§ 9-12-85.Deeds, mortgages, judgments, or liens between parties not affected by money judgments

The two sections this Code section cross-references — 9-12-81 and 9-12-82 — condition a judgment lien's effect on outside third parties on whether the execution was entered on the general execution docket within the county's rules and, where applicable, the 30-day window. Read in isolation, a reader might wonder whether missing those steps somehow weakens the deed, mortgage, or judgment itself. This section answers that question directly: it does not.

Between the actual parties to a deed, a mortgage, a judgment, or any other lien, the instrument remains fully valid and enforceable regardless of whether it was ever docketed or recorded under the preceding sections. A mortgagor cannot claim against the mortgagee that an unrecorded mortgage does not bind the property they mortgaged, and a judgment debtor cannot claim against the judgment creditor that an un-docketed judgment does not bind them personally, on the theory that no third party's rights are in play.

What the docketing requirement affects is narrower and specific: the ability of the deed-holder, mortgagee, or judgment creditor to defeat someone who later bought the property or took a lien on it in good faith and without notice. This section makes that limitation explicit, keeping the docketing rules focused on third-party notice rather than on the underlying validity of the parties' own dealings.