13 S.E.2d 672 | Ga. | 1941
An order adjudging a previous entry of default "void and of no effect" is not a final judgment, and will not support a direct bill of exceptions assigning error thereon.
It is self-evident that this judgment is not a final judgment under the Code, § 6-701, and that the motion of the defendant to dismiss the writ of error on that ground must prevail. It is true that the judgment adjudicated that the entry of default theretofore made in the case was void, and as to that it was complete and final; but this is not the test, for all orders and judgments, unless conditional, finally dispose of the matters passed on. Generally speaking, a judgment such as will support a bill of exceptions to this court is one that finally disposes of the "cause" or would have done so "if it had been rendered as claimed by the plaintiff in error." Code, § 6-701. An entry of default is a judgment in the case only in the sense that it adjudges the case in default (Love *662
v. National Liberty Insurance Co.,
In Stubbs v. Mendel,
Our judgment is that the present writ of error must be dismissed for lack of a final judgment. Direction is given that the copy of the bill of exceptions, of file in the trial court, be treated as exceptions pendente lite.
Writ of error dismissed, with direction. All the Justices concur.