Van Duzee v. United States

59 F. 440, 1894 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Iowa
DecidedJanuary 13, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 59 F. 440 (Van Duzee v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Van Duzee v. United States, 59 F. 440, 1894 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7 (N.D. Iowa 1894).

Opinion

SHIRAS, District Judge.

The plaintiff in this action is the clerk of the United States district and circuit courts in and for the northern district of Iowa, and brings this suit to establish his right to the payment of the sum of $329.05, w’hieh he claims is due him for services rendered as clerk of said courts, for which accounts have been duly rendered to the accounting officers of the proper department at Washington, and payment refused. Attached to the petition is an itemized statement of the services rendered. The undisputed evidence in the case shows that the work represented by the several items in the account contained has been done, and the questions for decision are whether the work done is of the character properly chargeable against the United States, and, if so, whether the amount charged is correct.

1. The first item charged in the account is for making certified duplicate copies of the orders of the court for the payment by the marshal of the sums due jurors, grand and petit, and witnesses, [442]*442with a certificate and seal attached thereto. At each' term of court, • a roll is made out,, containing the names of jurors, the days of attendance, the number of miles traveled, and the amounts due each juror, and an order is made thereon by the court directing the marshal to make payment, accordingly, to the jurors. A similar roll and order are made, relative to the witnesses who are entitled to payment for their attendance from the United States. The orders of court thus made are the authority for the payment by the marshal of the fees and mileage due jurors and witnesses. When the marshal subsequently makes out his account to be forwarded to the department at Washington, two certified copies of the order of the court are furnished him by the clerk, one of which is attached to the original account, and the other to the duplicate. Under the settled practice of the court, and in accordance with the requirements of section 855 of the Revised Statutes, the orders made, directing the payment of the jurors and witnesses by the marshal, are entered upon the records of the court, and the folio fees therefor are properly chargeable in favor of the clerk. The order of the court thus made is the voucher upon which the marshal relies for his authority to make the payments, and, of necessity, copies thereof, duly certified, must be furnished the marshal, one of which is made part of the original report sent to Washington, and the other is made part of the duplicate account, which is retained in the clerk’s office under the provisions of section 1 of the act of February 22, 1875, (18 Stat. 333.) In the instructions issued by the attorney general to marshals, attorneys, and clerks, and found in the Register of the Department of Justice for 1886, p. 235, it is provided that “the vouchers must be marked “Original’ and “Duplicate,’ and the duplicate must be a duplicate in fact, not a copy.” To meet this requirement of these instructions, which are binding alike upon the marshal and the clerk, it is necessary that the clerk should furnish duplicate copies of the orders made by the court, directing payment of the sums due jurors and witnesses, each copy being duly certified by him, and for such services he is entitled to charge the statutory fees. Included in these items is a charge for attaching the seal to the clerk’s certificate. In the case of U. S. v. Van Duzee, 140 U. S. 169, 11 Sup. Ct. 758, it was ruled that, if the officers of the treasury department chose not to require the authentication of the certificate of the clerk by the seal of the court, they could dispense with the need thereof, and that the clerk could not recover the statutory fee for affixing the same. If a seal is not needed to the certificate of the original copy of the order of the court, it is clearly not needed to the duplicate order; and, under the ruling of the supreme court in the case just cited, the fees charged for affixing the seal to the certificate of these orders, whether original or duplicate, must be disallowed. U. S. v. Jones, 147 U. S. 672, 13 Sup. Ct. 437.

2. The next item in the account excepted to is one including charges made for making original and duplicate copies of the orders of the court directing the marshal to procure the record books needed for the business of the court, and used in the clerk’s office. When books of this character are needed, application is made to the court [443]*443for an order directing the marshal to procure the book; and the orders thus made, and duly recorded, are the authority upon which the marshal relies in procuring the same for the use of the court. The same need exists for furnishing two certified copies of these orders, to be made part of the original and duplicate accounts of the marshal, as in the case of the orders made for the payment of jurors and witnesses, and the clerk is clearly entitled to the statutory fees therefor. A charge is also made for attaching the seal of the court to the certificates; but this comes within the ruling of the supreme court in the case just cited, to wit, U. S. v. Van Duzee, 140 U. S. 169, 11 Sup. Ct. 758, and for that reason cannot be allowed.

3. The next exception taken by defendant covers the charges made for filing indictments when returned by the grand jury, and for making a record entry of the presentment and return thereof. The practice of the court is that the grand jury report the indictments found by them to the court, and the clerk receives the same, and marks them “Filed,” giving the date. In addition thereto, an entry is made in the records of the court, showing the fact of the return or presentment of the indictment into court by the grand jury, and the clerk charges the' statutory fee'for filing the indictment, and also the folio fee for making the entry upon the court records. Objection is made to the allowance of both these classes of charges, from which it would appear that the accounting officers deem it unnecessary that indictments should be filed by the clerk, or that any record should be made of the return thereof by the grand jury. A clerk who should fail to identify the indictments coming into his hands by marking them “Filed,” and should likewise fail to place upon the record proper evidence of the action of the grand jury in returning the indictments to the court, would clearly be derelict in his duty; and for these services thus rendered in the performance of his duties he is entitled to the usual fee for filing each indictment, and the folio fee for making the record entry.

4. Exception is next taken to the charges included in item 3 of the account sued upon, upon several grounds. This item covers the charges made in a large number of criminal cases for entering upon the records the arraignment and plea of defendant, the record of the trial and verdict, the sentence, and in some cases suspension, in whole or in part, of the sentence. Part of the total sum claimed has been allowed and paid, and the suit is for the balance left unpaid. As I understand the position of the defendant, it is that the several entries made by the clerk in each case should be consolidated, thus saving the writing the title of the case more than once, and avoiding repetitions, which become necessary when the entries are made separately.

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Related

United States v. Dundy
76 F. 357 (Eighth Circuit, 1896)
Van Duzee v. United States
73 F. 794 (N.D. Iowa, 1896)
United States v. Morgan
66 F. 279 (Eighth Circuit, 1895)
Hamer v. Weber County
37 P. 741 (Utah Supreme Court, 1894)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 F. 440, 1894 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/van-duzee-v-united-states-iand-1894.