Shepard v. City of Lawrence

The plaintiff was city clerk of the defendant city for a series of years, and brings this action of contract to *480recover the amount allowed to him by statute for recording marriages and deaths during that time. During the whole time he had a fixed salary as city clerk, under a resolution of the city council containing the provision that he should “account for all moneys received in his official capacity.”

It has always been the official duty of town and city clerks to record deaths and marriages. The records are town or city records, and are evidence in legal proceedings of the facts recorded,…