Porter v. Merrick County
Porter v. Merrick County
Opinion of the Court
A single question is presented by this record, to-wit: Is a sheriff, for conveying insane patients to the hospital entitled to mileage at ten or at five cents per mile? Chapter 28 of the Compiled Statutes relates generally to the subject of fees, and section 5 of that chapter relates to the fees of a sheriff. Among the items of that section is the following: “Traveling expenses for each mile actually and necessarily traveled, five cents.” This section, without material difference, appeared in the Revised Statutes of 1866. Chapter 86, Compiled Statutes, relates to the penitentiary, and section 33 of that chapter is as follows: “The expenses and legal fees of sheriffs and other officers, incurred in conveying convicts to the penitentiary, shall be approved by the auditor of state, and paid out of the state treasury; said auditor may allow for said expenses and fees the following rates: For sheriff, three dollars per day; for each assistant or guard absolutely necessary, two dollars per day, and ten cents per mile for traveling expenses in going and coming.” This section was in an act adopted in 1870. In 1873 an act was passed providing for the hospital for the insane. This act became chapter 40 of the Compiled Statutes, and section 50 of that chapter relates to the compensation of the commissioners of insanity and other officers. Among other things the section provides : “ The examining physician shall be entitled to $5 for each case examined, and mileage at the rate of ten cents per mile each way. The sheriff shall be allowed for his personal service in conveying a patient to the hospital and returning therefrom, at the rate of $3 per day for the time necessary and actually employed, and mileage the same as is allowed in other cases, and for other service the same fees as for like serv
It is said, in argument, that there is no reason why the sheriff’s mileage for conveying a patient to the hospital should be less than for conveying a prisoner to the penitentiary, or less than the mileage of the examining physician in cases of insanity. Were the question of construe
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James W. Porter v. Merrick County
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published