A commissioner in chancery may, for services rendered by virtue of his office, charge the following fees, to wit:

For services which might be performed by notaries, the fees for such services and for any other service such fees as the court by which the commissioner is appointed may from time to time prescribe.

A commissioner shall not be compelled to make out or return a report until his fees therefor are paid or security given him to pay so much as may be adjudged appropriate by the court to which the report is to be returned or by the judge thereof in vacation, unless the court finds cause to order it to be made out and returned without such payment or security.

Code 1950, § 14-142; 1964, c. 386, § 14.1-133; 1998, c. 872.