The Bibb Superior Court has always been called the Superior Court, but other local courts have operated under various names. The jurisdiction of what we now know as the State Court of Bibb County was in the County Court of Bibb County from 1872 until 1885, when the City Court of Macon replaced it. The court had nothing to do with the city, and in 1966 it was given its present name to avoid confusion.
The present Municipal Court of Macon was known for many years as the Recorder's Court, until changed in 1970. In the nineteenth century, it was called the Mayor's Court, and the Mayor or an alderman often presided.
Justice of the Peace courts were abolished for Bibb County in 1913. Their jurisdiction was consolidated into the Bibb County Municipal Court, though the court had nothing to do with any municipality. This name was changed to the Civil Court of Bibb County in 1950. When the state's entire Justice Court system was abolished in favor of the present Magistrate Courts in 1983, a special exemption left the Bibb Civil Court in place, adding the magistrate's powers and jurisdiction to it and changing the name to the Civil and Magistrate Court of Bibb County.
The Courts of Ordinary traced their lineage back to the Ecclesiastical Courts of England. In Georgia, after the Revolution, the powers of such courts - probate, marriage, etc. - were vested in the Inferior Courts of each county until 1851, when the Ordinary Courts were made separate. The Ordinary had both judicial and administrative functions and was the governing authority in some counties. In Bibb County and elsewhere, the Ordinary conducted elections along with its probate function.
The presiding officer of the court was properly called the Ordinary, but generally addressed as judge. Some of these worthies, few of whom were lawyers, knew nothing of the derivation of their title. They didn't think themselves "ordinary" and wanted to be regular judges like everyone else at the courthouse. The Ordinary Court's name was changed to Probate Court in 1975.
The old Inferior Courts of all counties were abolished throughout the State in 1868.
-- Frank M. McKenney