduced in case do not have to be recorded in writ record; all subsequent papers such as notice of appeal, enumeration of errors, etc., as well as the remittitur, should be recorded in the writ record. 1967 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 67-64.

- Clerk may collect the appropriate fee for all pleadings which have been filed and recorded prior to the dismissal of a case. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U70-200.

- Language of Ga. L. 1962, p. 639, § 2 (see now O.C.G.A. § 15-6-87) was employed only to make it clear that no county governing authority was under any duty to purchase microequipment. 1965-66 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 66-23.

Clerks through whom documents are transmitted under O.C.G.A. § 17-7-32 have no duty to file or record the documents. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U83-38.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 15A Am. Jur. 2d, Clerks of Court, § 20 et seq.

- 21 C.J.S., Courts, § 334 et seq.

- Record of instrument which comprises or includes an interest or right that is not a proper subject of record, 3 A.L.R.2d 577.