# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 2/7th Congress/1st Session/Chapter 52

Chap. LII.—An Act additional to, and amendatory of, an act, intituled “An act concerning the District of Columbia.”
February 27, 1801, ch. 15. Same proceedings may be had against non-residents in the circuit court for the county of Washington as in the general court or court of chancery in Maryland. Proceedings against non-residents in the circuit court of Alexandria county to be the same as in the district or high court of chancery in Virginia. Times of sessions of the circuit courts of Alexandria and Washington counties. Process heretofore issued. Causes depending to stand adjourned to these sessions. These courts have power to hold adjourned sessions.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the circuit court of the county of Washington, in the territory of Columbia, shall have power to proceed in all common law and chancery causes which now are, or hereafter shall be instituted before it, in which either of the parties reside without the said territory, in the same way that non-residents are proceeded against in the general court or in the supreme court of chancery in the state of Maryland.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the circuit court of the county of Alexandria, in the district of Columbia, shall have power to proceed in all common law and chancery causes which now are, or hereafter shall be instituted before it, in which either of the parties are non-residents of said district of Columbia, in the same way, and under ​the same regulations observed by the district court or by the high court of chancery in Virginia, in proceeding against non-residents.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the courts for the counties of Alexandria and Washington, shall hereafter be holden at the periods following, to wit: for the county of Alexandria, on the fourth Monday of June and November, and for the county of Washington, on the fourth Monday of July and December, in each year; and all process heretofore issued from the offices of the said courts and not yet returned, shall be returnable to the first day of the sessions of the said courts, respectively, and all causes now depending in the same shall stand adjourned and continued over to the next sessions of the said courts, as established by this act. And the said courts are hereby invested with the same power of holding adjourned sessions that are exercised by the courts of Maryland.
No capias ad satisfaciendum to be issued where the costs do not exceed twenty dollars. Executions in such cases to be issued against the goods and chattels of the debtors. Constables to give bond with surety, approved of by one of the district judges. Clerk’s fees. Constable’s fees and commissions.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That no capias ad satisfaciendum shall hereafter issue on any judgment rendered by a single magistrate, or in any case where the judgment, exclusive of costs, shall not exceed twenty dollars; but that in such cases, execution shall be only on the goods and chattels of the debtor, and shall issue by order of the justice who may have taken cognizance of the action, from the clerk’s office, and shall be returnable thereto: that all such executions be returnable on the first Monday in every month; and that the same, and also the warrant to bring the party before the justice, be directed to one of the constables, whose duty it shall be to obey the same: that each of the said constables shall give bond, with one sufficient surety, to be approved of by any one of the district judges, for the faithful execution of the duties of his office, in the sum of five hundred dollars: that the clerk’s fees for issuing and filing the return of every such execution, shall be twenty-five cents; the constable’s fees for return and service, shall be fifty cents; and that a commission of eight per cent. be allowed the constable for every sum thereon by him levied.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That so much of the original act to which this is a further supplement, as confines the jurisdiction of the courts of this territory to cases between parties who are inhabitants of, or residents within the same, shall not be construed to extend to any case where,The act to which this is a supplement not to extend to cases where, by the Virginia and Maryland laws, attachments may issue against the property of absconding debtors. by the laws of Maryland and Virginia, respectively, attachments may issue to affect the property of absconding debtors, or others having property within the district, and whose persons are not answerable to the process of the court.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the taxes to be levied in the county of Alexandria, shall hereafter be assessed by the justices of the peace of the said county, and the poor of the town and country parts of the said county of Alexandria shall be provided for respectively,How taxes are to be levied in the county of Alexandria. And the poor of the said county provided for. in like manner as the county and corporation courts were authorized to do by the laws of Virginia, as they stood in force within the said county, on the first Monday of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred.
The laws of Virginia and Maryland adopted by a former act, not to prohibit the owners of slaves from hiring them in and removing them to the district.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That no part of the laws of Virginia or Maryland declared by an act of Congress, passed the twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand eight hundred and one, “concerning the district of Columbia,” to be in force within the said district, shall ever be construed so as to prohibit the owners of slaves to hire them within, or remove them to the said district, in the same way as was practised prior to the passage of the above-recited act.
Parts of former acts with respect to compensation to justices of the peace and jurors abolished. Except as to the travelling expenses of jurors. Jurors to be summoned, &c.Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That so much of two acts of Congress, one passed on the twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand eight hundred and one, intituled “An act concerning the district of Columbia;” ​the other passed the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and one, supplementary to the aforesaid act, as provides for the compensation to be made to certain justices of the peace thereby created, and for compensation to jurors attending the courts within said district, except so much thereof as relates to their travelling expenses attending the same, shall be, and is hereby repealed: and jurors, in future, shall serve in the said courts, and be summoned to attend the same in like manner as jurors serve and were summoned in the courts of Virginia, prior to the passage of the above-recited act.Certain licenses to be granted in the same way as they have been granted by the courts of Maryland and Virginia. Judges of the circuit court may grant such licenses in vacation.
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the ordinary licenses, retailers’ licenses, and hawkers and pedlers’ licenses, shall be granted by the circuit court of the said district, in the respective counties, as the same were heretofore granted by the courts of Maryland and Virginia, respectively. And the several judges of the said circuit court shall have like authority to grant such licenses in vacation, as the justices of the courts or Maryland and Virginia heretofore possessed; and the money arising from such licenses shall be applied to the use and benefit of the said counties, respectively, in such manner, and to such purposes, as the justices of the levy courts in the same shall appoint and direct.Marshal authorized to cause a jail to be built in the city of Washington with the President’s approbation. A limitation of expense and appropriation of money.
Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That the marshal of the district of Columbia be, and he hereby is authorized and directed, with the approbation of the President of the United States, to cause a good and sufficient jail to be built within the city of Washington, and that a sum not exceeding eight thousand dollars be, and the same hereby is appropriated to that purpose, to be paid out of any unappropriated monies in the treasury.
Corporation of Georgetown to lay a tax. For what purpose. Limitation of the rate of tax and the manner to be enforced and collected.Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That the corporation of Georgetown, in the district of Columbia, shall have full power and authority to tax any particular part or district of the town, for paving the streets, lanes or alleys therein, or for sinking wells, or erecting pumps which may appear for the benefit of such particular part or district: Provided, that the rate of tax so to be levied shall not exceed two dollars per foot front, and that the same shall be enforced and collected in the same manner that the taxes which the said corporation had heretofore been authorized to lay and collect.
Articles inspected in one port of the district exempt from further inspection in the district. President of the U. States to cause the militia of Washington and Alexandria counties to be organized. To appoint and commission officers, &c. To call them into service. Their pay and emoluments while in service.Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That articles inspected at one port in the said district shall not be subject to a second inspection, at any other port in the said district.
Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be authorized to cause the militia, of the respective counties of Washington and Alexandria to be formed into regiments and other corps, conformably, as nearly as may be, to the laws of Maryland and Virginia, as they stood in force in the said counties, respectively, on the first Monday in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred; and that he appoint and commission, during pleasure, all such officers of the militia of the said district, as he may think proper; that he be authorized to call them into service, in like manner as the executive of Maryland and Virginia were authorized in the counties of Washington and Alexandria respectively, on the first Monday of December, one thousand eight hundred. And that such militia, when in actual service, be entitled to the same pay and emoluments as the militia of the United States, when called out by the President.
Approved, May 3, 1802.