§ 24-11-20 [Establishing Duplicate of Lost Office Papers]

If an important court document gets lost, a replacement copy can be made right away. This applies to things like formal charges, legal filings, and other official papers that are part of an active court case.

The replacement is called a duplicate, and a judge can approve it quickly through a simple request called a motion. You do not have to wait a long time or go through a complicated process to get the lost document replaced.

An "office paper" in this rule means any document that started or is part of a case that has already gone to trial. So this rule only covers papers connected to an ongoing court proceeding, not documents from before a case officially began.