Case ID: us-ct-cl_25/html/0346-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "\n      Richardson, Cli. J.,", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

DANIEL N. COOPER v THE UNITED STATES.
    [No. 16621.
    Decided May 5, 1890.]
    
      On the Proofs.
    
    A circuit court commissioner takes separate acknowledgements at different times of defendants and sureties on bonds for appearance in court.
    I. A bond for tbe appearance of the defendant in court needs no acknowledgment and the commissioner, is not entitled to a fee therefor.
    II. A recognizance is a matter of record, neither signed nor sealed. The obligation rests upon the acknowledgment before the court, reduced to writing, and certified by the officer taking it.
    
      The Reporters' statement of the case:
    The following are the facts of the case as found by the cohrt:
    I. The claimant was a commissioner of the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of Alabama from October 18,1887, to December 31, 1888.,
    II. His accounts for services during said period, duly verified by oath, were submitted to the United States circuit court through the district attorney for approval in open court, and were approved by the court as being according to law and just, as required by the Aet of February 22,1875 (Chap. 95, sec. 1, Supp. Rev. Stats., p. 145). They were then presented to the accounting officers of the Treasury Department for payment.
    III. The following items were disallowed by the accounting officers of the Treasury, and have not been paid.
    “(1) Drawing affidavits of complaints setting forth that a person has committed an offense against the laws of the United States in various criminal cases on which to issue a warrant of arfest, at 15 cents per folio, $220.95.
    “(2) Filing warrants at 10 cents each, and entering, returns of marshal on warrants and subpoenas in various cases heard and examined, at 15 cents each, $143.
    (3) For taking separate acknowledgments at different times of defendants and sureties to final bonds for appearance at court, at 25 cents each, $142.50.”
    
      These bonds are in the asnal form of bonds, signed and sealed by principal and sureties acknowledging themselves to' owe to the United States a penal sum, subject to a condition of defeasance if the principal shall be and appear at the next term of the court for the northern district of Alabama, and then and there answer all such matters and things as shall be objected against him, and abide the order of the court, and not to depart the court without leave.
    The certificate of the commissioner was as follows:
    “Taken and acknowledged before me at the time and place aforesaid, and having heard the statements under oath, of the said sureties, that they are seized and possessed of property in said northern district of Alabama, amounting in the aggregate to double in penalty of said bond, I hereby approve the form and sufficiency thereof.”
    On the back are separate affidavits of the obligors as to the amount of their unencumbered real estate, taken and certified by the commissioner. For these certificates the commissioner has been paid at the rate of 10 cents each.
    “ (4) Drawing final bonds of defendants and witnesses to> court, in excess of two folios, and not exceeding four folios for each bond in any one case, at 15 cents per folio, $285.10.
    “ (5) Making reports to the marshal with orders to pay United States witnesses for their attendance and mileage, in excess of one folio for each witness, or in excess of one folio-in duplicate, at 15 cents per folio, $99.45.
    “(6) Fees in cases of United States v. is7.13. Brown, voucher 82; United States «. A, Ballard, voucher 88; United States v. J. Raibon, voucher 94; United States v. Robert Martin, voucher 103, $16.01.
    “(7) Making monthly reports of proceedings to the clerk of court in various cases heard by claimant, in excess of one-half folio and not exceeding four folios in each case, as required by rule of court, at 15 cents per folio, $9.10.
    “(8) Charges for issuing separate warrants of arrest for certain defendants, charged with separate and distinct offenses, committed at different times and places, $729.92.
    
      Mr. C. O. Lancaster for the claimant.
    
      Mr. F. F. Dewees (with whom was Mr. Assistant Attorney-General Cotton) for the defendants.
   Richardson, Cli. J.,

delivered the opinion of the court:

The claimant’s accounts were presented to the circuit court ■of the northern district of Alabama through the district attorney, and were approved as “ according to law and just,” as required by the act of February 22,1875.' (Chap. 95, sec. 1, ■Supp. Rev. Stats., p. 145.) On presentation to the Treasury Department, the accounting officers disallowed the items set •out in the findings, and they have not been paid.

Among the several items disallowed we find but one that has not already been passed upon by the court, and held to be legal charges.

The third item is:

For taking separate acknowledgments at different times of defendants and sureties to find bonds for appearance at court, •at 15 cents each, $142.50.”

If any law of Alabama, where these proceedings were had, required an acknowledgment in such case, this item might be regarded as necessary under the provisions of Revised Statutes, section 721, which requires that the laws of the several States •shall be regarded as the rules of decision in trials at common law m the courts of the United States, in cases where they apply, and so might be allowed. But no such law has been called to our attention, and we are aware of none in that State nor elsewhere.

A bond is signed and sealed by the parties, and the obligation rests upon the language of the written instrument as adopted and proved by the signatures and seals of the obligors. It needs no other acknowledgment.

A 3'ecognizance is a matter of record, and is not signed nor sealed by the parties. The obligation rests wholly upon the acknowledgment made before the court or . magistrate, reduced to writing, and certified by the officer taking it, and duly recorded. Without an acknowledgment it is nothing.

The obligors in the bonds mentioned in the findings made affidavits to the amount of their property, and the commissioner certified to the taking of the oaths before him. He has been paid the statute fees for that service.

The acknowledgments were wholly unnecessary, and the charges can not be allowed. (Stafford’s Case, 25 C. Cls. R.)

Judgment will be entered for .the balance of his accounts, ■which have not been paid, in the sum of $1,503.53.