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95 N.C. 674

State v. . Warren

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Decided October 5, 1886

Supreme Court of North Carolina · decided 1886-10-05

. MotioN for judgment upon forfeited recognizance and to amend record, heard before Philips, Judge, at October Criminal Term, 1886, of Wake Superior Court. This was a scire facias issued by the State against the defendant as bail of one Keith to show cause why the State should not have judgment against him for one hundred dollars, due by a recognizance entered into by said Keith at July Term, 1886, of Wake Superior Court, in which he had made default.

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently August 2003

3 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1886-10-05

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Ashe, J.

¶1 (after stating the facts as above). We find no error in the judgment of the Superior Court. There are no exceptions taken below to the amendment of the record as ordered by the Court, and if there had been, it would not have availed the defendant. The Court in ordering the amendment exercised a power which is incident to every court of record. Every court has power to amend its own *676 records so as to make them speak the truth; Parson v. Mc Bride,4 Jones, 99; State v. McAlpine, 4 Ired., 140; Ashe v. Streator, 8 Jones, 256; and this power may be exercised at any subsequent retm of the Court. And when exercised, the record stands as if it never had been defective. In State v. King, 5 Ired., 203; this Court held that a Court had the right to amend the records of any preceding term byinsert-ing what has been omitted, either by the act of the Clerk or of the Court; and a record so amended stands as if it had never been defective, or as if the entry had been made at the proper time. The recognizance taken by the Clerk in this case, as was found by his Plonor, was in the usual form, that the defendant should appear on Thursday and not depart the Court without leave, and we must take this to be the true record, for in a matter of this nature when a motion is made to amend the records, the facts found by his Honor are conclusive upon this Court; Murrill v. Humphrey, 76 N. C., 414; and if the entry on the docket was different it was perfectly competent for his Honor to order the minutes to be so amended as to make them conform to the truth, and when so amended the entry stands as if it had been so originally recorded; it is made the record which imports absolute verity and cannot be explained by parol testimony; Wade v. Odeneal, 3 Dev., 423. In this view of the case, there was no error. But where, as the entries of the Clerk upon the minutes are loose and imperfect, it is in the discretionary power of the Court to order an amendment by drawing them up and entering them in proper form, and when the Court acts in such discretion, its discretion cannot be reviewed in this Court. Pendleton v. Pendleton, 2 Jones, 135; Peterson v. Van, 83 N. C., 118. The power to amend lies entirely in the discretion of the Court; Bagley v. Wood, 12 Ired., 90; and when an amendment lies within the discretion of the presiding Judge of the Superior Court, this Court will not review the exercise of this discretion. Lippard v. Roseman, 72 N. C., 427.

¶2*677 There is no error, and the judgment of the Superior Court is affirmed.

¶3 No error. Affirmed.

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