166 Ind. 593 | Ind. | 1906
—The petitioner, Robert A. Brown, Clerk of the Supreme Court and ex officio Clerk of the Appellate Court, comes in person and by counsel and presents a petition for our consideration, whereby he invokes our judgment as a court relative to his control over the opinions and decisions of said court after the same have been handed down and filed in his office. He also requests to be advised whether, under the existing law, he is at liberty, in his discretion, to continue to furnish in the future, as he has been doing in the past, uncertified copies of said opinions and decisions to the West Publishing Company for advance publication in what is known as the Northeastern Reporter. He alleges and shows in his petition that he is the duly elected, qualified and acting clerk of this court, and an officer thereof and to an extent subject to the control of the court. The petition alleges that §6423 Burns 1901,
“He further shows to the court that some doubt having been raised as to his right to enter into an agreement with said publishing company to furnish said copies at a less ráte than ten cents per one hundred words, he notified said company that said copies would not be furnished for a less rate after January 1, 1906; that he is informed and believes that said company regards said rate as unreasonable and prohibitive, and that unless said copies can be obtained in some other manner the publication of said opinions in the Uortheastern Eeporter will be suspended, the bench and bar of the State and this honorable court deprived of the use of the same, and the administration of justice greatly hampered; that in order to procure said opinions without paying a rate which it so alleges is unreasonable, extortionate and prohibitive, said company is asserting that said opinions are public records, to which any person has the right of access, and, desiring so to do, may copy without charge, and is threatening, and will, unless prevented from so doing, place in the office of said clerk a hired copyist to make copies of the opinions for it; that by law said clerk is made the custodian of the records of this court, and is required to preserve them and hand them over to his successor; that the care of such records and their condition, as well as the entries therein made, are subject to the inspection and control of this honorable court under §§1332, 7796 Burns 1901, §§1308, 5829 R. S. 1881; that this
“He further shows to the court that said Northeastern Eeporter has a large circulation among the bench and bar of this State, by reason of the fact that the decisions of the Supreme and Appellate Courts are published therein many months before they appear in the official state reports; that in truth and in fact said publication has become a legal necessity not only to the bench and bar of this State generally, but also to this honorable court, and that great hardships, inconvenience and expense would be entailed upon the bench and bar of the State, as well as upon this honorable court, if the opinions of the Supreme and Appellate Courts are not published therein.
“He further says that if he has the right so to do, or if this court can so order him, he will gladly, as an accommodation to the bench and bar of this State, furnish said copies to said publishing company at cost, or at such price as could be determined upon with said company, rather
The Attorney-General has appeared to this proceeding and filed a brief in opposition thereto. With much earnestness he denies our right or power to entertain the petition herein, or to give any opinion upon any of the questions upon which the clerk thereby seeks to invoke our judgment. It is urged that we have no jurisdiction of the subject-matter, the contention being that this court’s authority over its records does not extend to the direction of the clerk to sell or furnish copies of its opinions for publication at any particular price; neither is it invested with the power to direct its clerk in regard to contracts to be made by him with third parties for supplying them with copies of the court’s opinions.
The principal question apparently upon which he seeks our advice, or opinion, is: Is he, as the clerk of this court, under the law, at .liberty to furnish to said company uncertified copies of the opinions and decisions in question at a rate of less than ten cents per one hundred words, as prescribed by §7798 Burns 1901, §5831 R. S. 1881; and to be further advised as to his right under the circumstances, as shown, to prevent said company from placing in his office a copyist, and thereby exercise the right which it asserts of obtaining transcripts of the opinions and decisions in controversy. Or in other words, the clerk in his petition in effect asks that we interpret, or construe, for his guidance, the provisions of the statute of 1879, and determine whether he is controlled thereby in furnishing to said company the uncertified carbon copies of our opinions and decisions as he did prior to January 1, 1906.
It does not appear that the West Publishing Company is demanding that the clerk shall furnish it with certified copies of our opinions and decisions at a rate less than the maximum fixed by the statute, but it seemingly is content to continue to purchase for a reasonable compensation the uncertified carbon copies in controversy which it utilizes for advance publication. And it is only in the event that the clerk continues to exact of it for the uncertified copies in question like fees as are charged for certified transcripts of the records and papers belonging to his office that it proposes to assert the right to have copies of our opinions and decisions made by its own agent for publication. The petition, however, shows that the clerk is ready and willing to furnish uncertified carbon copies to said company as he formerly did for such a reasonable price or compensation as may be mutually agreed between him and the company and to account for and turn over to the Treasurer of State the money so received by him. •
The cardinal question which confronts him, however, is, must he be governed in charging for such uncertified copies by the schedule prescribed by the fee and salary law of 1879? Acts 1879 (s. s.), p. 130, §15, §7798 Burns 1901, §5831 R. S. 1881. There is no attempt or effort on the part of the clerk in this proceeding to have the court order or direct him to furnish to said publishing company the copies in controversy, but, as previously said, all that he requests is that we place an interpretation, for his guidance in the matter, upon the provisions of the statute about which he is in doubt.
It was held by this court in Donellan v. Hardy (1877), 57 Ind. 393, 403, that the fact that a particular judgment or decision had been rendered by the Supreme Oourt. could only be proved by a transcript thereof, authenticated by the certificate of its clerk and attested by the seal of the court, or by the record of such certified transcript if the same had been recorded in the order-book of the lower court. It is evident, and certainly beyond successful controversy, that the legislature, in authorizing the clerk of this court to charge a fee of ten cents per one hundred words for every copy of record or other paper, meant and intended a certified copy, one duly authenticated as required by law. It certainly did not intend or in any sense mean an unofficial or uncertified copy, a document or paper which could have no legal effect or standing whatever as legitimate evidence or proof of any fact. Such a copy, generally speaking, would be of no particular use or value. What the legislature meant and intended was a duly authenticated copy, as required by the provisions of the law and the decisions of the court to which we have referred. 24 Am. and Eng. Ency. Law (2d ed.), 200, 208. The words “copy of any record or paper on file” contained in the statute, as generally construed or interpreted, mean a certified copy. This interpretation the authorities fully sustain. In Muirheadv. United States (1877), 13 Ct. Cl. 251, 256, the court, in construing a federal statute in regard to supervisors of election, said: “The words ‘copy of any paper on file’ mean a copy certified and issued by the supervisor as a copy.” See, also, Sweet’s Law Diet., p. 2QK
In Welling v. Merrill (1876), 52 Ind. 350, 355, this court affirmed that any person could print, publish and sell the reports of the decisions of this court by purchasing the transcripts thereof from the clerk. While it cannot be said that these decisions are the law of the State, nevertheless they are the evidence or exposition of what this court con
Turning to the decisions of other courts we find that the Supreme Court of the United States, in Banks v. Manchester, supra, said: “The whole work done by the judges constitutes the authentic exposition and interpretation of the law, which, binding every citizen, is free for publication to all, whether it is a declaration of unwritten law, or an interpretation of a constitution or statute.” See, also, Nash v. Lathrop (1886), 142 Mass. 29, 6 N. E. 559. In the latter case the court said: “The decisions and opinions of the justices are authorized expositions and interpretations of the laws which are binding upon all the citizens. They declare the unwritten law, and construe and declare the meaning of the statutes. Every citizen is presumed to know the law thus declared, and it needs no argument to show that justice requires that all should have free access to the opinions, and that it is against sound public policy to prevent this, or to suppress and keep from the earliest knowledge of the public the statutes or the decisions and opinions of the justices. Such opinions stand, upon principle, on substantially the same footing as the statutes enacted by the legislature.”
In Banks v. West Publishing Co., supra, Justice Brewer presents the question as follows: “It is a maxim of universal application that every man is presumed to know the law, and it would seem inherent that freedom of access to the laws, or the official interpretations of those laws, should be coextensive with the sweep of the maxim. Knowledge is the only just condition of obedience. The laws of Rome were written on tablets and posted, that all might read, and all were bound to obedience. * * * The majority of the citizens of the state—in a large sense, the lawmakers —may determine the conduct of all; but can knowledge of what is determined be withheld? This, of course, is more
It is a well-known fact that for many years in this jurisdiction law magazines and newspapers have exercised the right of publishing ’ in advance of the official reports decisions of the higher courts. Not only is this true in this State, but likewise in respect to the decisions of the higher courts of other states. This right so far as we are aware has never been denied or in any manner controverted by this State, hut on the contrary, as we have shown, has been expressly recognized by the legislature. The work of the West Publishing Company in placing the opinions and decisions of this and the Appellate Court in the hands of the bar and public, at an early date after they have been handed down, is to be commended. It would certainly not be in harmony with the policy of this State, as minfested by it in the past, for this court to hold that the West Publishing Company, under existing laws, should be denied the right of obtaining copies of the opinions of this and the Appellate Court for publication in advance of the official reports. Such a holding would virtually serve in effect to suppress or withhold any advance publication of these decisions, as said company is now engaged in doing, and would thereby deprive the bar and the people of this
As a final conclusion upon the matter herein involved we express our judgment that the clerk of this court, under the circumstances, is, in his discretion, at liberty to furnish to said West Publishing Company for publication the uncertified or unauthenticated carbon copies in question at and for a price or compensation less than ten cents per one hundred words. It is clear that at present there are no legal restrictions upon his right in this respect to the contrary. The petition herein is sustained at the cost of the petitioner.