Rule 1.PREAMBLE

Rule 1 opens the Uniform Superior Court Rules by explaining where the rules come from and what they are for. The Superior Court draws on its own inherent power, together with Article VI, Section IX, Paragraph I of the Georgia Constitution of 1983, to promulgate the rules that follow. The stated goal is practical: resolve civil disputes and criminal prosecutions in a way that is speedy, efficient, and inexpensive for everyone involved, from the litigants to the court itself.

The Preamble also draws a boundary around what these procedural rules can do. They are not meant to conflict with the Georgia Constitution or with substantive law, either on their face or as applied in individual actions. If a conflict between a rule and substantive law does arise, the rule yields to substantive law specifically. Procedure exists to serve the underlying law, not to reshape it, and Rule 1 makes that hierarchy explicit before any of the operative rules begin.

Finally, Rule 1 sets the uniformity principle that gives the rules their name. The stated policy of the State is that these rules prevail over local practices and procedures and apply with equal force in every superior court circuit. That single sentence is why a lawyer or litigant can rely on the same core procedure whether the case is filed in a small rural circuit or a large metropolitan one.