Title 12 — Title 12

Any provisions of this title regulating procedure shall apply only if the procedure is not governed by the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure, the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure or any other rule of practice and procedure as may be adopted by the Supreme Court of Alabama. His…

The courts of this state may punish for contempt as provided by law. History: (Code 1852, §§568, 604, 628, 671, 704, 712; Code 1867, §§660, 700, 746, 791, 832, 842; Code 1876, §§571, 618, 657, 694, 746, 758; Code 1886, §4194; Code 1896, §4590; Code 1907, §6693; Code 1923, §3798; …

Contempt. Any attorney or officer who is ordered to be punished for a contempt in the circuit court may appeal to the appropriate appellate court and may stay the execution of any fine or sentence imposed by the execution of a bond, payable to the state, with two sufficient suret…

No judge of any court shall sit in any case or proceeding in which he is interested or related to any party within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity or in which he has been of counsel or in which is called in question the validity of any judgment or judicial proceedi…

of Courts of Appeals from Participation in Decision of Cases. No justice of the Supreme Court or judge of a Court of Appeals of Alabama shall participate in the decision of any case in the Supreme Court or a court of appeals appealed to said court from any lower court of the Stat…

Circuit, District, or Probate Court. Should the need for special judges in the circuit court, district court or probate court arise, the Supreme Court may appoint and commission special circuit judges or special district court judges or special probate judges for temporary servic…

(a) At the request of the affected judge in a particular circuit, the presiding circuit court judge of the circuit may appoint and commission a special circuit court judge, special district court judge, or special judge of probate for temporary service. The person so appointed sh…

(a) Any circuit court judge or district court judge who has served for 10 or more years in any combination of service as a judge of the circuit court or district court in this state and who retires pursuant to Chapter 18 of this title, may be appointed as a senior judge. A circui…

of Government Entitled; Uniformity of Treatment as to Benefits, Etc., of Supernumerary Justices and Judges and Retired Justices and Judges; Failure by Justice or Judge to Apply for Supernumerary or Retirement Benefits at Time of Leaving Active State Service Not to Forfeit Entitle…

Officers, Employees, Etc., of Judicial Branch of Government. It shall be lawful for any justice, judge, official, officer or employee of the judicial branch of government, including any retired or supernumerary justice, judge, officer, official or employee, to voluntarily diminis…

Appellate Courts Attending Judicial Colleges, Seminars, Etc. The justices, judges, officers, officials and employees of the appellate courts shall be entitled to be reimbursed their actual expenses of travel, including, but not limited to, transportation costs, meals, lodging, re…

Judges, Municipal Judges, Court-Supportive Personnel, Etc.; Effect of Failure to Attend Educational Conference, Seminar, Etc., When Attendance Ordered. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law relating to reimbursement of traveling expenses of public officers and employees,…

Fines, Fees, Etc., Collected. The clerks of the circuit courts and the clerks of the district and municipal courts in this state shall each prepare a monthly report on a form to be approved by the Chief Examiner of Public Accounts showing by totals the amount of fines, trial tax,…

The judicial power of the state is vested exclusively in a unified judicial system which shall consist of a Supreme Court, a Court of Criminal Appeals, a Court of Civil Appeals, a trial court of general jurisdiction known as the circuit court, a trial court of limited jurisdictio…

Court Management Authorized to Contract with Counties, Municipalities, Etc., for Offices and Other Physical Facilities for Courts. The appellate courts, the Administrative Office of Courts and the Department of Court Management are authorized and empowered to contract with county…

Salaries or compensation of court personnel and any other persons paid by or by authority of the judicial department of the State of Alabama, whose salary, including any local supplement thereto, is set by statute, shall be paid in accordance with such statute, as shown in the jo…

Continued in Effect. The adoption of this code shall not repeal or amend any statute in effect on the effective date of this code which is applicable only with respect to one or more judicial circuits of the state, whether such judicial circuits are identified by specific referen…

Etc. (a) If any plaintiff, defendant, or witness in any proceeding before the district court, circuit court, appellate court, or grand jury is in need of special services or equipment as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act [P.L. 101-366], the court shall make every ef…

Communications. (a) The presiding judge of each judicial circuit may authorize pretrial motion hearings in civil and criminal matters in the circuit courts, district courts, and probate courts to be conducted by telephone conferencing or other audio-video telecommunications means…

The criminal jurisdiction of this state is vested in the circuit courts, district and municipal courts and such officers as are by law clothed with criminal jurisdiction. History: (Code 1852, §380; Code 1867, §3928; Code 1876, §4626;Code 1886, §4193; Code 1896, §4589; Code 1907, …

Appeals. When any case is submitted to the Supreme Court which should have gone to one of the courts of appeals or is submitted to one court of appeals when it should have gone to the other, it must not be dismissed but shall be transferred to the proper court; and, when any case…

This article shall be known and may be cited as the Speedy Trial Act. History: (Act 2025-322, §1.)

Fund. (a) The Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, upon request from the Attorney General or a district attorney, may appoint a sitting or retired circuit judge to temporarily serve in a given circuit as a visiting judge for a specific case or cases arising from one or mor…

The presiding circuit judge of each circuit, in his or her discretion and the best interests of justice, may reassign a case to any other circuit or district judge in the circuit without regard to division or specialty. History: (Act 2025-322, §3.)

Change Boundaries of Circuit or District Introduced in Legislature. Pursuant to the constitutional requirement that the Supreme Court must, within three weeks after a bill is introduced at any session of the Legislature to increase or decrease the number of circuit or district ju…

Legislature. Whenever any bill is introduced in any session of the Legislature which pertains to the judiciary, which bill calls for local or less than statewide application, the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate shall immediately deliver a cert…

Appellate Cases. (a) Notwithstanding Section 12-1-1, or any other provision of this title, or any rule of the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Chairs of the House or Senate Judiciary Commit…

Judgments, Etc., Generally. Every court shall have power: (1) To preserve and enforce order in its immediate presence and as near thereto as is necessary to prevent interruption, disturbance or hindrance to its proceedings; (2) To enforce order before a person or body empowered t…

Punishment for Contempt. The powers of the several courts in this state to issue attachments and inflict summary punishment for contempts shall not extend to any other cases than: (1) Disrespectful, contemptuous or insolent behavior in court, tending in any way to diminish or imp…

Punishment of Offenders. The judges of the several courts of this state, whenever they deem it proper or necessary, shall inquire and examine the parties, witnesses, jurors or third parties as to whether or not any of the provisions of Section 12-1-8 have been violated; and, if t…

(a) The Supreme Court, except as otherwise provided, shall consist of a chief justice and eight associate justices, who shall be elected by the qualified electors of the state at the general elections as provided by law for the election of members of the House of Representatives …

The Governor, by a request in writing, or either house of the Legislature, by a resolution of such house, may obtain a written opinion of the justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama or a majority thereof on important constitutional questions. History: (Acts 1923, No. 43, p. 25; …

Statement to Department of Finance of Fees Paid into Treasury. All fees and costs authorized by law and the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure to be taxed and collected as cost for or fees of the Clerk of the Supreme Court shall be collected by the Clerk of the Supreme Court an…

by Court of Briefs from Attorney General and Amici Curiae as to Questions Presented. The justices of the Supreme Court may request briefs from the Attorney General, and may receive briefs from other attorneys as amici curiae as to such questions as may be propounded to them for t…

The office of deputy clerk of the Supreme Court of Alabama is hereby created. Such deputy clerk shall be appointed by the justices of the Supreme Court and may be removed at any time the said justices of the Supreme Court may see fit. History: (Acts 1965, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 42, p…

The salary of the deputy clerk shall be fixed under the provisions of the merit system as attorney III and shall be payable out of the State Treasury as the salaries of other state officers are paid. History: (Acts 1965, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 42, p. 62, §3.)

The duties and authority of such deputy clerk shall be prescribed by the rules of the Supreme Court. History: (Acts 1965, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 42, p. 62, §2.)

The opinion of the justices of the Supreme Court or a majority of them shall be a protection to the officers and departments of the state acting in accordance therewith in the same manner and to the same extent as opinions of the Attorney General of the state; and, in the event o…

Ruling in Case Conflict. The Supreme Court, in deciding each case when there is a conflict between its existing opinion and any former ruling in the case, must be governed by what, in its opinion, at that time is law, without any regard to such former ruling on the law by it; but…

The Chief Justice shall have a confidential secretary who shall perform such duties as may be required by him and who shall be appointed and dismissed at the will of the Chief Justice and who shall be subject to the merit system only as to the pay plan. History: (Acts 1915, No. 5…

Justices - Appointment, Compensation, Etc. Each associate justice of the Supreme Court and each supernumerary justice of said court, while serving at the request of the Governor or Chief Justice, is hereby authorized to appoint and employ a confidential secretary, who shall serve…

Justices - Duties. The secretaries shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by the justices. History: (Code 1896, §3843; Code 1907, §5969; Acts 1923, No. 600, p. 789; Code 1923, §10305; Code 1940, T. 13, §48.)

Determination of Certain Cases. When by reason of disqualification the number of judges competent to sit in a case is reduced to eight or to six and there is equal division among them on any question material to the determination of the case, the fact shall be certified by the Ch…

Sitting in Final Decision of Cases. The minutes of the court and the reports of its decisions shall state the names of the judges sitting in the final decision of cases. History: (Code 1907, §5984; Code 1923, §10275; Code 1940, T.13, §16.)

The library fund of the Supreme Court and state law library shall consist of funds appropriated by the Legislature, fees collected under the provision of law and moneys collected from the sale of copies, books and other materials or received from donations, gifts, grants and fund…

For the maintenance of the supreme court library there shall be taxed in each civil case decided by the Supreme Court or the courts of appeals on appeal the sum of $5.00, which must be taxed and collected as other costs in the case and, when collected, must be paid by the clerk t…

The Supreme Court is authorized and empowered in connection with any rule- making power or other function to appoint from time to time various advisory committees or standing committees composed of justices, judges, lawyers, law professors and other persons to serve on such commi…

The justices of the Supreme Court must make such rules as they deem necessary for the preservation and protection of the libraries. History: (Code 1867, §672; Code 1876, §583; Code 1886, §689; Code 1896, §3849; Code 1907, §5975; Code 1923, §10311; Code 1940, T. 13, §76.)

The Supreme Court may, by rules of court, establish additional duties for judges either within or without the geographical boundaries of the court of the judge when such is, in the opinion of a majority of the court, necessary to properly serve the administration of justice. Hist…

Security and Protection of Judicial Building, Etc., Authorized; Designation of Marshal, Assistant Marshals, Etc., as Conservators of Peace and Powers Thereof; Payment for Uniforms, Arms, Etc., of Marshals, Etc. (a) In connection with the security and protection of the judicial bu…