The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1917-12-14
$4,000 IS Due TO
COUNTY BY THE
SOLICITOR
Is the Claim Made By the
County Commissioners
At Last Meeting.

AT meeClng OF the SOuHGy DOdiu
of Commissioners last week, motion
was made and unanimously adopted,
advising Solicitor General Herbert
Clay, that he would be given until
December 18th, the date of the next
meeting of the Commissioners, in
which to pay to the county treasurer
the sum of $2,573.89 alleged to be
due the county by him, for Jail fees
and nonresident witness fees which
he collected during the years 1913 to
1916, inclusive.
The resolution further provided
that should he fail to pay the above
sum by the date named the county
attorney shall proceed to apply the
rule to issue against him.
The claim grew out of the fact
that many defendants were confined
in the county jail before conviction.
and the county paid the sheriff the
Jail fees and board at the end of each
month, as the law directs, and in
many instances nonresident witness
ses appeared against them, the coun-
ty paying them So per day and mile
age at each term of court, while when
finally convictions were reached and
fines were paid, the Solicitor General
did not pay back to the county Treas
urer out of the fines, the sums which
the county had expended in the cases
for jail fees and nonresident wit
ness fees.
When the County Board checked
I'D the matter they contended that
these fees had not been paid the
county, and asked and opinion of D.
W. Blair, county attorney, as to the
right of the county to have this mon
ey paid.
We quote from this written opin-
ion of Attorney Blair:
"When the Solicitor General col
lects Jail or nonresident witness fees
in any cases, or where these are I'M
posed by sentence of the Court, and
the defendant pays his fine, it is the
duty of the Solicitor Generally to col
lect these items and pay them over
to the County Treasurer.
"The payment Of them does not
come out of fines and forfeitures,
but these items are part of the costs
in the particular case in which the
fine is paid.
"The County is entitled to reim-
bursement only in the particular case
in which the defendant pays the fine
imposed by the court. Any other case
where the fine is not paid, the county
has no claim for reimbursement for
Jail or witness fees paid out"
The Grand Jury at the recent No
vember Term of Cobb Superior Court,
in their general presentments made
the following recommendation con-
corning the claim:
owe have carefully investigated the
claim of the County against Solicl-
tor Clay, concerning which the Court
charged us, and we find that it is
made up of several typewriter
pages, and including no less than 314
separate and distinct claims, growing
out of that many different cases, the
investigation of which by this body,
would be difficult and require con-
siderable time at our hands.
And, we finding on investigation,
that the remedy provided by the Code
in case of this sort, is by Rule against
the Solicitor General, before the
Judge of the Superior Court.
We therefore recommend that the
County Commissioners request Rule
against Solicitor Clay for the amounts
claimed against him as provided by
the Code. As we understand it, the
Court has authority, under a pro-
ceeding of that sort to compel him to
pay the County Treasurer any money
that may be found in his hands due
the County, and that we have no
such authority, and that any finding
we might make would not be con-
elusive on him nor helpful to the
County in finding the facts under the
Rule"