Powers, Duties, and Liabilities

20Fees and poundage

(1)A sheriff shall be entitled in respect of all sums due to the Crown, and collected by him under process of any court, to an allowance upon his accounts of one shilling and sixpence in the pound for every sum not exceeding one hundred pounds, and of one shilling for every pound exceeding the first hundred pounds.

(2)Any sheriff or officer of a sheriff concerned in the execution of process directed to the sheriff, other than process for the- recovery of the aforesaid sums due to the Crown, may demand, take, and receive such fees and poundage as may from time to time be fixed by the Lord Chancellor, with the advice and consent of the judges of the Court of Appeal and High Court of Justice, or any three of them, and with the concurrence of the Treasury.

(3)Any sheriff or officer of a sheriff, and any officer arresting or having in custody any person by virtue of any action, writ, or attachment, shall not demand or take any reward to do his office, except such remuneration as is given to the sheriff by the Crown, or is given to an officer of the sheriff by the sheriff, and such fees and poundage as are above mentioned or are allowed by or in pursuance of any other Act, and, save as allowed by this Act, shall not demand or take directly or indirectly any reward for doing his office or duty or for abstaining therefrom, or in respect of the mode in which he does his office or duty.

(4)Where a sheriff seizes any personal estate for any sum due to the Crown and dies or is superseded before he has sold the same and his successor sells the same, the poundage and fees due in respect of the seizure and sale shall be apportioned between the preceding and subsequent sheriffs in such manner and proportions as a judge of the High Court of Justice may on application determine, having regard to the expense and trouble that each sheriff had.