§ 18. Effect of orders; power of judge and duties of clerk. All orders
or decrees in proceedings under this article shall have the same force
and effect, and may be entered, docketed and enforced and appealed from
the same as if made in an original action brought in the court in which
the proceeding is pending; provided, however, that a final decree,
directing the payment of money, may be enforced by serving a certified
copy thereof personally upon the assignee for the benefit of creditors,
and if said assignee wilfully neglects to obey said decree, by punishing
him for a contempt of court. The imprisonment of said assignee, by
virtue of proceedings to punish him for contempt, as prescribed in this
section, or a levy upon his property by virtue of an action, shall not
bar, suspend or otherwise affect an action against the sureties on his
final bond. All proceedings under this article shall be deemed to be had
in court. The said court shall always be open for proceedings under this
article. The judge, when named in this article, shall, in such
proceedings, be deemed to be acting as the court. The clerk of the court
shall keep a separate book, in which shall be entered, in each case, the
date and place of record of the assignment, and a minute of all
proceedings therein, under this article, with such particularity as the
court shall direct by general order. He shall record therein the orders
and decrees of the court, settling, rejecting or adjusting claims, and
directing the payment of money, or releasing assets by the assignee, and
removing or discharging the assignee and his sureties, and such other
orders as the courts shall direct by general order. The said clerk shall
securely keep the papers in each case in a file by themselves, and shall
be entitled to a fee, except as otherwise provided by law, of one dollar
for filing all the papers in each case, and entering the proceedings in
the minute-book, and fifty cents to be paid by the assignee, unless
otherwise directed, for recording each order or decree required by this
article or the general order of the court. The clerk shall not record at
length any order except the final order in a proceeding under this
article, unless directed to do so by the court.