Kansas weekly herald., 1855-07-14
BY EASTIN & ADAMS,
BY AUTHORITITY.
LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.
(Continued from last reeb. }

- (Continued from. last ueek.
CHAP. CLXXIV.-.4n .Act to improre the laurs of
the District of Columbia, and to oodfy the
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America
in Congress assembled, That the President of
the United States is hereby authorized, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate, to ap-
point two persons, learned in the law, to revise,
simplify, digest, and codify the laws of said
District; and, also, the rules and principles of
practice, of pleadings. of evidence, and convey
ancing: and also to add thereto, and codify such
laws of the State of Maryland may be, or be-
come in force during the preparation of said code,
and applicable to the circumstances and condi-
tion of said District; and the said code shall be
constructed according to simple method, and
be expressed in language concise and plain, and,
far as possible, be made level to the understand
ing of person of ordinary intelligence and ed
ucation; and it shall contain a full and particu-
lar index to all its contents and the prepara-
tion of the said code shall be made under the SUI
perintendence and revision of the Attorney
General of the United States, and as the same
progresses shall be printed, under his direction;
and the said codiers shall each be paid for their
services, out of the treasury of the United States
at the rate of three thousand dollars year.
And the board of aldermen and common council
OF the city OF Washington may together elect
five competent persons; and the board of alder
men and council of Georgetown may elect two
competent persons; and the levy court of the
county of Washington may elect one competent
person; which persons together shall compose
a board to consider, at convenient seasons, the
provisions of said code, as it may be prepared );
and any three of said persons shall constitute
quorum of said board: and the said code, or
such provisions thereof may be approved by
Il majority of said board, shall be adopted, and
become the law of said District, as hereinafter
provided. And it shall be the duty of the said
laws to attend, and also, the said Attorney Gen
eral may attend the meetings of said board, to
explain the several provisions of the said code.
And when the said code and the provisions there
of, shall have been adopted by the said board,
or by majority thereof, they shall certify the
same to the President of the United States, who
shall thereuPon cause it to be published in
neat and convenient form, and to be substantial
" bound and he shall cause a sufficient number
OF volumes of said code to be printed and bound
rs NAV De necessa- ' foT the amplest distribution
C he same among the people of said District,
and for the preservation of said code aRd
copy thereof shall be furnished to every Justice
OF the peace, and every judge, to each court, to
each clerk of said court to each coroner, to said
levy court, to each public school, to each pub
lie library, to each public department of govern
ment. to the mayors and each of the councils Of
Washington and Georgetown 70 be by them kept
and carefully preserved, and transferred to their
several successors in office. And the said code
so deposited with said clerks of courts and JUS
tices of ihe peace, shall at all times be open in
their severaI offices, for The inspection and iE-
foI nation OF ,he people OF said District and 9TH
who may desire to consult the same. And
when the said code shall be printed and distrib-
uted, the President OF the United States SHALL by
his proclamation. appoint time and places in
the said District for taking the of the cit
Izens thereof, for or against the adoption of the
said code /; and he shall cause judges to be
lccted who shall preside at such election, and he
shall provide and proclaim the mode and rules
of conducting the same, provided every free
white male citizen of the United States. above
the age of tWenty-one years, who has resided in
the said District for one year next preceding
said election, shall be permitted to vote thereat
and the result of said election shall be reported
to the said President, and the same, with the
said code. be by him reported to Congress, and
when ratified and approved by the same, he shall
by his proclamation, declare it to be in force,
from the day of the date thereof, as the law of
the said District of Columbia and the same,
when so proclaimed shall thereafter be, and re-
main as such, without any further act or pro-
ceedngs to that effect, until altered or repealed
by the Congress OF The United States. And the
persons who may compose said board, or such
of them may act Oh the same, shall be paid
out Of the treasury Of the United States rea-
sonable compensation for their services, accord
ing to the time employed by them respectively
upon the same: PROVIDED, That the said code
shall be reported to Congress on or before the
first Moncay n Decemb,r in the year eighteen
hundred and ftCy-seven
Approved, march 3, 1855.