be kept.

2. He shall keep his office within two hundred yards of Office, where to the court-house, and for every twenty-four hours he fails to do so he shall be fined ten dollars.

§3. He shall, in all actions or motions now pending, or which may be hereafter instituted, promptly and regularly indorse on an inner envelope, to be filed with the papers of the cause, the day of filing the procedure, with the names of each plaintiff and defendant, the list of every subpœna and other process issued, the return day thereof, the parties named therein, the return of such process, and the persons on whom the same is served, and the date and substance of each order made and step taken in the cause.

to pa

Duty as
cause.

pers, &c., in a

1. He shall receive as compensation for the services named S. A. 1871, 71. in this section ten cents for indorsing the steps in each civil Compensation. case, at each term of court.

ure.

2. All his fees shall be void in each cause in which he Fees void for failfails to render the above required services at the proper time, and in a proper manner.

Oaths may be administered by in

or out of court.

3. He may administer oaths in or out of court touching any matter in which an oath may be legally administered. 4. He must keep his office open, free, and accessible, at Office to be kept all reasonable times, except the Sabbath day, to every person having a right or claim to business therein, under the penalty of five dollars for each failure.

§ 4. He shall, upon the written application of the attorney for the Commonwealth in vacation, issue subpoenas for witnesses to appear before the grand jury of his county at the next ensuing term of the circuit court.

open.

Duty as to sub

pœnas for wit

nesses before a

grand jury.

§ 5. He shall certify and affix the seal of his office to Soldiers' claims. soldiers' claims on the government for services rendered, or to any power of attorney or other writing concerning the same, without any fee or charge therefor.

§ 6. He shall keep a book in which he shall enter the names of each witness who attends the trial of any case in court upon legal summons, the number of days he attends, the number of ferries he necessarily has to cross, and of tollgates he has to pass through, with the distance he has to travel, if he resides out of the county, or more than ten miles from the court-house, and on whose behalf he was summoned.

Witness's attend &c.

mileage,

ance,

claim to be delivered.

1. He shall, on request, deliver to each witness a copy of A copy of each such claim, stating the amount he is entitled to.

taxed.

2. He shall, at the termination of every suit, tax on some

Costs, when to be paper filed with the record thereof, in words at length, the costs of each party, which shall be subject to the supervision and correction of the court.

S. A. 1861.

Liability to in

§ 7. If any clerk of the county court shall, without reasonable excuse therefor, fail to discharge the duties required dictment, when. of him by law in respect of the copying the tax-books of his county, he shall be liable to be fined, upon indictment, not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars.

Liability for fail

ure to return.com

missioners' books

to Auditor.

of report of number of suits, &c.

§ 8. Any clerk who shall fail, without reasonable excuse, to return the commissioners' books to the Auditor of Public Accounts, in the manner and at the time required by law, when notified of such failure by the Auditor, shall be subject to a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars, to be recovered, upon indictment of the grand jury of his county, or of the county of Franklin, the circuit court of which last named county shall have jurisdiction for the trial of such indictment.

9. The circuit clerk shall, immediately after the fall term Duty in respect of each court every year, report to the Auditor of Public Accounts a full statement of the whole number of suits brought in the court the preceding year, verified by oath, designating therein whether the same was in chancery, common law, a criminal prosecution, or for a misdemeanor; the accuracy of which statement the judge of the court shall ascertain and certify.

By whom oath

to be administer

ed & official bond

taken, and pro

ceeding in respect

thereof.

§ 10. The oath required in this chapter may be administered by the judge of the county, and the official bond may be executed before and attested by him, to whom is given authority to approve or reject the sureties offered, and whose duty it shall be to return to the circuit court, at its next ensuing term, a certificate of the oath administered, and accompanied by the bond which he hath taken; whereupon the judge of the circuit shall pass upon the sufficiency of said bond. If he approve, the bond shall be by his order entered on the order-book; and if he reject, the clerk shall, before the expiration of that term of court, execute a satis factory bond, or incur the penalties of the law for his failure. § 11. Any failure of a clerk to discharge the duties imWhat failure of posed on him by this chapter in respect of the taxation of cost, or the noting of steps, &c., taken in a cause as the

duty a contempt of court.

same progresses, is declared to be a contempt of court, and may be punished accordingly.

§ 12. That all clerks shall certify and affix their seal of office, without charge therefor, to the declaration and all necessary papers of soldiers' widows, heirs, administrators, and guardians, in making application for bounty money or land, arrears of pay, extra pay and pensions, or half pay, under the laws of the United States, and also to surgeons' certificates, or other papers of disability of any soldier absent from his company and regiment on sick or other furlough. § 13. It shall be the duty of each circuit clerk to procure a suitable book, to be called a "general index," in which he shall, after a case is finally decided, make an index entry of the case, referring to the same by the names of each plaintiff against the defendants, and in the name of each defendant ad. the plaintiffs, and refer to the bundle by number in which the papers of the case have been filed away in his office.

Widows & heirs

of soldiers to have

papers certified

free of charge.

General index of be kept.

decided cases to

CHAPTER 17.

COMMISSIONERS OF FOREIGN DEEDS.

1 R. S., 251. Governor to ap

§ 1. The Governor of the Commonwealth may appoint and commission one or more commissioners of deeds in point. each State, district, or territory of the United States.

1. The commissioners so appointed shall remain in office Duration of office. for the term of two years, unless sooner removed by the

Governor.

2. The Governor may, from time to time, fill vacancies in Vacancies. the office.

3. Each commissioner, before he enters on the duties of Oath or affidavit. his office, shall make and subscribe an affidavit, before an officer authorized to administer an oath, well and truly to execute and perform all the duties of his station. Which affidavit must be transmitted to and filed in the office of the Secretary of State for this Commonwealth.

2. Any commissioner appointed and qualified as above Authority of. directed shall have authority to take the acknowledgment or proof of any instrument of writing (except wills), which, by the laws of this Commonwealth, is required to be recorded.

1.nowledgment of married women.

1. He shall also have the power to examine and take the May take the acacknowledgment of married women to any such instrument.

cording.

2. The examination, acknowledgment, or proof of any Effect of as re- such instrument taken by a commissioner and certified under his official seal, in the manner required by the laws of this Commonwealth, shall authorize the same to be recorded in the proper office.

3. A commissioner of deeds may administer any oath or May administer take any affirmation necessary to the discharge of his official duties.

oath.

§ 3. Commissioners appointed under this chapter may May take depo- take and certify depositions, to be read on the trial of any action or proceeding, in any of the courts of this Commonwealth.

sitions.

Heretofore appointed still to

act.

§4. Commissioners heretofore appointed may, during their continuance in office, act under this chapter.

439.

S. A. 1864; Sup.,
System of com-

mon schools uni-
form.

icated by Constitution.

II. Common School Defined. Fines and Amercements.

ARTICLE I.

School Fund.

SI. There shall be throughout the State of Kentucky a uniform system of common schools, according to the Constitution of the State and the provisions of this act; and all laws now existing, conflicting with this act, are hereby repealed.

§ 2. The School Fund shall consist of the fund dedicated School fund ded- by the Constitution and laws of this Commonwealth for the purpose of sustaining a system of common schools therein. 3. The bond for $1,327,000, issued January 1st, 1870, Other sources of in aid of common schools, shall bear interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable on the 30th day of June

school fund.

and December of each year. The interest on said bond, the dividends on seven hundred and thirty-five shares of the stock of the Bank of Kentucky, the annual tax of twenty cents on each one hundred dollars in value of the property of the State, heretofore imposed by law, and all fines and forfeitures set apart by existing laws, in aid of common schools, shall constitute the annual revenue of the Common School Fund, and shall be paid into the Treasury; but shall never be drawn out, or appropriated otherwise than in pursuance of this chapter, in aid of common schools.

fund to be used.

§ 4. Hereafter, except as otherwise expressly provided in For what purpose this chapter, no part of the Common School Fund, or of the revenue thereof, shall be used for any other purpose than the payment of teachers of common schools, legally qualified and employed, in pursuance hereof.

in

respect of.

What constitutes

5. The Auditor shall keep the accounts in relation to Duty of Auditor this fund. He shall, once in each month, make a transfer to the credit of said fund of all receipts into the Treasury for the benefit of the common schools, up to the date of such transfer. He shall allow no expenditures on that account beyond the annual revenue of the fund, and shall see that no county draws more than its proper proportion. § 6. The net revenue of the fund accruing during each school year, after the payment of whatever expenses may be incurred according to law by the Board of Education, or by special acts of legislation, shall constitute the sum to be distributed. But no fees to county judges or clerks, discount on checks, or other incidental expenses, shall be paid out of the distributable share of the revenue apportioned to any county; but such payment shall be made out of the county levy.

§ 7. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall, on or before the first day of August in each year, ascertain and estimate, as near as may be, the net revenue that will accrue from all sources during the school year, the pro rata share thereof each white child will be entitled to according to the whole number of white children between the ages of six and twenty years in the State, and the proportion thereof each county and each district will be entitled to according to the whole number of such children residing in each county and district respectively, as shown by the returns of the county commissioner. If, at the time of making such estimate and

fund to be distrib

uted. But fees

of clerks, &c.,

not embraced.

Duty of Superintain the net reve of each child,

tendent to ascer

nue, the pro rata

the proportion of

each district; to

file copy with the

Auditor, & inform

County commis

sioner.