Title 14, Courts

The clerk of the circuit court shall be ex officio clerk of the county court, and shall keep such calendars, minutes and records of the county court and the causes therein pending, and attend and perform such duties as the clerk thereof, as is required of him by law as clerk of t…

The sheriff of the county shall attend upon all sessions of the county court and shall be subject to the orders thereof. He shall execute the orders, writs and mandates of the county court as required by law of him with reference to the circuit court. For all such service he shal…

As a part of the unified judicial system, there is established in each of the counties of this State having a population of at least one hundred thirty thousand, according to the latest official United States Decennial Census, a master-in-equity court. The master-in-equity for th…

The masters in this State, while in office, may administer oaths, take depositions, affidavits and renunciation of dower, probate deeds and other instruments and take testimony by commission as fully and effectually as the clerks of courts and notaries public. Their fees therefor…

The master shall, upon the application of either party to any cause or proceedings in which equitable relief is demanded pending and at issue in his county, take in writing the testimony of any witness who may be produced before him by any party to the cause, ten days' notice of …

The deposition so taken may be read in evidence at the hearing, subject to the right of either party upon good cause shown to require the personal attendance and viva voce examination of the witness at the hearing.

The master may compel the attendance of witnesses before him and punish for any contempt.

The equity court is considered a division of the circuit court, and the master-in-equity, as judge of the equity court, is entitled to all the benefits and subject to all the requirements of the South Carolina Bar and the rules of the Supreme Court in the same respect as circuit …

Whenever the court of common pleas in any county shall have acquired jurisdiction over real estate lying in another county the master for the county in which the action is brought may sell such real estate in the county in which the land is situated and all such sales heretofore …

Whenever real estate is adjudged to be sold by a master such sale may take place by consent of the parties to the cause or their attorneys or, when infants are parties, by the consent of the guardians ad litem of such infants or their attorneys in any county which the court may d…

The master shall deposit all funds in his hands in some bank located in the county.

The master shall keep a reference book in which he shall record all references held by him and the proceedings therein and a ledger in which shall be kept the account of all cases in his hands to the credit of which he may receive funds. When he shall cease to be master these boo…

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 2-19-110, masters-in-equity must be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the General Assembly for a term of six years and until their successors are appointed and qualify. No person is eligible to hold the office of master…

The governing body of the county or counties in which a master-in-equity serves shall provide the salary, equipment, facilities, and supplies of the master-in-equity, together with the salaries of support personnel and all other costs for the necessary and proper operation of the…

Masters-in-equity shall collect the following fees which must be deposited in the general fund of the county: (1) in actions for partitions, foreclosure of liens upon real property, or sales of real property, either in private or by auction, a fee of one hundred dollars. If the m…

All fees and costs received and recovered by any master-in-equity shall be accounted for and paid into the general fund of the county as directed by the governing body thereof.

All vacancies in the office of master from death, resignation, removal from the State or any cause whatsoever shall be filled in the manner of original appointment for the unexpired term.

In case of a vacancy in the office of master-in-equity or in case of the disqualification or disability of the master-in-equity from interest or any other reason for which cause can be shown the presiding circuit court judge, upon agreement of the parties, may appoint a special r…

No person while he holds the office of full time master shall practice or be a partner with anyone engaged in the practice of law in this State.

The master shall make all such sales as the circumstances may require or as the court may order him to make in granting equitable relief and shall execute all proper conveyances thereof. Such sales shall be conducted at the county courthouse or at such other public places in the …

When some or all of the causes of action in a case are referred to a master-in-equity or special referee, the master or referee shall enter final judgment as to those causes of action, and an appeal from an order or judgment of the master or referee must be to the Supreme Court o…

The system of court reporting of the circuit courts of the State, including those county courts having criminal jurisdiction shall be standardized and records of litigation and criminal proceedings in these courts shall be retained permanently.

The official reporter of each judicial circuit or county court having criminal jurisdiction shall be charged with full responsibility for compiling, indexing, filing and safely keeping the records permanently. The reporter may record the proceedings onto discs or belts of a type …

The equipment shall be purchased through the State purchasing agency upon requisition of the reporter and approved by the clerk of the Supreme Court.

Each reporter shall file with the resident judge of his circuit on or before the fifteenth day of January of each year a certificate certifying his compliance with the terms of this chapter, and a copy shall be filed with the clerk of the Supreme Court.

There shall be at least one court stenographer for each judicial circuit of the State, who shall be appointed by the circuit judge of the respective circuits for a period not exceeding the term for which the circuit judge making the appointment was elected, and such court stenogr…

Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, all court reporters employed by the Judicial Department shall be subject to removal by the judge or the Judicial Department only for just cause. In the event that a vacancy occurs in a circuit or family court judgeship, the j…

In all judicial circuits of the State which have a population of more than one hundred seventy-five thousand persons, as determined by the latest official United States census, the resident circuit judge may appoint an assistant court stenographer whose duties, compensation and t…

The sheriffs of the respective counties in this State shall be empowered to appoint as many bailiffs as they see fit, not to exceed five in number, whose duties shall be as now provided by law. The bailiffs may be removed, increased or decreased by the circuit judge within his di…

Every stenographer so appointed, under the direction of the presiding judge of his circuit, shall take full stenographic notes of all proceedings including the rulings and charge of the court in every trial thereat. In case the presiding judge or the solicitor, for use in crimina…

The Court Stenographers shall, in addition to their salaries, receive such fees for all transcripts furnished litigants as shall be provided by rule of the Supreme Court. The Court Reporters shall furnish a transcript of any case or any part thereof, after a demand for same has b…

The resident circuit judge of the seventh judicial circuit may appoint some competent stenographer for the courts of general sessions for the seventh judicial circuit, who shall receive, in addition to his salary, the fees fixed by law for all transcripts furnished by him. When t…

The circuit judges of this State may appoint a special court stenographer to act in the place and stead of the regular court stenographer in case of the sickness, absence or inability to act of the regular court stenographer at any term or part of a term of either the court of co…

The presiding judge at any special term of the circuit court may, when the official stenographer is performing the duties of his office at a court then being held in some other county of the circuit, appoint a stenographer for such term of the court who shall perform the duties o…

The stenographer appointed under the provision of Section 14-15-70 shall receive the same compensation as that allowed by law to the official stenographer in proportion to the time of service, to be paid out of the county treasury upon the warrant of the clerk of the court, appro…

There shall be an election for clerk of the court of common pleas in each county by the qualified voters thereof at each alternate general election, reckoning from the election in the year 1960.

The clerk of the court of common pleas elected in each county pursuant to Section 14-17-10 is ex officio clerk of the court of general sessions, the family court, and all other courts of record in the county except as may be provided by the law establishing the other courts.

Every clerk shall have charge of the courthouse within his county, open the same when required for public use and at all other times keep it closed. For every night any courthouse shall be kept open the clerk shall be liable to a penalty of five dollars for the use of the county,…

Every clerk shall, except on public holidays, give constant attendance, either personally or by deputy, in his office, which shall be kept in a room provided for that purpose in the courthouse. He shall discharge all the duties required by law or the rules of court, from time to …

Clerks may act as attorneys and solicitors in all the courts in the State, except in the courts of their respective counties, provided they shall have complied with the requirements of law regulating the admission of persons to practice as attorneys, solicitors and counselors in …

Clerks shall not act as sheriffs or deputy sheriffs, except as provided by Section 23-11-100.

Clerks may administer oaths and take depositions, affidavits and renunciations of dower. The clerk of any county in which the office of master does not exist may, by consent of parties, sign orders of reference in vacation and may also, upon proper proceedings filed, grant orders…

The clerk shall (a) issue every execution, bench warrant or other process issuable or directed to be issued by the courts of sessions, in the name of the Attorney General or solicitor of the circuit, (b) issue all rules and notices ordered in the common pleas, (c) attest in his o…

Whenever security for costs may be ordered to be given or may be tendered by any plaintiff in vacation or in term time the clerk shall witness the signature of the surety and shall, in the first instance, judge of the sufficiency of the security. The form of the undertaking shall…

The clerk or the register of deeds, as the case may be, in whose office any judgment or mortgage may be of record, on the receipt of the fees, shall permit any judgment creditor or his or her attorney or any mortgagee, as the case may be, to enter satisfaction thereof. Or if any …

Whenever any execution shall be returned for renewal or as satisfied by any sheriff the clerk shall enter such renewal or satisfaction in the appropriate column of the abstract book and in case of satisfaction shall enter the same on the original record. It shall not be lawful fo…