IN ASSEMBLY,

April 24, 1832.

REPORT

Of the select committee on the Resolutions of the Assembly of the 3d and 8th February last.

Mr. Spencer, from the select committee appointed in pursuance of the resolutions of this House of the 3d and 8th of February last, in the words following, to wit:

Resolved, That a select committee of five be appointed to examine the fee bills of all the officers, and of the attornies and solicitors of the courts of record of this State during the period of eight years last past, and that they have leave to report by bill or otherwise. February 3d, 1832.

Resolved, That the clerk of this House be directed to request the the Circuit Judges, the Clerks of the Supreme Court, the Registers in Chancery, and such other officers as the committee appointed under the resolution of the 3d February instant, shall direct, to furnish to this House a full statement of all the legal fees received by them in their several offices during the years 1830 and 1831, together with all the disbursements and losses connected with their offices. February 8th, 1832.

REPORTED:

That immediately after their appointment, letters were addressed by the clerk of this House to the several officers designated by those resolutions, and the committee have delayed making any report until the present time, in the expectation of receiving such statements from them as would enable the committee to present a full statement of the facts respecting which they were directed to examine. That although they have not yet received such statements from all [A. No. 309.]

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those officers, as are necessary to enable them to make a full report, yet as the subject is of considerable interest, and, as they believe, in some respects not generally understood, and the present session is rapidly drawing to a close, they have thought it expedient to report such information as they have been enabled to obtain.

That from all the Circuit Judges, answers have been received.

Upon examination of those communications, it will be seen that the estimates made by them of the incidental fees and perquisites of their offices, are entirely conjectural, as they have not kept any accounts of such fees: but taking those estimates as correct, it appears that the emoluments of their offices are but little enhanced from such sources. The greatest amount received in any one year, which was by the judge of the first circuit, he estimates at three hundred and fifty dollars, besides his fees as Vice-Chancellor, and those are not appurtenant to his office, since the appointment of a vice-chancellor, and the severance of that office from the office of judge of the first circuit. The smallest amount accruing during the same time for like services, has been to the judge of the fourth circuit, and is estimated by him at fifty dollars; and the seven judges have estimated the whole amount of such perquisites at $1,129.68, making an average to each of the judges, of about one hundred and forty-one dollars and twenty-one cents: Yet, as the services for which these fees are chargeable, are for the most part rendered for absent attornies, solicitors and counsellors, and not paid at the time, perhaps it is not unreasonable to make an allowance of twenty per cent for delay, loss, and trouble of collection, which will reduce the actual receipts to an average of about one hundred and nineteen dollars per year ; a sum so small that, in the opinion of your committee, it is desirable rather to increase than to reduce it.

A communication and report from James Porter, Esq. Register in Chancery, also referred to your committee, and annexed to this report, has received their most deliberate attention. That report states the whole amount of fees and perquisites of that office, for six months immediately preceding the first day of January last, at one thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars and eighty-three cents; and his official disursements at $782.63; leaving a balance of $1,138.20. Your committee had long regarded the office of Register in Chancery as one of the most profitable in the State; and were surprised to find the emolument stated at a sum so moderate. In order to satisfy themselves upon this subject, they have carefully

examined the statement annexed to the report, and attentively compared it with the papers on file and books in the Register's office. In this investigation they have received from the Register every attention and facility they could desire. He attended at the office, with his clerks, during the whole time the committee were engaged in the examination, and essentially aided them in prosecuting it to a satisfactory conclusion. In pursuing their inquiries upon this subjeet the committee caused the folios, contained in the several books of entries in the said office, made during the time stated in the said report, to be estimated and ascertained, and the papers filed within the same period to be carefully enumerated, and found both to fal short of the amount stated in the said report. They also examined the bark and account books, kept by the Register, respecting the receiving, paying out and investing monies in the court of chancery; and, as far as they can judge, find them also to correspond with the said report. Several of the items contained in that report relate to the drawing and copying of decrees and orders, and copying of other papers, and sealing process, which are stated by estimation only; and your committee have no means of testing their accuracy, with certainty, as no accounts of such services are kept in the office; yet, after making careful inquiry, they are convinced that the amount of such services, as stated in the report, is not materially incorrect, but probably exceeds the perquisites arising from that source. And your committee are satisfied that the whole of the fees and emoluments of the Register, including his fees as clerk of the third circuit, did not, for the six months embraced, exceed the amount estimated in his report.

The committee, in the course of their examinations, ascertained that the present perquisites of this office were far short of its former emoluments, and they were naturally led to inquire into the causes which had produced such alterations. On referring to the Revised Statutes of this State, and considering the alterations made by them in the organization of the court of chancery, they readily perceived that great changes had been effected in the course of its business. Concurrent jurisdiction with the chancellor, in almost every case, was conferred upon the circuit judges, reserving the right of appeal to him from their decisions. These judges being distributed into every district in the State, and holding so many district equity courts, convenient to parties and counsel, as well as witnesses, afforded much greater facilities, in the prosecution of causes, than the more distant court of chancery, and soon became the general resort

for the commencement of suits. From their decisions frequent appeals to the Chancellor filled the calendars of that court with a great number of litigated causes, which engrossed most of its time, to the exclusion of a great portion of the ordinary business of the court. Consequently the Chancellor was compelled to send to the vicechancellors much of the business originally commenced in his court, which was, by such means, soon changed from a court of original, to one almost entirely of appellate jurisdiction.

A reference to the calendars of the Court of Chancery will show a great reduction in the number of causes depending in that court since the Revised Statutes went into effect. At the March term, 1829, of that court, 260 causes were placed on the calendar, and 147 decrees were entered and enrolled. At the next August term 233 causes were placed upon the calendar, and 140 decrees were taken and enrolled. At the January term, 1831, but 101 causes were placed upon the calendar, and only 46 decrees entered; and at the August term, 1831, there were put on the calendar, 121 causes, and 49 decrees were entered; and that many of the causes at the two last mentioned terms are appeals. By these comparisons it appears that while the litigated business of the court was greatly increased, the number of causes depending before the Chancellor in that Court, out of which the Register's fees arise, has diminished more than one half, and it is believed his emoluments have been reduced in a still greater proportion. It has been before remarked, that a great part of the business of the court, originates in the courts of the Vice-Chancellors, and is brought before the Chancellor by appeal. In such cases all the papers are filed, entries made, and process issued from the Vice-Chancellor's court, until the appeal is filed. The cause is then heard before the Chancellor, and his decree most generally sends it back to the court where it originated, to be executed. The papers are all filed and the decrees enrolled there, and although the causes frequently require great labor and investigation, and take up a great deal of time in the hearing, yet the fees of the Register in them is but a mere trifle. To make room for this kind of business, almost all the ordinary business of the court which formerly originated before the Chancellor is excluded, which business was much the most profitable to the Register, constituted one large branch of the emoluments of his office, and is now almost exclusively confined to the courts of the Vice-Chancellors, except that arising within the third circuit.

Other important reductions in the perquisites of this office have been effected by the Revised Statutes, among which may be noticed the alteration in the practice regulating the enrolling of decrees, once a most important item in the fee bill; prior to the passage of those Statutes, all final decrees were required by law to be enrolled, and the enrollment embraced all the orders, introductory decrees and reports in the cause, together with the final decree: under the present regulation decrees are not enrolled unless the parties direct it to be done, and this is not required in more than half the cases decided, and in those only the final order or decree is enrolled, and the other papers and proceedings are merely annexed. The fees in the present manner of enrollment do not, as your committee believe, amount to more than one tenth of what they did under the former practice; and as not more than one half of the final decrees are ever enrolled, the fees for their services, onee among the most important appertaining to the office, are now reduced to the small amount set out in the Register's report.

By the Revised Statutes, the folio for entering, engrossing, and copying, has been enlarged from 90 to 100 words without any increase of compensation. Reading, filing, and marking papers produced in court at terms or on motion days, is reduced from 20 cents to 6; attending court with pleadings and papers in a cause is reduced from one dollar to twenty-five cents; examining and signing final decrees, and taking the decree to the chancellor for his signature, is reduced one third. These, with other reductions in the fee bill, which might be stated, have, in the opinion of your committee, reduced the perquisites of this office more than one half.

To your committee, these causes appear satisfactorily to account for the great diminution in the income of the office of the Register, which has occurred, notwithstanding the great increase of equity business in the State. And they do not believe that the remaining perquisites of the office are more than a fair compensation for the services required, or will justly admit of any further reduction.

The attention of your committee has been directed by the Register to that part of his report which expresses an opinion that the six months included in the report affords a fair average of the proceeds of the office during the time elapsed since the Revised Statutes went into operation. This, he says, he finds on investigation, which he had not time to make before he reported, to be in some degree er