Code of Alabama
Ala. Code § 12-20-26 (2026)
Substitution of Lost, Etc., Papers or Records in Civil Cases - Inherent Power of Courts.
✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
All courts have the inherent power, if original papers or records pertaining to matters of civil jurisdiction or to civil actions which are pending or which have been determined are lost, mislaid, destroyed or mutilated, to cause a substitution thereof, and the substituted paper or record is of equal validity with the original.
(Code 1867, §§648, 649; Code 1876, §555; Code 1886, §656; Code 1896, §2647; Code 1907, §5739; Code 1923, §10132; Code 1940, T. 7, §8.)
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases, 2006–2018 · leading case: Boyd v. State, 960 So. 2d 717 (Ala. Crim. App. 2006).
Boyd v. State, 960 So. 2d 717 (Ala. Crim. App. 2006). “Boyd contends that, under the circumstances of this case, § 12-20-26, Ala. Code 1975, violates the ex post facto clauses of the federal and Alabama Constitutions.”
Tolbert v. Ervin, 264 So. 3d 879 (Ala. Civ. App. 2018). “See Ala. Code 1975, § 12-20-26 ("All courts have the inherent power, if original papers or records pertaining to matters of civil jurisdiction or to civil actions which are pending or which have been determined are lost, mislaid, destroyed or mutilated, to cause a substitution…”
Tolbert v. Ervin, 264 So. 3d 879 (Ala. Civ. App. 2018). “See Ala. Code 1975, § 12-20-26 ("All courts have the inherent power, if original papers or records pertaining to matters of civil jurisdiction or to civil actions which are pending or which have been determined are lost, mislaid, destroyed or mutilated, to cause a substitution…”
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