It shall be the duty of the clerk of the county commission to keep in his office a catalogue of all reports of the supreme court and the court of appeals belonging to his office, and he shall deliver or account to his successor in office for all such law reports; and upon failure to so deliver the same, the prosecuting attorney of the county shall institute a suit to the use of the county to which the reports belong against the clerk, or on the bond of the clerk, and in case of recovery in such suit, recovery shall be for three times the value of the reports that the clerk shall have failed to deliver.