Rasmusson v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs

• Decision Date: 17 July 1889
• Citation: 43 N.W. 3,41 Minn. 283
• Parties: RASMUSSON v BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

41 Minn. 283

43 N.W. 3

RASMUSSONvBOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

July 17, 1889.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

1. A county cannot be held liable for the services of a clerk of the district court in indexing the judgment records of his office in books provided for in chapter 181, Gen. Laws 1885.

2. Nor can such liability be fixed upon the county by the order of the judge of the district court, directing the clerk to perform the work at the expense of the county, and determining his fees therefor.

Appeal from district court, Clay county; MILLS, Judge.

Action by Halvor Rasmusson against the board of county commissioners of Clay county, for services rendered as clerk of the district court in indexing county records. Demurrer to complaint overruled, and defendants appeal.

W. B. Douglas, for appellants.

O. Mosness, for respondent.

COLLINS, J.

Soon after the passage of chapter 181, Gen. Laws 1885, the respondent in this action, then clerk of the district court for Clay county, procured the books mentioned in section 1, and proceeded to index all of the judgment records in his office, in the form and manner contemplated by the act. Before doing the work, however, he obtained two orders from the judge of the court of the same date, one fixing his fees therefor, the other directing that he index the records of his office, as provided by said chapter 181, from the organization of such office to date, and to charge his fees for such indexing to the county “for all cases disposed of or in judgment,” and in cases still pending to include his fees in the taxable costs, presumably against the unsuccessful party. The question before us, which is raised by a general demurrer to a complaint, is, can the appellant county be held liable for all the indexing alleged to have been done pursuant to the order and under the law? We are clearly of the opinion that it cannot. The statute directs that “it shall be the duty of the clerk of the district court of every county in this state to procure, at the expense of the county, two well-bound books, to be denominated ***, to be ruled and printed substantially in” a given manner. There is no attempt elsewhere in the law to fix an obligation of any description upon the county, and its liability must not be spelled out by forced construction or far-fetched inference. It is not enough that public or private convenience may require the books to be kept; nor can the county be assessed because no...