Section 15-10-41. No jury trials; appeal

   (a) There shall be no jury trials in the magistrate court.

(b) (1) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, appeals may be had from judgments returned in the magistrate court to the state court of the county or to the superior court of the county and the same provisions now provided for by general law for appeals contained in Article 2 of Chapter 3 of Title 5 shall be applicable to appeals from the magistrate court, the same to be a de novo appeal. The provisions of said Article 2 of Chapter 3 of Title 5 shall also apply to appeals to state court.

   (2) No appeal shall lie from a default judgment or from a dismissal for want of prosecution after a nonappearance of a plaintiff for trial. Any voluntary dismissal by the plaintiff or by order of the court for want of prosecution shall be without prejudice except that the filing of a second such dismissal shall operate as an adjudication upon the merits. Review, including review of a denial of a postjudgment motion to vacate a judgment, shall be by certiorari to the state court of that county or to the superior court of that county.

Code 1981, § 15-10-41, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 884, § 2-1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1096, § 5; Ga. L. 1986, p. 701, § 2; Ga. L. 1987, p. 1009, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 974, § 1; Ga. L. 2008, p. 824, § 1/HB 958.