§ 5-7-103 — Filing, preserving and use of papers; electronic record retention permitted

The clerk shall file together and carefully preserve in his
office, all papers delivered to him for that purpose in every
action or proceeding. He shall not permit the papers to be taken
from his office except to be used at a session of the court or
upon legal process, and he shall be liable upon his official
bond to the party suffering injury on account of any violation
of this section. This section shall not apply to matters in
probate. Upon the order of the judge of the district, the clerk
may transmit by express or registered mail to an attorney of the
state appearing in the action or proceeding, who resides in a
different county or away from the county seat, such original
files as are not represented by copies in the clerk's office,
and the clerk shall take the attorney's receipt for each paper
in each case. Nothing in this section shall limit or prohibit
the clerk from scanning or digitizing papers, disposing of the
originals in accordance with any rule or order issued by the
supreme court and retaining the digitized or imaged records in a
case management system in lieu of retaining the original papers
in a physical file.