Belt v. Prince George's County Abstract Co.

Robinson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellee is an Abstract Title Company, chartered hy the Legislature of this State, and the question is whether its officers and employés have the legal right themselves to examine and make abstracts or copies of the public records in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, without paying the fees which the law provides shall be paid to the Clerk for such services. The broad contention is, that the public records are public property, and kept for the public benefit, and although their custody and safe-keeping are committed by law to the clerk, yet every one has the .right to examine them, and to make such copies as he may see fit, free of charge. It is not pretended that this right is a common law right, and, if it exists, then it must be founded upon statutory law.

What then are the provisions of the Code, upon the construction of which this question depends? Section lof Article IT, provides that “Every clerk shall have the custody of the hooks and papers pertaining to his office, and shall carefully keep and preserve the same, * * * and he shall give a copy of any paper or record in his office to any person applying for the same, upon beiüg paid the usual fees for transcribing such paper or record.” ²⁹² Then section 12 of Article 36, prescribes the fees which shall be paid to the clerk for such copies, and for making searches in regard to “any matter above a year's standing * * if found.” Section 44 of Article-17, further provides, as one of the conditions of his official bond, that he shall duly and carefully loóle after and preserve, and shall deliver to his successor, all papers' and records in good order and repair. There is no provision in the Code such as will be found in the statutes of the several States referred to at bar, “that all persons shall have free access to the public records of a county, and shall have the right to examine and make copies or abstracts from the same.” On the contrary, while our Code provides that every one shall be entitled to copies of the records, and to the right of such information as they may afford, yet it provides that such copies and searches shall be made by the clerk himself, and on the payment of such fees as the law prescribes. And the reason of this is obvious.

Upon the safe-keeping and preservation of the matters of record' in the clerk's office, the most important and valuable public and private rights depend. Here all deeds, mortgages, decrees, judgments, and liens are recorded. Here, too, are to be found all papers, proceedings, and docket entries in every suit at law, and in equity. And if every one, whether known or unknown to the clerk, whether trustworthy or untrustworthy, has the right to demand of the clerk that these records and papers shall be delivered to him, and that he himself shall examine and make abstracts from the samej then the law affords every facility to designing and interested persons to mutilate and to impair the integrity of such records.

Every one knows that the mere dash of the pen, the addition or alteration of a word, may change entirely the legal effect and operation of the papers, matters of record; and if the appellee's contention he sound, then the law in requir ²⁹³ ing that the clerk shall safely keep and preserve such records, has imposed upon him a duty which it is impossible for him to perform. We have no hesitation in saying that nothing less than the plain and explicit terms of the statute, could justify a construction so fraught with danger to the highest public interest. There is nothing certainly in our Code which sustains such a construction. On the contrary, as we construe the several sections hearing upon the question, it would, in our opinion, he a breach of duty, bn the part of the clerk, to permit any one to examine and make searches of the records in his office, unless it he under the supervision of himself, or one of his deputies.

And such being the case, we cannot suppose for a moment, that the Legislature meant to confer upon the appellee a privilege in this respect which is denied to the public. The appellee is a company chartered solely for its own private purposes, and the examination and copies of the records, which it proposes to make, are to he used by it in its business of guaranteeing titles to property, upon compensation to he paid for such services. And though its business may he a legitimate one, though it may he entitled under its charter to copies of the public records, and to the information they furnish, yet such copies and information must be obtained through the clerk, and upon the payment of the fees prescribed by law. The Constitution of this State provides that the salary or compensation of the clerks of the Circuit Courts, their £ £ assistants, and office expenses, shall always he paid out of the fees or receipts of the offices respectively.” And in requiring the several clerks to furnish to the appellee transcripts of the records, and to make an examination of the same, we cannot suppose the Legislature meant that these services should he rendered without the payment of such fees as the law prescribes for such services.

We find nothing in the Code, or in the charter of the appellee, to support such a construction. ²⁹⁴ And here we might rest our decision, hut in the ahle argument at bar, it was pressed that such a construction would be in direct conflict