Opinion ID: 2613319
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: trial judges should be instructed to sign only those instruments which they intend to be filed and entered on the journal as judgments, decrees or orders.

Text: If a ruling is documented as a mnemonic aid to the judge or counsel for their internal use and is intended solely for posting as a minute [47] [a memory jogger,] it should be initiated, but not signed. [48] There is neither tradition nor authority for entering on the journal instruments destined solely for internal use. Minutes are mnemonic aids which serve as intra -court paper flow. They are not acceptable as proof or as a substitute for a recorded judgment. [49] Here, the nisi prius judge signed the October 7 instrument and, by doing so, made the instrument recordable. But for the trial judge's signature, this case would not pose the dilemma whose solution calls for harmonizing § 24 with § 696.3.