Graziano

In this proceeding in mandate we are called upon to determine whether an indigent litigant who obtained judgment in the municipal court is entitled, at public expense, to a transcript of the trial proceedings of that court upon his appeal from an order granting his adversary a new trial.

The issue is not a settled one, for there are wide differences of judicial opinion on the extent to which government should finance such costs of private litigation. Illustrations will be found in the four-to-three divisions of the state’s high court in Jara v. Municipal Court (1978) 21 Cal.3d 181 [ 145 Cal.Rptr. 847 , 578 P.2d 94 ] and Payne v. Superior Court (1976) 17 Cal.3d 908 [ 132 Cal.Rptr. 405 , 553 P.2d 565 ],

There appears to be unanimity that courts have inherent power to, and will, relieve an indigent, in a proper case, of such state-imposed charges as filing fees. (See Ferguson v. Keays (1971) 4 Cal.3d 649, 653 [ 94 Cal.Rptr. 398 , 484 P.2d 70 ].) But it vanishes when the consideration is the public *801 assumption of so-called third party charges for such things as reporter’s and transcribing costs (see Ferguson v. Keays, supra, p. 654 ), or the services of an interpreter…