Spencer v. Smith
Spencer v. Smith
Opinion of the Court
Without a brief of evidence which is satisfactory to the court, a rule nisi for a new trial should not be granted. The granting of a rule nisi at the proper time for such a proceeding, is, therefore, a presumptive approval of the brief, if any has been agreed upon by counsel and filed. 41 Ga., 577. Such implied approval will serve to enable the court to entertain the motion and have the agreed brief amended, should it be ascertained to be defective or incorrect. Doubtless, the 49th rule of practice contemplates in the main actual revision and express approval, and it is only by a sort of equitable expansion of the rule that any other sort can be made to suffice. But presumptive or implied approval has been recognized, and pronounced sufficient; and there is, I think, no decision to the contrary. The cases (such as that of Woolbright vs. Collins, this term), which hold that express approval is required to prepare the brief to come up to this court as a part of the record, under section 4253 of the Code, are not in point on the question now before us. Formerly, a brief, though revised and expressly approved, was not considered a part of the record. To reach this court, it had to be embodied in the bill of exceptions, or annexed to it as an exhibit. The clerk’s certificate would not authenticate it; the authentication had to be by the judge. This method of bringing it here may still be used ; and when used, any presumptive or implied approval that would suffice in the court below will be equally effective here. But a cumulative method of bringing up the brief to this court was established by the act of 1870, which now forms section 4253 of the Code. The section reads thus: “The brief of evidence, on motion for new trial, filed and approved according to law, is hereby declared to be a part of the record of the case to which it applies, and need not, except by reference thereto, be embodied in the bill of exceptions.” To raise the brief from matter in vais, which was its former rank, to matter of record, not
Judgment reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Spencer v. Smith, governor
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- 1 case
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- Published