Art. 4865.Appointment of Judge Ad Hoc In Event of Temporary Inability of Parish Or City Court Judge to Preside

Not every gap in a parish or city court's bench comes from recusal. Article 4865 addresses a different situation: a sitting judge who is temporarily absent, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to preside, because of illness, travel, or a similar short-term reason unrelated to any conflict of interest in a particular case.

In that situation, the judge does not wait for the supreme court to name a replacement. The judge appoints their own judge ad hoc: either another judge or a lawyer domiciled in the parish who holds the qualifications the replaced judge would need for that office. That flexibility lets a small court with only one sitting judge keep functioning during a brief absence, rather than letting the docket sit idle.

The appointment cannot happen informally. It has to be made by order, and that order has to state the term of the appointment — how long the ad hoc judge will serve — and the reasons behind it, and the order has to be entered into the court's minutes. That record lets anyone checking the case later confirm exactly who presided, for how long, and why.