1

S. C. 12 Fed. Rep. 739.

[402]

djQ WAITE, C. J.

In this case the appellants have delivered to the clerk the

requisite number of copies of the record in print, and they ask to

docket the cause without securing the payment of the fee

chargeable under the present rules in connection with the

printing. The act of March 3, 1883, c. 143, (22 St. 631,) making

appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the government for the

fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, made an entire change in the

emoluments of the clerk of this court. Before that act the clerk

collected the fees of his office, paid the expenses, and kept what

remained as his own compensation. He was not accountable to the

government or to any one else for the income. The act of 1883

established a maximum for his annual compensation, and required to

pay into the treasury all the fees and emoluments of the office

over his salary, necessary clerk hire, and incidental expenses.

The same act made it the duty of the court to prepare a table of

fees to be charged by the clerk. This was done, and among the

rest, is the following: 'For preparing the record or a transcript

thereof for the printer, indexing the same, supervising the

printing, and distributing the printed copies to the justices, the

reporter, the law library, and the parties or their counsel,

fifteen cents per folio.' Rule 24, § 7.

The clerk is responsible to the court for the correctness and

proper indexing of the printed copies of the record, for their

presentation to the justices in the form and of the size

prescribed by the rules, and for their delivery, when required, to

the parties entitled thereto. As he must now account to the

treasury for the fees and emoluments of his office, he may demand

payment in advance. Steever v. Rickman, 109 U. S. 74; [S. C. 3

SUP. CT. REP. 343.] If the printing is actually done under his

supervision he may require the payment of the fee chargeable under

the rule before the printing is done. If the parties themselves

furnish the printed copies, the fee must be paid, if demanded, in

time to enable him to make the necessary examinations and be ready

to deliver the copies to the parties or their counsel and to the

[403]

court when needed for any purpose in the progress of the cause.

The fee is for the service specified in this item of the table,

and is indivisible. Consequently, if the clerk performs any part

of the service he is entitled to collect the whole fee; and if the

printed record is used at all, it must be examined by him to see

if it conforms to the copy certified below and on file as the

transcript of the record. So that if the printed copies are used

for any purpose in the progress of the cause the whole fee is

chargeable. As the law now stands the fees and emoluments of the

office belong to the government, subject only to the payment of

the annual salary of the clerk, necessary clerk hire, and

incidental expenses, and the clerk is the collecting agent for the

government. As this record has been printed the case may be

docketed without security for this fee, but the printed copies

cannot be delivered to the justices or the parties for use on the

final hearing or on any motion in the progress of the cause unless

the fee is paid, when demanded by the clerk, in time to enable him

to make his examinations and perform his other duties in

connection with the copies.

Rule 31 relates only to the form and size of the printed

records, briefs, and arguments, and has nothing to do with the fee

now in question.