§ 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.