clerk of the circuit court; and the official bond of the clerk of the circuit court shall be filed in the office of the recorder for this District.

SEC. 8. The approval of every official bond shall be endorsed thereon, and signed by the court or officer approving the same.

SEC. 9. No officer, with whom an official bond is required to be filed, shall file and take charge of such bond, until approved as prescribed by law.

SEC. 10. It shall be the duty of every officer of whom an official oath or bond is required, to file his oath or bond in the manner prescribed by law, within ten days after the commencement of his term of office and receipt of his commission or certificate.

SEC. 11. If any person appointed to any office shall perform any of the duties thereof without having filed in the proper office the oath and bond required of him by law, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, and his office be declared vacant.

SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of every officer with whom an official bond shall be filed, carefully to record, keep, and preserve the same, and give certified copies thereof, sealed with the seal of his office, to any person demanding the same, upon being paid the same fees as are allowed by law for certified copies of papers in other cases.

SEC. 13. All official bonds, required by law of officers, shall be in form joint and several, and made payable to the United States, in such penalty and with such conditions as shall be required by law.

SEC. 14. Every official bond, executed by any officer pursuant to law, shall be deemed and taken to be in force, and obligatory upon the principal and sureties therein, for any and all breaches of the condition or conditions thereof, committed during the time such officer shall continue to discharge any of the duties, or hold such office.

SEC. 15. Every such bond shall be deemed to be in force and obligatory upon the principal and sureties therein, for the faithful discharge of all the duties which may be required of such officer by any law enacted subsequently to the execution of such bond.

SEC. 16. Every official bond, executed by any officer pursuant to law, shall be in force and obligatory upon the principal and sureties therein, to and for the United States, and to and for the use and benefit of all persons who may be injured by the wrongful act or

default of such officer in his official capacity; and any person so injured or aggrieved may bring suit on such bond in his own name, without an assignment thereof.

SEC. 17. No official bond shall be void on a first recovery, but suits may be instituted thereon, from time to time, until the penalty thereof is exhausted.

SEC. 18. No official bond shall be void because of defects in form, or in the approval or filing thereof; but upon the suggestion of such defects, such bond shall be obligatory as if properly executed, filed, and approved.

SEC. 19. A copy of any official bond, certified to be correct by the officer having the custody thereof, shall be received as evidence, in like manner as the original.

SEC. 20. Whenever the sureties in an official bond, or any one of them, shall remove from this District, become insolvent or insufficient, or the penalty of such bond shall become insufficient on account of recoveries had thereon, or otherwise, it shall be the duty of the circuit court, of their own motion, or on the showing of any person supported by affidavit, to summon any such officer to appear before said court, at a time stated, and show cause why he should not execute an additional official bond, with good and sufficient sureties.

SEC. 21. Should such officer, after due notice, fail to appear at the time appointed, the matter may be heard and determined in his absence. If the said court shall be of opinion, after examination, that the bond of such officer has become insufficient from any of the causes enumerated in the preceding section, said court shall require a further bond, with such security as may be deemed necessary, to be executed and filed within such time as may be ordered.

SEC. 22. Such additional bond shall be in such penalty as shall be directed by said court, and shall be approved and filed as is provided in the case of the original bond. Every such additional bond, filed and approved as aforesaid, shall be of like force and obligation upon the principal and sureties therein from the time of its execution, and shall subject the officer and his sureties to the same liabilities, suits, and actions as are prescribed respecting the original bonds of officers.

SEC. 23. In no case provided in the preceding sections of this chapter shall the original be discharged or affected when additional bond has been given, as herein required, but the same shall remain

of like force and obligation, as if such additional bond had not been given.

SEC. 24. Whenever the sureties in either bond shall have been compelled to pay any sum of money on account of the principal obligor therein, they shall be entitled to recover of the sureties in the remaining bond, a distributive part of the sum thus paid, not exceeding the penalty of the bond by which such sureties are bound.

SEC. 25. Whenever any sureties for an officer wish to be discharged from their liability, they and such officer may procure the same to be done, if such officer will file a new bond, with sufficient sureties, in like form and penalty and with like conditions as the original bond of said officer, to be approved and filed as such original bond. Upon the approval and filing of such new bond, such first sureties shall. be exonerated from all further liability, but their bond shall remain in full force as to all liabilities incurred previous to the approval and filing of such new bond. The liability of the sureties in such new bond shall in all respects be the same, and may be enforced in like manner as the liability of the sureties in the original bond.

SEC. 26. Unless otherwise expressly provided, there shall be at least two sureties upon the official bond of every officer.

SEC. 27. When any surety in an official bond, or the heirs, executors, or administrators of such surety, shall petition the circuit court to be discharged from such bond, the said court shall cause the officer to be served with an attested copy of such petition, and shall require him to give a new bond, at such time as may be ordered, in the same manner as if none had been given by him.

SEC. 28. Upon such new bond being given, approved and filed according to law, the sureties in the former bond and their estates shall be discharged from all liability for any breach of duty committed by such officer after that time.

SEC. 29. If any such officer, being so required, shall fail to give such new or additional bond within the time required by said circuit court, he shall be deemed to have been guilty of a breach of official duty, and his office shall be declared vacant.

SEC. 30. The provisions of this chapter, from the twentieth section to the twenty-ninth section, both inclusive, shall apply to the bonds of executors, administrators, and guardians; and the orphans' court, as to such bonds, shall have and exercise the jurisdiction and authority conferred upon the circuit court therein.

SECTION 1. Where any statute imposes a fine, unless it shall be otherwise provided, it shall go to the United States.

SEC. 2. Justices of the peace shall have jurisdiction for the recovery of fines imposed by the laws of this District only where the same is expressly conferred.

SEC. 3. When any fine imposed by the laws of this District is collected by any constable, so much thereof as accrues to the United States shall be paid over to the marshal, and the remainder, if any, with the costs, shall be paid over to the parties entitled thereto.

SEC. 4. Each justice of the peace shall, on the first Monday in January and July of every year, return to the clerk of the criminal court a list of fines imposed by him, and the proceedings had thereon. If any justice shall violate the provisions of this section, he shall forfeit one hundred dollars.

SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the district attorney to issue execution for the recovery of fines, with the costs thereon, imposed by the criminal court. It shall also be his duty to cause all delinquencies in relation to the service or return of any execution to be duly prosecuted.

SEC. 6. So much of any fine collected or received by the marshal, as accrues to the United States, shall be paid over by him for the benefit of public schools within this District, and the remainder, if any there be, with the costs, shall be paid over by him to the parties

entitled thereto. Such payments for the benefit of public schools shall be made by the marshal at least once in every six months to the mayors of Washington city and Georgetown, and the president of the levy court, in the proportion of the number of scholars in the public schools within their respective jurisdictions.

SEC. 7. The clerk of the criminal court shall annually, on the first Monday of March, transmit to the corporations of Washington City and Georgetown, and the levy court, a list of all fines imposed by the criminal court, or by any justice of the peace, during the year preceding, where the fine accrued wholly or in part to the United States. With such list of fines there shall also be stated the several sums of money accruing to the United States, and the several sums of money returned as collected or acknowledged to be received by the marshal on the same. The said clerk shall also state whether execution hath been issued upon such fines, and if so, when; and if any return be made, the nature thereof. For making out each of said lists, the said clerk shall receive two dollars, to be paid out of such fund.

SEC. 8. If any informer, to whom by law a fine wholly or in part accrues, shall fail to recover in any prosecution for a fine, such informer alone shall be liable for costs and fees. If, however, such informer be an officer, whose duty it is to commence such prosecution, and the judge of the criminal court, or justice of the peace, as the case may be, shall certify there was reasonable ground for the same, he shall not be so liable.

SEC. 9. The provisions of sections five, six, and seven of this chapter shall apply to forfeited recognizances in criminal proceedings as well as to fines.

SEC. 10. When any fine or forfeiture accrues wholly to any other party than the United States, a civil action may be maintained for the same by such party, and at his cost. If any such fine or forfeiture be less than one hundred dollars, justices of the peace may have jurisdiction as in civil cases.