§ 9-11-1.Scope of chapter; construction

Every procedural code needs a statement of its own reach, and this is Georgia’s. Code Section 9-11-1 tells courts and litigants that the chapter that follows — the Civil Practice Act — supplies the procedure for civil actions in the state’s courts of record, whether the underlying claim would once have been called a case at law or a case in equity. Georgia folded those two old tracks into one procedural system, and this section is where that merger gets its mission statement.

The mission itself is short: courts must construe the chapter to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action. That instruction guides how judges read every other rule in the chapter, from pleading standards to discovery limits — when a procedural question is close, the tie should go to the reading that moves the case toward a fair result without wasted time or expense.

The section also reaches past courts of record. Where a Georgia court isn’t a court of record and no separate statute or local rule already governs a given practice, the Civil Practice Act fills the gap. That keeps smaller or specialized courts from operating in a procedural vacuum just because they fall outside the chapter’s primary audience.

Code Section 9-11-81 trims the edges of this broad grant, listing proceedings the chapter doesn’t reach even though they happen in a court of record. Anyone applying Chapter 11 to an unfamiliar proceeding should check that section first.