Graves County v. Wallace

138 S.W. 306, 144 Ky. 194, 1911 Ky. LEXIS 630
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJune 7, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 138 S.W. 306 (Graves County v. Wallace) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Graves County v. Wallace, 138 S.W. 306, 144 Ky. 194, 1911 Ky. LEXIS 630 (Ky. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

Opinion .of the Court by

William Rogers Clay, Commissioner

— Reversing.

This appeal presents for determination two questions:

1. Is the sheriff of a county entitled to two dollars per day for attending, by himself or his deputy, the sessions of the Quarterly Court?
2. Is he entitled to reimbursement by the county for money expended by him in purchasing tax receipts, tax books and county claim books?

These two questions arise in the following manner: Appellee, R. B. Wallace, is the sheriff of Graves County. In October, 1910, he presented the following claim against that county from January 1 to October 1, 1910: Oct. 5, to waiting on Quarterly and County

Courts 136 days ......................... $272 00

10,000 Tax Receipts ........................ 37 00

Tax Books ................................ 34 50

County Claim Book ........................ 10 50

Total ................................$354 00

Of his claim for court attendance, only thirty-one days was for waiting on the county court; the balance of his claim was for attendance on 'the Quarterly Court. [195]*195The Fiscal Court allowed him two dollars per day for the thirty-one days’ attendance on the County Court, but rejected the balance of his claim. From that order he prosecuted an appeal to the Graves Circuit Court. There he filed a complete statement of the facts. To this statement Graves County filed a demurrer, which was overruled. Having declined to plead further, judgment was rendered against the county for the full amount of appellee’s claim. From that judgment this appeal is prosecuted.

1. Under the old Constitution, the County Court was mentioned and provided for in that instrument. The Quarterly Court was not, however, a constitutional court in the sense that it was distinctly provided for in the Constitution; iit was authorized by the Constitution, under section 1, article 4, of that instrument, which gave .to the Legislature power to establish courts inferior to the Court of Appeals. Pursuant to this authority, the Legislature did establish a Quarterly Court for each county, which, although presided over by the county judge, was recognized as being a court entirely separate from and independent of the ordinary County Court.

Under the present Constitution, which was adopted , in the year 1891, Quarterly Courts, County Courts, Justice’s Courts, Police Courts and Fiscal Courts, in addition to the Court of Appeals and Circuit Courts, were all provided for in that instrument and directed to be established. Section 139 of the Constitution, provides that there shall be established in each county now existing or which may hereafter be created, in this State, a court, to be styled the Quarterly Court, the jurisdiction of which shall be uniform throughout the State, and shall be regulated by a general law, and, until changed, shall be the same as that now vested by the law in the Quarterly Courts of this Commonwealth. The judges of the County Courts shall be the judges of the Quarterly Courts.

Under the old Constitution, the law in force relating to the fees of sheriffs for attending and keeping order in the various courts was as follows: “For attending, by themselves or deputies, and keeping order in the Circuit, County, or Quarterly Courts and Court of Claims, a reasonable compensation to be allowed by the Circuit Judge and paid out of the State Treasury, not [196]*196to exceed fifty dollars per annum. ’ ’ (General Statutes, chapter 41, article 7, section 1.)

After the adoption of the present Constitution, this provision of the statutes relating to the fees of sheriffs was amended so as to read: “For attending, by himself or deputy, the regular terms of the County Courts, a reasonable allowance not exceeding two dollars per day, to be allowed by the County Judge and paid out of the county levy.” (Kentucky Statutes, section 1726.)

The Legislature also provided, under the head of Claims upon the Treasury: “To a sheriff, for attending. by himself or by a deputy, and keeping order in a Circuit Court, two dollars per day.” (Kentucky Statutes, section 354, subsection 3.)

The Legislature also re-enacted section 38, chapter 101, of the General Statutes, which provides: “Sheriffs shall, by themselves or deputies, attend and keep order in the Circuit, County, Quarterly Court and Court of Claims of their respective counties. They shall obey the orders of said courts, and for failing to attend, or, if in attendance, for failing to keep order, or to obey the orders of the court, may be summarily fined, not exceeding twenty dollars, by the court in which the offense is committed.” This provision is contained in section 4587, of the Kentucky Statutes.

For appellee, it is insisted that, because the Quarterly. Court is presided over by the County Judge alone, it is as much a County Court as the regular County Courts established by the Constitution; and, aw section 1726 provides for the payment of two dollars per day “for attending, by himself or deputy, the regular terms of the County Courts,” and not the “regular terms of the County Court,” it was the evident purpose of the Legislature to allow for attendance on the Quarterly Court. This view, it is claimed, is strengthened by the provisions of section 4587, of the Kentucky Statutes, above quoted, which makes the attendance of sheriffs or their deputies upon the sessions of the Quarterly Courts compulsory, and imposes a fine for non-attendance. It will be observed, however, that prior to the adoption of the present Constitution the sheriff received not exceeding-fifty dollars, per annum for attending and keeping order in the Circuit, County, Quarterly Courts and the Court of Claims. Under the present system, he is allowed two [197]*197dollars per day for attending, by himself, or deputy, the regular terms of the Oountv Courts, to be paid out of the county levy, and for attending, by himself or by deputy, and keeping order in the Circuit Courts two dollárs per day, to be paid by the Stalte. It is manifest that, by the latter plan, his compensation for court attendance has been largely increased, for, in every county, he will receive a sum in excess of that allowed under the old system. Moreover, the Quarterly Court, though presided over by the County Judge, is a separate and independent court, created and established by the Constitution. It is no more a County Court than the Fiscal Court or a Justice’s Court, each of which has jurisdiction co-extensive with the limits of the county. To hold that the Quarterly Court is a County Court, and that the Legislature intended, by providing thalt the sheriff should receive fees for attending the regular terms of the County Court, that he should also be paid for attendance on Quarterly Courts, would be to disregard the provisions of the present Constitution and ■Statutes, and to give no effect to the action of the Legislature in omitting from section 1726, of the Kentucky Statutes, all reference to attendance on Cireuit and Quarterly Courts and Courts of Claims. The Legislature must have meant something by providing in a separate section for fees for attendance on the Cireuit Courts and by omitting from the present law all reference to attendance on the Quarterly Courts.

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Bluebook (online)
138 S.W. 306, 144 Ky. 194, 1911 Ky. LEXIS 630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graves-county-v-wallace-kyctapp-1911.