§ 9-13-14.Bonds taken by executing officers valid; rights of plaintiffs not affected

When an officer levies on property, the defendant sometimes keeps possession of it in exchange for a bond promising to deliver it up later — on the day of sale or some other time. Subsection (a) confirms that this kind of bond is enforceable: it is good and valid in law and recoverable in any court that has jurisdiction over it, whether it was taken under a fi. fa. or other legal process.

Subsection (b) draws a firm boundary around what that bond does and does not accomplish. It does not prejudice or affect the rights of the plaintiff in execution — the plaintiff’s claim against the defendant’s property is untouched by an arrangement made between the officer and the defendant. The bond’s effect runs solely between the two parties who signed it: the officer who took it and the defendant who gave it.

That same subsection closes off an obvious escape route for a careless officer. The officer cannot point to having taken a bond as an excuse for failing to collect the money due on the execution; taking the bond does not substitute for enforcing the judgment. An officer who falls short remains liable to be ruled — meaning subject to the summary contempt-like proceeding Georgia law provides against officers who neglect their execution duties.