Opinion
(June Term, 1830.)
Upon the removal of an equity cause to this Court, under the act of 1818 (Rev., ch. 962), the original papers are to be sent here; and if the clerk below sends copies of them, the costs of the copies cannot be taxed.
From CHOWAN. This was a bill for an account of profits of lands which the plaintiff and defendant jointly cultivated. The issue between the parties involved matters of fact only.
Hogg, for defendants, objected to the bill of costs which was sent up from the court below.
Devereux, for plaintiff, concurred with Hogg in moving that the taxation be reformed.
This cause was removed for original hearing in this Court, under the act of 1818 (Rev., ch. 962, sec. 5), the construction of which is that the whole case and the original papers are to be sent. It is not like an appeal. In this last, the decree is that of the court below, and this Court reverses or affirms it. The pleadings and proofs must, therefore, remain below, as the foundation of the decree. But upon removals, the decree is altogether the act of this Court. The clerk and master of Chowan ought not, therefore, to have sent a transcript, and he cannot charge the parties the fee for making it. His bill of costs must be reformed by striking that item out.
PER CURIAM. Let the costs of the copies sent to this Court be stricken from the bill of costs.
(373)