1854. County court, if necessary, may borrow money. settlement to be made. county in any one year, such excess may be loaned out upon good surety at legal interest for no longer time than one year; or should the levy in any year be insufficient to meet the debts due at the time by the county, the court may borrow, for twelve months, a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and apply the same to such debts, but the sum borrowed and interest shall be provided for and May compel paid out of the next county levy, and said court may increase the levy to raise the amount if necessary. No allowance, in trust for any pauper or for any other purpose, shall be made to the presiding judge, or any justice of the peace for said county, and the said court shall have power by rule and attachment, to compel a settlement of the collection of the revenue of said county, and of all trust funds placed by the order of said court in the hands of any person for paupers or other county purposes or objects. In all such cases the court may give judgment against any person or persons who fail to pay over and account for funds placed in his or their hands, upon a rule first served, to show cause why judgment should not be rendered, and may Appeals from also fine and imprison the delinquent. But in all cases. where the court causes such judgment to be entered, where the sum exceeds twenty dollars, an appeal or writ of error No appeal of may be taken as in other cases to the court of appeals. In cases of fine and imprisonment for contempt, there shall be no appeal or writ of error from the judgment of said court. The said levy court shall have the power to fine or imprison any officer of the court for neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, or disorderly conduct in court, and may direct the duties of the county attorney in regard to the business of the court and county. And render Judgments for any balance. judgments lowed, fine, &c. al Time of hold. Jefferson county ing the terms of court. Oath of presiding judge. His powers. § 4. That a county court for Jefferson county shall be held on the first Monday in every second month in the year, beginning with the first Monday in April 1854, and the presiding judge of said county shall be the sole judge thereof, who, before he enters on the duties of his office, in addition to the oath required by the constitution, shall take an oath to administer justice without repect to persons, to do equal right to the poor and the rich, and that he will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of his office to the best of his skill and ability. He shall be a conservator of the peace, and have power to grant injunctions and attachments at law and in chancery from his own court, and in the absence from the city, or sickness of the judge of the Louisville chancery court, and in cases in which the chancellor cannot act, to grant injunctions and attachments from the Louisville chancery court. He shall have the power to hold inquests of lunacy and idiocy, and to grant and hear writs of habeas corpus in the absence from Louisville of the judges of the circuit or chancery Judge pro tem, court. If, from any cause, the judge of the court cannot sit in any case, the parties may select an attorney prac may be elected. 1854. Allowed $5 ticing in the court to act as judge in such case; and if, for 5. That the Code of Practice shall apply to all suits and proceedings in said county court, so far as it is plainly applicable. 6. That this court shall have the exclusive jurisdiction of all appeals from justices of the peace, of all traverses under writs of forcible entry and detainer, of all writs of replevin and bonds given on distress warrants for rent, taken or sued out in said county, of all motions on bonds executed under proceedings by virtue of distress for rent, and shall have exclusive jurisdiction within said county of all motions, actions, questions, proceedings, and matters vested in county courts of this commonwealth, except those named in sections one and two of this act, and all the powers and authority vested by law in county courts shall be possessed by said court, to carry into effect and enforce the jurisdiction hereby given; said court shall, in all respects, be governed by the rules and regulations established by said laws for the government of said county courts, and shall perform all the duties and services required by law of county courts, except as aforesaid. tice to apply to proceedings. Code of Prac Jurisdiction of the court. Replevin bonds for rent to be re ty court. § 7. That replevin bonds taken for rent within Jefferson turned to councounty shall be returned to the clerk's office of said court, and proceeded upon as provided by law. Examiners and commissioners their duties. 8. The said court shall appoint three examiners and to be appointed; three commissioners to act during the pleasure of the court. The examiners to take depositions to be read in said court and the commissioners to settle the accounts of personal representatives and other fiduciaries, to divide estates, allot dower, and perform such other services as the law requires and the court to exact. The examiners and commissioners, before entering upon the duties of their offices, shall be sworn in open court faithfully and impartially to discharge the duties of their offices; and the examiners shall be governed by the Code of Practice in the discharge of their duties. Either one of the commissioners shall have the right to settle the accounts of fiduciaries, and shall, in all other respects, be governed by the law as contained in an act, entitled, an act regulating the mode of settling the accounts of executors, adminis vived. trators, and guardians, approved February 24, 1834, (Morehead & Brown's Digest, page 510,) except as to the com Act of 1834 TE 1854. Further jurisdiction of said court. All claims foun ded on tort or contract not less than $50 nor more than $100 may be prosecut And in equity over $16 and not ed in said court. exceeding $100. Tax on writ. Proceedings in said court; how governed. LAWS OF KENTUCKY. pensation of said commissioners, or either of them, which shall be fixed and paid at the discretion of said judge. The said act of February 24, 1834, is hereby revived and declared to be in full force and operation as to this court, except so far as its provisions may be inconsistent with this act. And the said judge shall have the power, by attachment or other summary mode, to compel fiduciaries to settle their accounts. The judge of said court shall cause the clerk of the court to read, publicly, the minutes of each day's business of the court, before adjournment, and, if necessary, correct them and then sign the same. No proceedings of the court shall be valid until the same be so read and signed. The court shall have power to adjourn from day to day until it disposes of all the business, but no adjournment shall be to a time beyond the commencement of the next regular term of the court. § 9. The said court shall have original jurisdiction of ordinary civil actions, suits, motions, and proceedings, where the debt or damages sued for in virtue of any tort or contract shall exceed fifty dollars and not exceed one hundred dollars, exclusive of interest and costs; and, in equitable proceedings, concurrent with the Louisville chancery court, where the debt or damages sued for in virtue of any contract or tort shall exceed sixteen dollars and not exceed one hundred dollars, exclusive of interest and costs; and in all cases where the debt sued for or the damages claimed exceed fifty dollars, the plaintiff shall pay to the clerk of the court a tax of fifty cents, which shall be accounted for and paid into the treasury as other taxes are accounted for and paid into the treasury, and taxed as cost against the defendant, if judgment be rendered against him in said suit. § 10. That said court shall be governed, in the exercise of the jurisdiction given in this act, by the law governing the circuit courts, and shall conform to the rules, regulations, and practice governing circuit courts, except where Times of the the same would be plainly inapplicable to its peculiar regular terms. therein. structure. The regular terms of said court shall begin on the first Monday in April, and every second month thereafter, and end the Saturday next preceding the first Monday of every such second month. All suits and motions, whether ordinary or equitable, appeal or traverse, where the process, summons, or notice has been executed five Proceedings days before the first day of the term, shall be triable at that term. The business of said court shall be arranged on the docket and conducted in all respects as required by law in circuit courts, except that in the trials of appeals Six to com under twenty dollars, exclusive of interest and costs, no less twelve are jury shall be allowed, and except also that a trial shall be required. had by a jury of six jurors, unless one of the parties deif tried by six-mands a jury of twelve jurors. For a verdict by a jury 84 it tried by of six, a jury fee of two dollars shall be charged; and for No jury in cas es under $20 pose the jury un. Jury fee of twelve. a verdict by a jury of twelve, a jury fee of four dollars shall be charged. The said judge may, by a rule of court, limit to one hour the duration of any oral argument before the court or jury, by either party or his attorney; which rule shall not be revoked or suspended for the purpose of any particular case, unless so done before the argument was commenced. The judge may hold the court at any time to transact its ordinary business. Instead of a continuance to the next term, the judge may, in any case, adjourn its trial to a future day in the same term. Jurors in said court shall be selected and summoned in the mode jurors are selected and summoned in the circuit court, and they shall be paid by the litigants, and the fees herein allowed as jury fees taxed in the costs against the unsuccessful party, and collected and paid over to the clerk of said court; and all such fees as may be collected and paid over to said clerk shall be by him kept as a jury fund, and the same shall be paid out by him, pro rata, to the jurors; and the jury law shall, in all other respects, apply to the said county court, except the summoning of a grand jury. Executions may issue in five days after the rendition of a judgment or decree, unless replevied before that time in the office before the clerk, or stayed by appeal or supersedeas. Appeals and writs of error from said levy and second monthly courts shall be direct to the court of appeals, except where an appeal or writ of error is by law expressly allowed to the circuit court. No appeal or writ of error shall be allowed from either of said courts, except where the matter in controversy is over twenty dollars exclusive of costs. The said judge shall not practice law while holding the office; and he shall receive an annual salary of sixteen hundred dollars, payable quarterly-the city of Louisville to pay eleven hundred dollars of the amount, and the other five hundred dollars to be paid by the county of Jefferson out of the county levy. § 11. All acts or laws, sor far as they conflict with the foregoing provisions of this act, are hereby repealed, so far as they extend to the courts hereby established, and the powers herein conferred. Approved February 25, 1854. CHAPTER 290, AN ACT providing for the trial of civil cases in the county of Jefferson. 1854. CHAPTER 304. AN ACT declaring Lick Creek, in Morgan county, a navigable stream. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That Lick creek, in Morgan county, be and the same is hereby declared a navigable stream, from its mouth to the Buffalo Fork. Approved February 25, 1854. ing county court changed. CHAPTER 306. AN ACT to change the time of holding the County Court of Gallatin County. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the CommonTime of hold wealth of Kentucky, That from and after the passage of this act the county court of Gallatin county shall be held on the third Monday in each and every month instead of the second Monday, as heretofore provided. Approved February 25, 1854. cery term to be held annually. CHAPTER 307. AN ACT to create a special Chancery and Criminal term of the Large Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the CommonSpecial chan. wealth of Kentucky, That from and after the passage of this act there shall be held at the court house in Hodgenville, on the fourth Monday of July in each year, a special chancery and criminal term of the Larue circuit court, to continue six juridical days. Approved February 25, 1854. CHAPTER 309. AN ACT to regulate the time of holding certain Criminal and Chancery terms in the Fifth Judicial District. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That the terms for the trial of chancery and criminal cases, in the counties of Adair and Green, in the fifth judicial district, are hereby so changed, that hereafter said term for the county of Adair shall commence on the second Monday in June, and the said term for the county of Green shall commence on the third Monday in June, instead of the times now provided by law for holding the criminal and chancery terms in said counties. Approved February 25, 1854. |