72 Mo. 512 | Mo. | 1880
The Hon. Y. B. Hill, judge of the .eighteenth judicial circuit, has made return to the alternal. costs in crimi- tive writ herein, and the demurrer of reNAL cases: wit- . . ness fees. lator questions the sufficiency, and admits •the truth of the allegations of such return. The facts which thus stand admitted are : 1st. That the fees of all •witnesses examined by the defendant, G. B. Gibson, on his
The number of witnesses set out in the alternative writ, and referred to in the return as unnecessary and not examined, is seventy-five, whose fees aggregated $771.70. The statute under which was taxed the bill of costs containing the fees of witnesses who were examined, was that of March 28th, 1874. Section 25 of that act provides: “ The judge and circuit or prosecuting attorney shall in no case tax the State or county with more than the costs of thi’ee witnesses to establish any one fact.” Laws of 1874, p. 27, § 25. How many witnesses were examined, and whose fees were certified for payment by the judge, does not appear; but it does appear and stand admitted by the demurrer, that there were not to exceed six facts constituting the defense of the defendant, and if so, leaving out of the question the witnesses who were examined, eighteen witnesses, even if examined, were all that were necessary and all whose fees could, prima facie, under the law quoted, have been certified to the auditor for payment. This ground, alone, would suffice for holding the return not obnoxious to the objection taken thereto.
In consequence of these views, we shall deny the peremptory writ.