An alternative writ of prohibition was issued upon the filing of the petition and the present question is whether the writ shall be made peremptory. [1] Section 974 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as it stood when the justice made the above-mentioned entry in his docket and when the notice of appeal by the defendant from the judgment of the justice was filed, provided that "Any party dissatisfied with a judgment rendered in a civil action in a police or justice's court, may appeal therefrom to the superior court of the county, at any time within thirty days after the rendition of the judgment"; and it was decided in Thomson v. Superior Court, 161 Cal. 329 [ 119 P. 98], that a judgment is "rendered" in an action in a justice court when the justice makes entry in his docket of the fact that judgment has gone for one party or the other. Respondent contends, however, that section 893 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as it was amended after the decision in Thomson v. Superior Court, changed the law as before that amendment it had stood in section 974; in other words, that the amended section 893 operated to amend 974.
His duty to enter judgment is in a sense ministerial, and its performance could probably be enforced by mandate, but, nevertheless, the statute requires this of him. Until such entry is made there is no judgment from which an appeal may be taken, and if the appeal is taken before the justice enters judgment on the verdict, it confers no jurisdiction on the superior court." To the same effect also is the case of Thomson v. Superior Court, 161 Cal. 329, [ 119 P. 98], in which the court, in referring to the June case, say: "We see no escape from the conclusions reached in the above case."
But, in the absence of a statute to the contrary, in a case tried to a court or to a justice of the peace, the general rule is that for most purposes an entry or record of the judgment is necessary to its completion. Gunn v. Plant, 94 U.S. 664, 24 L.Ed. 304. And in Thompson v. Superior Court, 161 Cal. 329, 119 P. 98, it is held that in a justice court the judgment is not rendered until it is entered, and that there is no other way to render a judgment in such a court, as the only memorial which the justice is required to keep is his docket. While the statute there was somewhat different from our statute, yet the principle in hand is no different.
A judgment in the justice’s court is not rendered until it is entered in the docket. Thomson v. Superior Court, 161 Cal. 329, 119 P. 98; Wright v. Superior Court, 57 Cal.App. 749, 207 P. 910. The plaintiff was entitled to written notice after the judgment was actually entered by the justice of the peace.