In re Vermeule
Opinion of the Court
This is an application to the court to determine the amount of the fees to which the c-lerk is entitled for making and certifying a search for judgments and for petitions in bankruptcy. The fees claimed by the clerk are for searching for judgments and decrees, fifteen cents for each name searched against, and for searching for petitions in bankruptcy ten cents a year for each name searched against for ten years, making one dollar for each name searched against. It is conceded that the clerk is entitled to fifteen cents for searching for judgments; and no objection is-taken to fifteen cents for each name searched against for petitions in bankruptcy, but objection is made to anything more than fifteen, cents for each name searched against for petitions in bankruptcy.
The fees of the clerk so far as they are fixed by statute are governed by Rev. St. tit. 13, c. 10, § 828, which contains the following: “For every search for any particular mortgage, judgment or other lien, fifteen cents.” “For searching the records of the court for judgments, decrees, or other instmments constituting a general lien on real estate and certifying the result of such search, fifteen cents for each person against whom such search is required to be-made.”
The second of these provisions is a re-enactment of the statute of 1853, c. 80, § 1 [10 Start 161], passed February 26, 1853. The bankrupt law which was passed in 1867 [14 Start
It is suggested that by a statute of New York, passed in 1S53, the county clerk is allowed fifteen cents a year for each name searched against for judgments, and five cents a year for each name searched against for other papers and records, and that this affords some guide to the determination of the reasonable fees to be allowed the clerk in a case not specially provided for by statute. These two statutes, nearly contemporaneous, proceed evidently upon a very different rate of compensation for similar services. What the difference is owing to is not obvious on the statutes themselves. It may be that the state statute -fixed higher rates in view of a very much larger number of judgments and other instruments entered and filed in the county clerk’s office; but whatever may be the reason for this difference, I am bound to follow the clear indications of the federal statutes as to the proper fee to be charged for such services in the clerk’s office of a federal court. The charge for searching for petitions in bankruptcy in excess of fifteen cents for each name searched against, disallowed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In re VERMEULE
- Status
- Published