Henry Billings Brown

“ The practice in most districts allows the witness or juror to appear before the clerk, make oath to his mileage and attendance, and receive a ticket or memorandum of the amount due him, which he presents to the marshal, who takes his receipt upon a large roll opened for the signature of all such jurors and witnesses as are paid off during the term. One order is then made to pay all persons whose names are on the roll, and the expense of a separate order in each case is thereby avoided. ”

“ An item for attendance on the circuit court at Macon by deputy for several days was disallowed by the comptroller, upon the ground that the clerk had been allowed a per diem for his personal attendance upon the court at Savannah upon the same day, the comptroller holding that the clerk was entitled to but one per diem for any one day, although the court might be in session at two or more places, and the clerk be represented at one of those places by a deputy. ”

“ The clerk's charges thus aggregated $1.15 for the payment of a witness, whose fees may not have exceeded $1.50, or of a single juror, whose fees may not have exceeded $2. Any practice which puts the government to such an expense is burdensome, vexations, and oppressive. In the present case a separate report seems to have been made, and a separate order issued, whenever a juror or witness was discharged, or a small number were discharged together; and the item contains charges for drawing 332 reports, at 30 cents each, and filing 358 orders, at 10 cents each ”

“ The several items, the allowance of which is assigned by the government as error, will be considered in their order.
1. Per diem charges of five dollars for services as clerk in selecting juries in connection with the jury commissioner are objected to, upon the ground that no compensation is provided by law for such services. ”

“ St. § 800, designated by ballot, lot, or otherwise, according to the mode of forming such juries practiced in the several states, and the courts were authorized to adopt rules conforming the method of designating and impaneling juries to the laws and usages of the state. ”