16 Utah 293 | Utah | 1898
This action was instituted to recover $3,491.40, alleged to be due the Cass County Bank upon a promissory note executed by M. N. Graves, the defendant. The plaintiff alleged in his complaint that he was duly appointed receiver of the bank, with authority to take possession of its assets, collect all indebtedness when due, and to bring and prosecute all necessary suits in so doing, and that he duly qualified, and entered upon his duties as such receiver. The defendant filed an answer containing general denials of all the essential allegations of the complaint. On the trial of the case the note sued on was admitted in evidence, and the plaintiff offered in evidence a transcript purporting’to be a copy of a record of the district court of Cass county, Iowa, showing his appointment and qualification as such receiver, to which the following certificates were attached:
“ State of Iowa, Cass County — ss.: I, Ambrose Pellett, clerk of the district court of the state of Iowa within and for said county, do hereby certify that the above and foregoing is a full, true, and complete copy of the record of the appointment of the receiver in the above-entitled cause,*296 tbe official bond of said receiver, the written oath of office sworn to by him, as 'full, true, and complete as the same remains on file in my office. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and fixed the seal of the district court this 25th day of July, A. D. 1894. Ambrose Pellett, Clerk. W. H. McConville, Deputy. [ Seal District Court. ] ”
“ State of Iowa, Cass County — ss.: I, Walter I. Smith, a judge of the district court in and for the Fifteenth judicial district of said state; composed of the counties of Audubon, Montgomery, Cass, Fremont, Mills, Pottawat-tamie, Shelby, and Page, do hereby certify that Ambrose Pellett, Esq., who has given the preceding certificate, was at the time of so doing the clerk of the state of Iowa in and for Cass county, in said district court duly qualified as such; that he is the proper custodian of the records of said court, and the proper officer to give such certificate; and that the same is in due form of law. Witness my hand at Atlantic, Iowa, this 26th day of July, 1894. Walter I. Smith, Judge of the Fifteenth Judicial District.”
“ State of Iowa, Cass County — ss.: I, Ambrose Pellett, clerk of the district court of the state of Iowa in and for the county, do hereby certify that the Hon. Walter I. Smith, who gave the preceding certificate, was at the time of so doing a judge of the district court of the state of Iowa in and for the loth judicial district,0 composed of the counties of Audubon, Montgomery, Cass, Fremont, Mills, Pottawattamie, Shelby, and Page, duly commissioned and sworn, to all whose acts as such full faith and credit are and ought to be given. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal of said court at Atlantic the 26th day of July, 1894. Ambrose Pellett, Clerk of the District Court of Cass County, Iowa. W. H. McConville, Deputy. [ Seal of District Court. ] ”
The following language is used in 5 Com. Dig., supra: “A deputy has power to do every act which his principal might do. R. 1. Sal. 95. And he cannot be restrained to some particulars of his office, for that would be repugnant to his being deputy. Id.” While the lawmaking power- may require a ministerial officer to discharge the duties of his office in person, or may authorize a portion of such duties to be discharged by a deputy, and the rest to-be discharged alone by such principal, the officer, under a law giving him the power to appoint a deputy, cannot so limit the deputy’s authority, unless the law expressly authorizes him to do so. In Young v. Thayer, supra, the court said: “The name of the clerk is affixed to the attestation by his deputy, and it must be presumed that such an attestation is authorized by the laws of Indiana from the certificate of the presiding judge, who certifies that certificate is in due form of law; and we will not go-behind the certificate of the judge to inquire into the power of the deputy to issue writs and sign certificates in the name -of his principal; under the laws of Indiana the office of a presiding judge’s certificate being to advise a court of another state that-such attestation is in due form of law.” In the Confiscation Cases, supra, the court said: “Another objection urged against the proceedings in the district court is that the warrant, citation, and monition was not signed by the clerk of the court. It was attested by the judge, sealed with the seal of the court, and signed by the deputy clerk. This was sufficient. An act of congress authorized the employment of the deputy.