Opinion ID: 1668319
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Did the trial court err in granting a decree in vacation without having previously taken the case under advisement for a ruling in vacation?

Text: At the conclusion of the trial, which was near the end of the regular December 1981 term, appellant requested additional time to present argument to the court. The court granted the request but instructed appellant to prepare an order so that the case could be taken under advisement, as required by Mississippi Code Annotated, § 93-5-17 (1972), for decree in vacation. Either through oversight or inadvertence appellant did not follow this instruction and the order was never entered. She now argues the nunc pro tunc decree entered in vacation did not cure the defect and is, by virtue of the absence of the order, null and void. The court addressed this issue in Callicott v. Horn, 137 Miss. 693, 102 So. 850 (1925), Power to sign decrees and try causes in vacation on the part of judges and chancellors must be derived from the statute, or by consent of the parties, and a decree entered in vacation not in conformity therewith or not so authorized is void. While this case reversed the chancellor's decree because there was no order on the minutes, the court implied that the decree would have been upheld had the record disclosed consent of the parties to take the decree in vacation. The record in the present case expressly reflects such an agreement. The chancellor directed appellant to put on an order; and while appellee initially requested a decree during term time, he did not object to the chancellor's instruction. We are of the opinion the understanding to take the decree in vacation had the effect of retaining jurisdiction in the court until the decree nunc pro tunc was entered. Since the necessity for the decree nunc pro tunc was prompted by appellant's oversight, we think that stated in Green v. Myrick, 177 Miss. 778, 171 So. 774 (1937), is apropos, [C]ourts may by nunc pro tunc orders supply omissions in the record of what had previously been done, and by mistake or neglect not entered. We distinguish Lanham v. Lanham, 194 Miss. 872, 14 So.2d 215 (1943), on the point that the decree in that case was entered in vacation over appellant's objection. In the case at bar appellant not only failed to object, but her request for time helped create the necessity of the entry of the decree in vacation.