22 Ga. App. 214 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1918
The Mechanics Savings Bank instituted suit in a justice’s court in the city of Savannah, against the maker and the indorser of a promissory note. At the conclusion of the trial the magistrate, before whom the case was tried without the interven
The Civil Code (1910), § 4679, requires justices of the peace “to keep a docket of all causes brought before them, in which must be entered the names of the parties, the returns of the officer, qnd the entry of the judgment, specifying its amount and' the day of its rendition.” To determine, therefore, whether there was a valid judgment, resort must be had to the docket entry, and to it alone. Mere verbal announcement of decision is no judgment. N., C. & St. L. Railway v. Brown, 3 Ga. App. 561 (2) (60 S. E. 319). See also Hargrove v. Turner, 108 Ga. 580, 582 (34 S. E. 1); McCandless v. Inland Acid Co., 112 Ga. 291, 298 (37 S. E. 419). It is cléar, therefore, from these citations, that to be enforced as the judgment of the justice (not on appeal), there must.be a written judgment actually entered on the docket during the term (whether consistent with his previous announcement or not)'; or) if no judgment is entered on the docket in term time, a judgment must be announced in term time and transcribed on the docket' after judgment. See Park v. Callaway, 128 Ga. 119 (57 S. E. 229)’. The docket, and not the original summons, is the'proper place to enter
The question next arises: What powers does a justice of the peace have in regard to amending-or modifying a judgment formally entered by him. It is well settled that as a general rule, in courts of record,, judgments are in the breast of the court until the end of the term, and may be amended, modified, set aside, or changed, in form or effect, at the pleasure of the court. This power does not, however, exist in justice’s courts. O’Donovan v. Ocean Steamship Co., 1 Ga. App. 190, 191 (57 S. E. 982); Field v. Peel, 122 Ga, 503, 506 (50 S. E. 346), and cit.; White v. Burnett, 113 Ga. 151 (38 S. E. 332); Fields v. Jordan, 124 Ga. 685, 687 (52 S. E. 885). It is likewise well settled that the act of entering judgment on a verdict of a jury is controlled by entirely different principles from those affecting a judgment rendered by the magistrate himself. However, the right of amending a judgment based on a verdict of a jury is not involved in this case, since here the justice was sitting without the intervention of a jury. Although a magistrate has no power to set aside a judgment rendered by him, he nevertheless has some power to amend the same. Bell v. Bowdoin, 109 Ga. 209 (34 S. E. 339). In answering the question, “How far does it [the power to amend a judgment in a justice’s court] extend?” this court has said: “The power to amend a judgment so that it should, in its substantial effect; be different from what it was originally is equivalent to the power to set aside one judgment and substitute another. The only logical result, therefore, is that the magistrate may amend his judgments only in matters "of form. As in the case of Bell v. Bowdoin, supra, when the judgment expresses a finding against the defendant for the principal and interest sued for, an amendment of the pleadings, setting out definitely the amounts, does not vary the legal tenor and effect of the judgment, and is therefore permissible. An amendment which will give the judgment a legal effect different from that originally stated, or which will extend or limit its scope, is not allowable.” N., C. & St. L. Railway v. Brown, supra. In that case a judgment was rendered by the magistrate and entered on his docket in favor of the plaintiff, and against the de
The judge of the superior court therefore erred in overruling the petition for certiorari.
Judgment reversed.