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1 Duer 596

Anonymous

The Superior Court of New York City · decided 1852-07-01

At Chambers, October, 1852. Costs. The plaintiff had obtained a judgment upon the report of a referee and claimed upon the adjustment of costs, before the clerk, $10 for each time that the cause had been noticed for a hearing. The clerk had refused to make the allowance, and by the consent of the attorneys the question was referred to the decision of the judge at chambers.

Decided 1852-07-01

Duer, J.

¶1With all possible respect for the judge who made the decision that has been cited, it is impossible for me to follow it. I cannot say that a day, appointed for a hearing before a referee, is a circuit or term, general or special, or that his private docket, if he keeps any, is a calendar. In order to meet a supposed equity, I cannot stretch a statutory provision to a case which its terms cannot, without violence, be made to embrace. If there is a casus omissus-, the Legislature must supply it.

¶2Even were the terms of the Code so ambiguous, that by a possible construction they might cover the rejected charge, I still should bé very unwilling to allow it. Proceedings before referees, as usually conducted, are sufficiently protracted and expensive, and it is not at all desirable to increase the temptations to delay. I must affirm the decision of the clerk.

¶3Oaklet, Ch. J., and Bosworth, J., concurred.

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