# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 1/5th Congress/3rd Session/Chapter 12

Chap. Ⅻ.—An Act respecting Quarantines and Health Laws.
Section 1.1796, ch. 31. Quarantine and other restraints imposed by the health laws of the states to be observed by certain officers of the U. States; Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the quarantines and other restraints, which shall be required and established by the health laws of any state, or pursuant thereto, respecting any vessels arriving in, or bound to, any port or district thereof, whether from a foreign port or place, or from another district of the United States, shall be duly observed by the collectors and all other officers of the revenue of the United States, appointed and employed for the several collection districts of such state respectively, and by the masters and crews of the several revenue cutters, and by the military officers who shall command in any fort or station upon the sea-coast;who shall aid in their execution. and all such officers of the United States shall be, and they hereby are, authorized and required, faithfully to aid in the execution of such quarantines and health laws, according to their respective powers and precincts, and as they shall be directed, from time to time, by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.Secretary of the Treasury may vary the regulations relative to the entry and report of vessels and their cargoes. And the said Secretary shall be, and he is hereby authorized, when a conformity to such quarantines and health laws shall require it, and in respect to vessels which shall be subject thereto, to prolong the terms limited for the entry of the same, and the report or entry of their cargoes, and to vary or dispense with any other regulations applicable to such reports or entries: Provisoes.Provided, that nothing herein shall enable any state to collect a duty of tonnage or impost without the consent of the Congress of the United States thereto: And provided, that no part of the cargo of any vessel shall, in any case, be taken out or unladen therefrom, otherwise than as by law is allowed, or according to the regulations hereinafter established.
Sec. 2. Vessels prohibited from coming to ports of entry or delivery, may, in certain cases, discharge their cargoes elsewhere.And be it further enacted, That when, by the health laws of any state, or by the regulations which shall be made pursuant thereto, any vessel arriving within a collection district of such state, shall be prohibited from coming to the port of entry or delivery by law established ​ certain cases, discharge their cargoes elsewhere.
for such district, and it shall be required or permitted by such health laws, that the cargo of such vessel shall or may be unladen at some other place within or near to such district, the collector authorized therein, after due report to him of the whole of such cargo, may grant his especial warrant or permit for the unlading and discharge thereof, under the care of the surveyor, or of one or more inspectors, at some other place where such health laws shall permit, and upon the conditions and restrictions which shall be directed by the Secretary of the Treasury, or which such collector may, for the time, reasonably judge expedient for the security of the public revenue: Provided, that in every such case, all the articles of the cargo so to be unladen, shall be deposited at the risk of the parties concerned therein, in such public or other warehouses or inclosures, as the collector shall designate, there to remain under the joint custody of such collector and of the owner or owners, or master, or other person having charge of such vessel, until the same shall be entirely unladen or discharged; and until the goods, wares or merchandise which shall be so deposited may be safely removed, without contravening such health laws; and when such removal may be allowed, the collector having charge of such goods, wares or merchandise, may grant permits to the respective owners or consignees, their factors or agents, to receive all goods, wares or merchandise, which shall be entered, and whereof the duties accruing shall be paid or secured, according to law, upon the payment by them of a reasonable rate of storeage; which shall be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury for all public warehouses and inclosures.
Sec. 3.Warehouses, &c. may be procured for the reception of such cargoes. And be it further enacted, That there shall be purchased or erected, under the orders of the President of the United States, suitable warehouses, with wharves and inclosures, where goods and merchandise may be unladen and deposited, from any vessel which shall be subject to a quarantine, or other restraint, pursuant to the health laws of any state as aforesaid, at such convenient place or places therein, as the safety of the public revenue, and the observance of such health laws may require.
Sec. 4.In case of contagious or epidemical disease at the ports of entry, the officers may be removed. And be it further enacted, That when, by the prevalence of any contagious or epidemical disease, in or near the place by law established, as the port of entry for any collection district, it shall become dangerous or inconvenient for the collector and the other officers of the revenue employed therein, to continue the discharge of their respective offices at such port, the Secretary, or in his absence, the comptroller of the treasury of the United States, may direct and authorize the removal of the collector, and the other officers employed in his department, from such port, to any other more convenient place, within, or as near as may be to such collection district, where such collector and officers may exercise the same authorities, and shall be liable to the same duties, according to existing circumstances, as in such lawful port or district; and of such removal, public notice shall be given as soon as may be.
Sec. 5.In case of such disease prisoners may be removed. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the judge of any district court of the United States, within whose district any contagious or epidemical disease shall at any time prevail, so as in his opinion, to endanger the life or lives of any person or persons confined in the prison of such district, in pursuance of any law of the United States, to direct the marshal to cause the person or persons confined as aforesaid, to be removed to the next adjacent prison where such disease does not prevail, there to be confined, until he, she or they may safely be removed back to the place of their first confinement; which removals shall be at the expense of the United States.
Sec. 6. The public offices may be removed in case of disease at the seat of government. And be it further enacted, That in case of the prevalence of a contagious or epidemical disease at the seat of government, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to permit and direct the ​of disease at the seat of government.
removal of any or all the public offices to such other place or places as, in his discretion, shall be deemed most safe and convenient for conducting the public business.
Sec. 7.Supreme court may in such case be adjourned to a different place. And be it further enacted, That whenever, in the opinion of the chief justice, or in the case of his death, or inability, of the senior associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, a contagious sickness shall render it hazardous to hold the next stated session of the said court at the seat of government, it shall be lawful for the chief or such associate justice, to issue his order to the marshal of the district within which the supreme court is by law to be holden, directing him to adjourn the said session of the said court to such other place within the same, or an adjoining district, as he may deem convenient; and the said marshal shall thereupon adjourn the said court, by making publication thereof in one or more public papers printed at the place by law appointed for holding the same, from the time he shall receive such order, until the time by law prescribed for commencing the said session. Also the district and circuit courts. And the district judges shall, respectively, under the same circumstances, have the same power, by the same means, to direct adjournments of the district and circuit courts within their several districts, to some convenient place within the same respectively.
Sec. 8.Repeal of the Act of May 27, 1796, ch. 31. And be it further enacted, That the act, intituled “An act relative to quarantine,” passed in the first session of the fourth Congress of the United States, shall be, and the same is hereby repealed.
Approved, February 25, 1799.