[3] Proceeding to the merits of the question, we find that in 1909 there was only one statute fixing the compensation of both circuit clerks and county clerks. It allowed both clerks to retain fees for any one year's services up to certain amounts in counties of various classifications. [Sec. 10722, R.S. 1909.] The salaries fixed by this section were increased by the Legislature in 1913. [See Laws 1913, p. 702.] In 1915 this section was repealed, insofar as it applied to circuit clerks, by an act entitled: "An act changing the method of payment of salaries of clerks of circuit courts, except in any county wherein the clerk of the circuit court is ex officio recorder of deeds." [Laws 1915, p. 378.] It would seem that this act intended to take circuit clerks entirely out of Section 10722, Revised Statutes 1909, because the repealing clause states: "The salaries provided for in *Page 256
this act shall be in lieu of the aggregate amount of fees which clerks of the circuit courts are permitted to retain for their services, and for the payment of deputies, under (and) by virtue of Section 10722, of the Revised Statutes of 1909." In State ex rel. Moss v. Hamilton, supra, this court so construed it, saying: "In the Act of 1915, supra, clerks of the circuit court, and their deputies, were placed upon a salary basis, rather than the old fee basis theretofore existing." In the next (1919) revision, however, the arrangement of sections were confusing, Section 1 of the Act of 1915 fixing circuit clerk's salaries, was placed first in the arrangement of Article 2 of Chapter 100 covering salaries and fees, as Section 10995, ahead of the former fee Section 10722, there numbered Section 11019, Revised Statutes 1919. Moreover, Section 10722, Revised Statutes 1909, was carried into this revision as Section 11019, Revised Statutes 1919, with all of its old statements applying to both circuit clerks and county clerks just as though the Act of 1915 never existed. Sections 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Act of 1915 follow it as Sections 11020-11021-11022 and 11023, Revised Statutes 1919, instead of following Section 1 of the act (Sec. 10995, R.S. 1919), to which they apply and the original repealing clause, as Section 11023, Revised Statutes 1919, was changed to read: "The salaries provided for in the next four preceding sections shall be in lieu of the aggregate amount of fees which clerks of circuit courts are permitted to retain for their services and for the payment of deputies, under and by virtue of Section 11019, ofthe Revised Statutes of 1919." Since Section 11019 is one of the four sections preceding 11023, this literally says that the provisions of Section 11019 are in lieu of the provisions of that section itself. To state the original meaning of the Act of 1915 it should have said, "the provision of Section 10995 and the next three preceding sections (to 11023, namely 11020-21-22) are in lieu of the provisions of Section 11019," or else Section 10995 should have been placed after Section 11019 and numbered consecutively with the other sections of the Act of 1915. This same confusing arrangement and language is carried into the Revision of 1929. [Secs. 11786, 11811, 11812, 11813, 11814, 11815, R.S. 1929.]