Article 7. Clerk of California Government Code >> Title 8. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 7.

(a) The clerk of the court shall exercise or perform, in addition to the powers, duties, and responsibilities provided by statute, any powers, duties, and responsibilities required or permitted to be exercised by the county clerk in connection with judicial actions, proceedings, and records. The county clerk is relieved of any obligation imposed by law on the county clerk with respect to these powers, duties, and responsibilities.
  (b) A deputy court clerk is subject to the provisions of Article 7 (commencing with Section 1190) of Chapter 1 of Division 4 of Title 1.

The clerk of the superior court shall attend each session of the superior court in the county and upon the judges of the court in chambers when required.

The clerk of the superior court shall keep such indexes as will insure ready reference to any action or proceeding filed in the court. There shall be separate indexes of plaintiffs and defendants in civil actions and of defendants in criminal actions. The name of each plaintiff and defendant shall be indexed and there shall appear opposite each name indexed the number of the action or proceeding and the name or names of the adverse litigant or litigants.

The clerk of the superior court shall issue all process and notices required to be issued.

The clerk of the superior court shall keep the minutes and other records of the court, entering at length within the time specified by law, or forthwith if no time is specified, any order, judgment, and decree of the court which is required to be entered and showing the date when each entry is made. Failure so to enter the date or failure to enter the order, judgment, or decree within the time specified in this section shall not affect the validity or effectiveness of the entry.

On and after July 1, 1997, each clerk of the superior court shall prospectively certify and submit those court records specified by the Judicial Council which relate to criminal convictions for entry into a computer system operated by the Department of Justice that can be accessed by authorized agents of any district attorney or other state prosecuting agency. This section shall not be construed to require a superior court to acquire any new equipment or to implement any new procedures.

Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, in those counties where it is required by court order or rule that the clerk of the superior court place individual minute orders in the court's file of actions in chronological order, and if it is otherwise required by law that as a prerequisite to destruction of such records a microfilm copy thereof be made, the clerk shall not be required to keep a minute book but shall be required to keep minutes. Nothing contained herein shall eliminate the requirement for a judgment book where judgments and decrees are required to be entered.

The clerk of the superior court may keep a register of actions in which shall be entered the title of each cause, with the date of its commencement and a memorandum of every subsequent proceeding in the action with its date.

In lieu of maintaining a register of actions as described in Section 69845, the clerk of the superior court may maintain a register of actions by preserving all the court records filed, lodged, or maintained in connection with the case.

The clerk of the superior court shall safely keep or dispose of according to law all papers and records filed or deposited in any action or proceeding before the court.

The clerk of the superior court shall endorse on each paper filed with the court the day, month, and year it is filed.

The clerk of the superior court shall provide two books. In one of the books the clerk shall enter in alphabetical order the names of each person who has declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States since the organization of the court and the date of such declaration. In the other book the clerk shall enter in alphabetical order the name of each person who has been admitted a citizen of the United States by the court, and the clerk shall also enter in separate columns opposite each name, the country of which the person was before a citizen or subject, the date of his admission, and the page of the book of the record of the court containing the order admitting him as such citizen.

The clerk of the superior court may use a facsimile signature on any court documents regularly maintained in the ordinary course of business for the purpose of filing or certifying those documents, provided the authorized deputy initials the facsimile signature.