9-13-31 - Trial; reporting the trial.
§ 9-13-31. Trial; reporting the trial.
In all criminal cases, and (a) in all civil cases, and (b) matters in probate, and (c) in matters of special proceedings, wherein property or demands of as much as Fifty Dollars ($50.00) may be in issue, no party shall be required without his consent to go to trial in a circuit or chancery court unless the case is attended by a court reporter; provided, however, that the judge of any chancery court may dispense with the requirement of a court reporter in hearings on temporary support and maintenance and/or temporary child custody in domestic cases unless one (1) or both of the parties request a court reporter. And in and by means of the court reporter's shorthand notes, it shall be competent and effectual, for the purposes of appeal and all otherwise, to make of the record every part of the proceedings arising and done during the trial, from the opening until the conclusion thereof, including motions so arising to amend the pleadings, except amendments to indictments, and the ruling of the court thereon and all other motions and steps that may occur in the trial, in addition to the oral testimony. And in such a trial, provided objections are duly made and noted, no exceptions need be taken, either for the purposes of appeal or otherwise, or if taken shall not be noted, to any ruling or decision of the court, and this provision shall include the rulings of a court on objections to testimony. If any ruling or decision of the court as to any matter arising during the trial appear in the copy of the court reporter's notes, it shall not be necessary to take any exceptions or bill of exceptions thereto. Exceptions and bills of exception shall be necessary only when it is desired to reserve exceptions to some ruling or decision of the court which would not otherwise appear of record. No bill of exceptions need be taken to the action of the court in overruling a motion for a new trial. In all cases tried either in the circuit or chancery court in which the evidence is taken down by an official court reporter, all pleadings and all papers filed or introduced in the case, all orders of the court entered on the minutes, all instructions and a copy of the court reporter's notes shall constitute the record and no bill of exceptions shall be necessary in order to make any of the above matters part of the record.
Sources: Codes, 1892, § 736; 1906, § 797; Hemingway's 1917, § 581; 1930, § 724; 1942, § 1639; Laws, 1896, ch. 83; Laws, 1910, ch. 111; Laws, 1989, ch. 446, § 1; Laws, 1990, ch. 407, § 1, eff from and after passage (approved March 15, 1990).