Horace Gray

“ Among the provisions of the act of 1853, and of chapter 16 of title 13 of the Revised Statutes, expressly extended by congress to the territories, is the provision that the maximum personal compensation of a clerk of a district court or of a circuit court of the United States shall be no greater if he holds both clerkships than if he holds only one. This clearly indicates the intention of congress that the maximum compensation of the clerk of a territorial district court should not be increased even if his fees and emoluments were derived from two distinct sources of authority. ”

“ This long practice amounted to a contemporaneous and continuous construction of the statute by the concurring interpretation of judicial and executive officers charged with the duty of carrying out its provisions. ”

“ From 1842 and including 1884 his accounts were examined and approved by the district judge. They then went from 1842 to 1849 to the secretary of the treasury, from 1849 to 1870 to the secretary of the interior, and since 1870 to the attorney general; and they were, during this long period, examined and adjusted by the accounting officers of the treasury, with the naturalization fees not included. ”