Opinion of the Court. of the judge upon it, were in the following form, as contained in the record: "[Blank for emolument return, to be filled up when a return is due, and forwarded to the Attorney General of the United States, with the necessary vouchers. Should the return be verified before any officer other than a judge or clerk of a court of the United States, the additional certificate of authentication should be appended, as the printed instructions of July 13, 1870, require. Similar blanks will be furnished for each semi-annual return.] and of moneys paid out by him during the same period for the expenses of his office; also of the receipt or non-receipt of fees and emoluments previously returned by him as "not received." Total amount of earnings, received and not received, brought down Fees and emoluments heretofore returned as "not received" for the half Fees and emoluments heretofore returned as "not received" for the half District Court. I, the Opinion of the Court. clerk of the district of , Court of the United States for do solemnly swear that the foregoing account is, in all respects, just and true, according to my best knowledge and belief; and that I have neither received, directly or indirectly, nor directly or indirectly agreed to receive, or be paid, for my own or another's benefit, any other money, article, or consideration than therein stated; nor am I entitled to any emoluments for the period therein mentioned other than those therein specified; and that I have taken all reasonable pains to collect from individuals amounts. due to the United States for services in my office: So help me God. Signed and sworn to before me this day of 188. I, judge of the Court for the district of do hereby certify that I have carefully examined the vouchers referred to in the foregoing return; that the disbursements charged therein for clerk hire and office expenses were necessary to the convenient transaction of the business of the clerk's office; and that the sums paid therefor are, in my opinion, reasonable. NOTE 1.- No money can be paid from the Treasury to any clerk while his emolument return shall remain in arrear." On the foregoing facts and statutes it was contended by the United States, before the Circuit Court, held by the circuit judge and the district judge, that the sums received as fees in naturalization proceedings were "fees and emoluments" within the meaning of § 833, and ought to have been included by the clerk in his returns, on the ground that they were received for services rendered by the clerk in his official capacity, and he was, therefore, bound to account for them, whether they were or were not chargeable under § 828, prescribing fees for clerks. The Circuit Court held that the action Opinion of the Court. could not be maintained, and entered a judgment for the defendants, to review which the United States have brought a writ of error. The opinion of the Circuit Court, which accompanies the record, and is reported in 25 Fed. Rep. 375, gives the following statement as to the former and the existing legislation of Congress on the subject and as to the action of the courts and of the Executive Departments of the government: "By the act of March 3, 1791, 1 Stat. 217, § 1, the compensation of the clerks was fixed at five dollars a day for attending court, and their travel. To this was added by the act of May S, 1792, 1 Stat. 277, 3, such fees as were allowed in the Supreme Courts of the state, with a provision that for discharging duties not performed by the clerks of the state courts, and for which the laws of the state made no allowance, the court might allow a reasonable compensation. Under these acts the clerks were allowed to retain all their fees, and were not required to render any account of them to the government. The first law requiring returns to be made was the act of March 3, 1841, 5 Stat. 427. This act established the compensation of clerks of courts at $4500 a year, above clerk hire and office expenses, payable from fees only, and required them to pay the overplus into the public treasury, under such rules and regulations as might be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. The next in order of time was the act of May 18. 1842, 5 Stat. 483. That act required the clerks to make to the Secretary of the Treasury semi-annual returns, embracing all the fees and emoluments of their office, of every name and character, distinguishing those received or payable under the bankrupt act from those received or payable for any other service. It authorized the clerk of the District Court to retain from the fees and emoluments of his office, above office expenses and clerk hire, as his personal compensation, $3500 a year, and required him to pay the surplus into the Treasury. It has been stated that the provision in this act as to bankruptcy fees was inserted to change the law, as ruled by Judge Story, that the clerks were not bound to account for fees earned under the bankrupt act of August 19, 1841. Opinion of the Court. The act of March 3, 1849, 9 Stat. 395, § 4, establishing the Department of the Interior, transferred the supervision of the accounts of clerks to the Secretary of the Interior. Until the act of February 26, 1853, 10 Stat. 161, the official fees of the clerks remained in substance as fixed by the acts of 1791 and 1792. The act of 1853 was the first uniform statute regulating the fees of the clerks and other officers of the courts throughout the United States. It established the present fee-bill, and is reproduced in $$ 823 to 857 of the Revised Statutes. Its provisions in regard to returns to be made by the clerks were the same as in the act of 1842, except that they were to be made to the Secretary of the Interior, as directed by the act of 1849, instead of to the Secretary of the Treasury. Since the act of June 22, 1870, creating the Department of Justice, the returns have been made to the Attorney General, and supervision of these accounts has been exercised by that officer of the government." Referring then to the fee-bill of February 26, 1853, as found in $$ 823 et seq. of the Revised Statutes, the court proceeds: "Upon an examination of the statute it will be seen that it applies to taxable costs in all ordinary litigation, whether at law or in equity or admiralty, and undoubtedly governs the taxation in all such actions, suits, and proceedings, civil and criminal, in personam and in rem, in the courts of the United States. But it has not usually been considered, at least in this district, as applying to certain special and peculiar cases, of which the courts have jurisdiction, where only the party asking for the right or privilege is before the court, and from the nature of the case no costs are taxable as in ordinary litigated suits. Of such a character are proceedings under the naturalization laws, under the shipping commissioner's act, and applications to be admitted to practice as an attorney. Thus Judge Shepley early refused to allow the clerk to tax costs by the fee-bill on applications under the shipping commissioner's act of June 7, 1872, 17 Stat. 272, Rev. Stat. § 4544, for the money and effects of deceased seamen deposited in the Circuit Court by the shipping commissioner. VOL. CXX-12 Opinion of the Court. "In respect to naturalization cases, it has never been hitherto understood, either by the judges or the departments, that the fees of the clerk were for services rendered in his official capacity. At times, especially before elections, these applications are extremely numerous. The papers are usually prepared by the parties themselves or their friends, or more frequently by agents of candidates. The hearings are ex parte, at no stated times, and it is rare that any person appears in opposition. It has, therefore, been necessary, both in the interest of the applicants, and for the due and orderly execution of the law, and to enable the court to dispose of the cases, that the papers should be looked over and corrected by some person familiar with the law and practice, and in many instances that the witnesses should be examined before the cases were presented to the court for final action. It was for this service that the clerk has been allowed to make these charges to the parties. These are duties which the court has the undoubted right to have performed by some other person than the presiding judge. In these cases the clerk acts rather as a person appointed to assist the court in exercising its functions, like a master or examiner in an equity cause, or an assessor in admiralty, or an auditor in a suit at law. It is the universal practice of all courts of large jurisdiction to appoint special officers, at the expense of the parties, to make inquiries, investigate details, examine papers, take accounts, make computations, and perform ministerial acts. Their reports, when returned into court and accepted, become part of the case, and form the basis of the orders and decrees of the court in the cause. "It was with this view, to regulate the practice in naturalization cases, and define the duties required of the clerk, that Judge Sprague, in 1855, adopted the following rules, which have ever since been in force: "Ordered, by the court, that applications by aliens to be admitted to become citizens of the United States shall be presented to the court while in session, and that proof of the facts whereof the court is required by law to be satisfied, shall be made by at least two credible and disinterested wit |