SECTION 12. Bonds of clerks

The clerk and assistant clerk of the supreme judicial court for the commonwealth shall each, before entering upon the performance of his duties, and thereafter, at intervals of not more than one year, so long as he continues to hold such office, give bond, in the sum of two thousand dollars, conditioned to perform faithfully his official duties, payable to the state treasurer, with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth, as surety. Each clerk of the courts shall give bond in like manner to the commonwealth, conditioned to perform faithfully his official duties, with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth, as surety, in a sum not less than five thousand dollars. If the administrative justice shall so prescribe by rule, assistant clerks of the superior court department shall give bond in like manner and in a sum determined by said administrative justice.