ments, &c., for the preceding year, the clerk is entitled to compensation for the final abstract at fifteen cents per folio, and not to the regular fees for searches.133 Where a judge erred in his construction of the law, and improperly ordered the appointment of supervisors of election, the clerk is still entitled to compensation for services rendered in respect to such appointment.134 Under the act making appropriations for the expenses of the government for the year ending June 30, 1884 (22 St. at L. 631), the clerk of the United States Supreme Court is required to pay into the treasury the fees of his office over and above expenses, and his fees should be paid in advance if demanded. 135 The disallowance by the First Comptroller of the Treasury of fees claimed by a clerk of the court is not conclusive against the clerk on a petition by him for the recovery of such fees.136 Fees earned by the clerk in the District Court cannot be transferred by the comptroller to his account as clerk of the Circuit Court.137 All books in the offices of the clerks of the Circuit and District Courts containing the docket or minute of the judgments, or decrees thereof, must during office hours be open to the inspection of any person desiring to examine the same, without any fees or charges. therefor.138 "No per diem or other allowance shall be made to any district attorney, clerk of a Circuit Court, clerk of a District Court, marshal or deputy-marshal, for attendance at rule-days, of a Circuit or District Court; and when the Circuit and District Courts sit at the same time, no greater per diem or other allowance shall be made to any such officer than for an attendance on one court." 139 When both Circuit and District Courts are in session on the same days, the clerk may charge his per diem fee in either, and the department has no discretion to transfer his charges to the account of the other court, to lessen the whole amount due him by force of the rules as to the maximum of allowance.140 "Every district attorney, clerk of a District Court, clerk of a Circuit Court, and marshal, shall, on the first days of January and July, in each year, or within thirty days thereafter, make 188 Marvin v. U. S., 44 Fed. R. 405. 138 U. S. R. S. § 828; Re McLean, 9 Cent. L. J. 425. 139 U. S. R. S. § 831. 140 Goodrich v. U. S., 35 Fed. R. 193. to the Attorney-General, in such form as he may prescribe, a written return for the half year ending on said days, respectively, of all the fees and emoluments of his office, of every name and character, and of all the necessary expenses of his office, including necessary clerk-hire, together with the vouchers for the payment of the same for such last half year. He shall state separately in such returns the fees and emoluments received or payable under the Bankrupt Act; and every marshal shall state separately therein the fees and emoluments received or payable for services rendered by himself personally, those received or payable for services rendered by each of his deputies, naming him, and the proportion of such fees and emoluments which, by the terms of his service, each deputy is to receive. Said returns shall be verified by the oath of the officer making them." 141 In an action on the bond of a clerk of a United States District Court, it was held that he was not liable for fees received by him for the naturalization of aliens, which had not been included by him in the returns of the "fees and emoluments of his office," required to be made by section 833 of the Revised Statutes; it appearing that it had been the custom in the district for not less than forty-five years for the clerks to charge a fee in naturalization cases, although no fee is provided in the fee bill established by the Act of February 26, 1853; 142 and that it had never been customary to account for such fees; and that defendant's accounts, during his term of office, had been duly certified by the judge, with knowledge of the omission, and audited and adjusted by the proper accounting officers of the government.143 "No clerk of a District Court, or clerk of a Circuit Court, shall be allowed by the Attorney-General, except as provided in the next section and in section eight hundred and forty-two, to retain of the fees and emoluments of his office, or, in case both of the said clerkships are held by the same person, of the fees and emoluments of the said offices, respectively, for his personal compensation, over and above his necessary office expenses, including necessary clerk hire, to be audited and allowed by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury, a sum exceeding three thousand five hundred dollars a year for any such district clerk or 141 U. S. R. S. § 833. 142 U. S. R. S. § 828. 143 U. S. v. Hill, 120 U. S. 169; affirming 25 Fed. R. 375. for any such circuit clerk, or exceeding that rate for any time less than a year." 144 "The clerks of the several Circuit and District Courts in California, Oregon, and Nevada shall be entitled to charge and receive double the fees hereinbefore allowed to clerks, and shall be allowed, respectively, by the Attorney-General, to retain of the fees so received by them, for their personal compensation, over and above the necessary expenses of their offices, including the salaries of deputy clerks, and necessary clerk hire, to be audited by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury Department, any sum not exceeding seven thousand dollars a year, nor exceeding that rate for any time less than a year: Provided, That whenever, in either of the said districts, the same person holds the office of clerk of both the Circuit and District Courts, he shall be allowed by the Attorney-General to retain for his personal compensation, as aforesaid, only such sum as is herein allowed to be retained by a person holding the office of clerk of only one of the said courts." 145 "Clerks and marshals may be allowed to retain, for all official services in prize causes, an additional compensation not exceeding in amount one-half of the maximum compensation allowed to them, respectively, by the three preceding sections." 146 "The allowances for personal compensation of district attorneys, clerks, and marshals, for each calendar year, shall be made from the fees and emoluments of that year, and not otherwise." 147 "Every district attorney, clerk, and marshal shall, at the time of making his half-yearly return to the Attorney-General, pay into the Treasury, or deposit to the credit of the Treasurer, as he may be directed by the Attorney-General, any surplus of the fees and emoluments of his office which said return shows to exist over and above the compensation and allowances authorized by law to be retained by him." 148 "In every case where the return of a district attorney, clerk, or marshal shows that a surplus may exist, the Attorney-General shall cause such returns to be carefully examined, and the accounts of disbursements to be regularly audited by the proper officer of his Department, and an account to be opened with such officer in proper books to be provided for that purpose." 149 144 U. S. R. S. § 839. 145 U. S. R. S. § 840. 146 U. S. R. S. § 842. 147 U. S. R. S. § 843. "The accounts of district attorneys, clerks, marshals, and commissioners of Circuit Courts shall be examined and certified by the District judge of the district for which they are appointed, before they are presented to the accounting officers of the Treasury Department for settlement. They shall then be subject to revision upon their merits by said accounting officers, as in case of other public accounts: Provided, That no accounts of fees or costs paid to any witness or juror, upon the order of any judge or commissioner, shall be so re-examined as to charge any marshal for an erroneous taxation of such fees or costs. (That where the ministerial officers of the United States have or shall incur extraordinary expense in executing the laws thereof, the payment of which is not specifically provided for, the President of the United States is authorized to allow the payment thereof under the special taxation of the District or Circuit Court of the district in which the said services have been or shall be rendered, to be paid from the appropriation for defraying the expenses of the judiciary.)” 150 "Before any bill of costs shall be taxed by any Judge or other officer, or any account payable out of the money of the United States shall be allowed by any officer of the Treasury, in favor of clerks, marshals, or district attorneys, the party claiming such account shall render the same, with the vouchers and items thereof, to a United States Circuit or District Court, and, in presence of the district attorney or his sworn assistant, whose presence shall be noted on the record, prove in open court, to the satisfaction of the court, by his own oath or that of other persons having knowledge of the facts, to be attached to such account, that the services therein charged have been actually and necessarily performed as therein stated; and that the disbursements charged have been fully paid in lawful money; and the court shall thereupon cause to be entered of record an order approving or disapproving the account, as may be according to law, and just. United States Commissioners shall forward their accounts, duly verified by oath, to the district attorneys for their respective districts, by whom they shall be submitted for approval in open court, and the court shall pass upon the same in the manner aforesaid. Accounts and vouchers of clerks, marshals, and district attorneys shall be made in duplicate, to be marked, respec150 U. S. R. S. § 846. tively, 'original' and 'duplicate.' And it shall be the duty of the clerk to forward the original accounts and vouchers of the officers above specified, when approved, to the proper accounting officers of the Treasury, and to retain in his office the duplicates, where they shall be open to public inspection at all times. Nothing contained in this act shall be deemed in any wise to diminish or affect the right of revision of the accounts to which this act applies by the accounting officers of the Treasury, as exercised under the laws now in force." 151 "If any clerk of any District or Circuit Court of the United States shall wilfully refuse or neglect to make any report, certificate, statement, or other document required by law to be by him made, or shall wilfully refuse or neglect to forward any such report, certificate, statement, or document to the department, officer, or person to whom by law the same should be forwarded, the President of the United States is empowered, and it is hereby made his duty, in every such case, to remove such clerk so offending from office, by an order in writing for that purpose. And upon the presentation of such order, or a copy thereof, authenticated by the Attorney-General of the United States, to the judge of the court whereof such offender is clerk, such clerk shall thereupon be deemed to be out of office, and shall not exercise the functions thereof. And such district judge, in the case of the clerk of a District Court, shall appoint a successor; and in the case of the clerk of a Circuit Court, the circuit judge shall appoint a successor. And such person so removed shall not be eligible to any appointment as clerk or deputy clerk for the period of two years next after such removal.” 152 "If any clerk mentioned in the preceding section shall wilfully refuse or neglect to make or to forward any such report, certificate, statement, or document therein mentioned, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, in the discretion of the court; but a conviction under this section shall not be necessary as a condition precedent to the removal from office provided for in this act." 153 151 1 Supp. U. S R. S. § 1, pp. 145, 146; 18 St. at L. 333. 152 1 Supp. U. S. R. S. § 5, pp. 146, 147; 18 St. at L. 333. 153 1 Supp. U. S. R. S. § 6, p. 147; 18 St. at L. 333. |