362 So. 2d 1259 | Ala. | 1978
RULE 7, ALABAMA RULES OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION DOCKET FEE — APPEAL FROM A DISTRICT COURT TO THE CIRCUIT COURT
Mr. Jimmy Lindsey, Circuit Clerk of DeKalb County, has submitted the following inquiry regarding Rule 7, Alabama Rules of Judicial Administration:
"Would you please advise me in writing as to what authority, if any, I have to collect a docketing fee for district court civil cases appealed to circuit civil court."
Section
It is my opinion that Rule 7, Alabama Rules of Judicial Administration, considered with §§
FEES FOR MISCELLANEOUS FILINGS
"Any filing for which there is no express cost under the consolidated fee structure shall be treated as an original filing for cost purposes."
"Consolidated fee structure" in Rule 7 means the fees prescribed in Chapter 19 of Title 12, Code of Alabama 1975. Opinion of Clerk, Ala.,
In my opinion, the words, "an original filing for cost purposes," refer to §
The part of §
"The docket fees collected in civil cases shall be: . . .
(3) Thirty-five dollars for cases filed in circuit court."
The right of appeal and the procedure for appeals from the district courts to the circuit courts are stated in §
The prevailing rule in Alabama is that an appeal is the institution of a new statutory proceeding. Ohio Cas. Ins. Co.v. Gantt,
"An `appeal,' in this state, is the mode of commencing a new and independent suit in this court, the object of which is a revision of the proceedings of the inferior court. It is the mode of initiating a judicial proceeding before a court of competent jurisdiction."
Section
In Rudolph v. State,
"The very word de novo itself means anew, afresh, trying anew the matters involved in the original hearing as if they had not been heard before and as if no decision had been previously entered."
It is my opinion that an appeal from a district court to a circuit court is a case within the meaning of the words, "cases filed," in §