The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-12-12
TROUBLE OVER An ORDER
RULE or JUDGE HUMPHREYS
OBJECTED TO.
Withdrawal Of Funds from Hands Of
Court Clerk Upsets Old System and
Brings Pilikia.

The order of Judge Humphreys TAX
ing all the money of the Circuit court
out of the hands of the chief clerk and
requiring that it be promptly deposited
in the First National bank as It comes
in, has uncovered the fact that for
many years it has been the practice to
advance money from funds on hand for
expenses of other court terms. Judge
Humphreys order simply carries out a
provision of the Audit Act of 1898. 1t
Will result i'm hardship to country courts
until such time as some other perma-
nent arrangement is made.
Judge Little, of Hlo, seems to have
been the first judge to be affected His
| term will open very soon and he finds
himself without funds to carry on the
! term. Judge Humphreys has received
the following letter from him:
q enclose copy of a letter received
! from Henry Smith, which explains it.
| self. | also enclose you copy OF a
! letter received from my clerk, Mr..
Porter which also explains itself. From
what | CLEAN of this correspondence, it
seems that by some recent order of
! your own, Henry Smith is prevented
| from the pursuance of his old methods
/ heretofore followed in the payment of
! the court expenses outside of Homo
| lulu.
81 write you to inquire if there is any
way i'm your judgment by which your
! OIOer COulu DC feSClnueu or relaxed
| without injury to public practice or to
| public service, in order that Mr.. Smith
might pay the expenses of our term in
! the same manner as heretofore, but it
| is to be hoped that by the July term
| the Legislature will have made some
! provision for the payment of court eX-
pcnSes other than that which has here
| tofOre obtained, and less cumbersome.
| You readily understand that it
would be an easy matter for me to get
! some of my friends to honor checks is
! sued by my clerk for the expenses of
| the term and then have the auditor APP
prove the same and pay it, but have
no authority to do it under the law. OF
| course, If you cannot do this, | shall
have to ascertain if there are no other
methods which l may adopt to cover
| the question.
| My term, | understand, will cost ST.
500, inasmuch as it will be a very large
calendar and a vast number of crimi-
nal cases, and will include the expenses
incidental to two jurisdictions; it may
! cost even more than that: II may cost
| less; but the clerk informs me that 10
will cost in the neighborhOod of 81, 800,
| and he knows more about those mat
! terS than | do. | will thank you very
much if you win find your way clear
to allow the old rule to obtain for this
Il term at least"
The letter from Henry Smith. above
the first paragraph of this article. Sim
! liar letters We're sent to all the judges
of the group. To Judge Little, Judge
Humphreys yesterday replied as fol-
| lows:
1T is plain to be seen from a most
casual reading of the rule, that it was
not intended to apply to deposits made
| by attorneys for costs, but only to
sums deposited by way of tender, and
to trust funds which might be ordered
paid into the court from time to time
| by one of the Judges.
Smiths letter to Porter satisfies me
that I did not promulgate the rule in
question any too soon. If you are en-
barrassed by the want of funds with
which to hold your court, truly regret
it; but / cannot relieve the situation by
authorizing or permitting the use of
funds on derosit in this court, or pro-
perty of non-resdents, widows and
| minors for that purpose.
Il think that a clerk who will use or
apply trust funds deposited in court
for any purpose other than the neces-
| sary fulfillment of the trust under the
order and direction of a Judge, is
wholly lacking in any proper concep-
ton of the duties and RESPONSIBILITIES
of his position, and will bear the clos
est watchi"- and ! shall continue to
see to it that Mr.. Smith is prohibited
from handling trust monies on deposit
in this court.
Constructive frauds, even though
purely technical, are to be condemned
at all times, and particularly is this
| true when such frauds are committed
by those who are officers of the court
or in close contact with it i. e., clerks
of the court.
"The practice of technically and tenn
pOrarily misappropriating trust funds
for a purpose which may happen to
commend itself to the clerk as laud-
1,1A t131 ls.
cause it is of long standing and has
been permitted or tolerated by those
high in authority.
at the Attorney General cannot pro-
vide trust funds with which you may
hold your January term, l take it for
granted that the term will have to
lapse
Judge Little wrote a second letter to
Chief Justice Frear, almost indentical
with that to Judge Humphreys. The
Chief Justice renlied by yesterdays
mail sustaining the chief clerk in re-
fusing to advance funds for court eX-
| penses.
Friends of Henry Smith feel bit sore
about the criticism of the chief clerk
by Judge Humphreys. They eve ia
II was entirely uncalled for if not unjust.
Mr.. Smith, in his own behalf, says
nothing. He believes that his record is
above reproach and is willing to stand
silently upon 1t. OF the letter to Judge
Little he said this morning: my bonds
are $4,000 for the faithful and accurate
discharge of my duties. Under the or
der of Judge Humphreys I did not feel
justified in straining this bond to the
extent of advances to Circuit courts for
expenses. However, the duties of my
office are clearly established, as shown
in Chapter SO, Section HIS, Civil Laws
of 1887, referring to the chief clerk: He
shall have charge Of the records,
! In
flee i'm Honolulu, and shall supervise
and direct the mode of keeping accounts
and records. "