Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-12-14
ILLEGAL FEES.
How They are Manufactured

\ case Just brought to our notice illus
tratcs in remarkable degree the folly and
expense Of 'goins 20 law over trifles
and the rapacity OF petty officials i'll in
creasing their fees at Z rate which! makes
the local administration of justice So sean
,lalous and oppressive.
Two brothers had 4 dispute as to their
rights in a certain property of no great
value ut its best. The invasion of it or
rather the use of it by one of the brothers
and his men was regarded by the other as
4 malicious trespass and a criminal prose
cutiOn was begun against them all.
n counter civil and criminal suit fol-
| lowed. By which time the trouble of at
tending court, the laws delays, the law
yers' fees, the bad blood created, and
; other considerations involved, brought
them to their better senses and = brOtherly
compromise was effected, by which all
suits were Withdrawn and the costs di-
vided. 1t cost each of the parties to the
quarrel about 800 for their experiment at
litigation over trii!es.
But this is only incidental to the main
fact which it is desired to illustrate-the
facility with which costs are worked up
by cOnstables.
When the aggrieved party sought re
dress he readily found a magistrate who
showed him how to make nine complaints
and nine cases out Of one and the same
Oifcnse committed at the same time. The
nine suits were brought and nine sets OF
| costs incurred. One bill was ignored and
one case otherwise disposed of. When
there remained seven suits OH the docket
the agreement was reached by which
seven were to be nol. pressed upon payment
~ 1,a1c 1,,y ntx xl,<,1
litigant, original parties to the dispute.
When it came to the payment Of these
costs it was found that the subdivision of
the o!fensc, and the multiplication of in
dictments had resulted in seven sets of
costs for the prosecution of the single Of
fense. Tho sheriff, tho district attorney,
the clerk Of quarter sessions, the county,
the justice and the cOnstable's return each
had seven-fold costs included in the bill.
The first brother who paid his costs found
his half amounting to s77.9O. The settle
ment was made to the August term.
Meanwhile subpGnas were issued to the
witnesses to attend the October, Novem
Der and December terms of court, and
after the latter the other brother came to
town to attend to the payment of his half
Of the costs and was startled to hear that
they had mounted up to about $50.
Here comes the rub!
There were three witnesses for the COM
monwealth. One of them was the prose-
cutor and another was the constable him
self to whom the subpGnas were sent to
be served by him. He had to travel or
miles and back at most to serve on the
prosecutor and the other man.
How do you suppose he managed to foot
up bill Of s17.64 mileage on the COM
monwea!th's subpoena for each court?
This way
He travelled his seven miles and back
each OF the three times. Then inc returned
IA miles circular for each of the three wit
nesses, in each of the seven cases at each
Of the three courts 14x. x.0Gx3N7-s17.G4.
s17.G4x3-$52 92.
That is to say that this constab!e-and
he was not q city cOnstable-char9ed
2.92 mileage, representing SS4 miles trav-
eled at cents mile, when in truth and
fact he travelled only AZ miles and was
only entitled to S2.52. He came down
like JOnes's coon as soon as the gun was
pointed at him.