Rule 55 Records

Court clerks are required to keep official written records of what happens in criminal cases. This applies to both circuit court clerks and magistrate court clerks. The Supreme Court of Appeals decides what format these records should take, so clerks follow a standard system rather than making up their own way of doing things.

Every time a judge issues an order or makes a decision in a case, the clerk must write it down in these records. The clerk also has to note the exact date when each entry was made. This creates an official timeline of everything that happens in a case.

For anyone involved in a criminal case, this rule matters because it means there is always an official paper trail. If you need to know what happened in your case and when, these records are the place to look. They serve as the accurate, dated history of every decision the court made.