1. (a) The chief clerk shall have the following powers:

   1. (1) To issue letters testamentary, of administration and of guardianship, where there is no contest.
   2. (2) To administer oaths relating to the business of the court and to take and certify acknowledgments and proof of instruments authorized to be recorded.
   3. (3) To solemnize matrimony, approve bonds and appoint guardians ad litem.
   4. (4) To admit wills to probate and record and to pass and allow accounts of executors, administrators and guardians, where there is no contest.
   5. (5) To do all other acts and things and perform all other duties, ministerial and judicial, where there is no contest, that the probate judge may do and perform.
2. (b) All of the official acts of such chief clerk must be performed in the name of the probate judge, except when there is a vacancy in that office.

(Code 1852, §674; Code 1867, §796; Code 1876, §702; Code 1886, §795; Code 1896, §3372; Code 1907, §5430; Code 1923, §9592; Code 1940, T. 13, §300.)