Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-03-20
OFFICIAL,
LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES
raised at the Third Session of the Thirty Seventh
Congress.
PUBLIC-No. 65

AN ACT to further regulate proceedings in
prize cases, and to amend the various acts
of congress in relation thereto
Be it enacted by the senate and house of
representatives of the United States of Amer
lea i'll congress assembled, that whenever
any prize property shall be condemned in any
district or circuit court, or shall at any stage
of the proceedings be found by the court to
be perishing. pershable, or liable to deterio-
rate or depreciate, or whenever the costs of
keeping the same shall be disproportionate to
its value, or whenever all the parties in inter-
est who have appeared in the case shall agree
thereto, it shall be the duty of the court to
order sale thereof, and no appeal shall APP
crate to prevent the making or execution of
such order. And upon any sale it shall be
the duty of the marshal forthwith to deposit
the gross proceeds Of the sale with the assis-
tant treasurer of the United States nearest to
the place of sale, and subject to the order of
the court in the particular case; and the
court may at any time order the payment
from such deposit of the expenses and
disbursements necessarily incurred in the
custody, preservation, and sale of said
properly, audited and allowed by the court
IN the manner provided by law. And when
decree of condemnation shall be made in
any cause, the court may, in like manner, or
der the payment from said deposit ofthe costs,
fees, and charges decreed in the cause. And
on final decree of distribution, after the pay
ment of such costs, fees, and expenses, the
residue of the deposit shall, by order of the
court, be paid into the treasury of the United
States for distribution according to the decree.
And the clerk Of the court shall forthwith
transmit to the secretary of the treasury and
the secretary of the navy certified copies of
said final decree of distribution; and in case
the final decree shall be for restitution with
out costs, the costs, fees, and disbursements
allowed by the court and unpaid shall be a
charge upon the fund for defraying the ex-
penses of suits in which the United States is
party or interested. And the treasury de-
partment shall credit the navy department
with the amount held for distributions and the
several officers, marines, sailors, and other
persons in the naval service entitled to share
in the prize money, shall be credited in their
accounts with the navy department with the
amount to which they are respectively ent-
tied.
Sect. 2. And be it further enacted, that
the secretary of the navy and the secretary of
war shall be, and they or either of them are
hereby authorized to take any captured YES
sci, any arms or munitions of war, or other
material, for the use of the government; and
when the same shall have been taken, before
being sent in for adjudication, or afterwards,
the department for whose use it was taken
shall deposit the value of the same in the
treasury OF the United States, subject to the
order of the court in which prize proceedings
shall be taken in the case and when there is
final decree of distribution in the prize court,
or if no proceedings in prize shall be taken,
the money shall be credited to the navy de.
partment to be distributed according to law.
Sect. 3. And be it further enacted that
the secretary of the navy shall employ an auc-
tioneer or auctioneers of established reputa-
ton in that branch of merchandise, to make
sales of alprize goods under the direction ofthe
marshal of the district in which the property
shall be ordered to be sold, and at rate of
compensation not to exceed in any case one
and one-fourth per eentum upon the gross
amount of the sales and such sales shall be
advertised in the fullest and most conspicuous
manner, and to the satisfaction of the secre-
tary of the navy; and any fraud, collision, or
combination, or any act or fraudulent device
or contrivance in the sale and disposition of
any prize property, by which the captors or
the government are or may be defrauded,
shall be, and is hereby declared to be felony;
and any public officer or agent, or any other
person engaged therein, upon conviction
thereof by or before any court of competent
jurisdiction, shall be liable to a fine not ex-
ceeding twenty thousand dollars, and to i'm
prisonment not exceeding ten years, or to
both, in the discretion Of the court.
Sect. 4. And be it further enacted, that
the third section of the act of twenty-ffth
March, eighteen hundred and sixty two, enti-
tied San act to facilitate evidence and pro-
ceedings in and adudications upon captured
property of prize" be and the same is hereby
amended, SO that the compensation of counsel
to the captors to be adjusted and determined
by the court, and paid and allowed as costs,
shall be confined to compensation for such
services as may be rendered necessary by rea-
son of the captors having interests conflicting
with those of the United States, and proper in
the opinion OF the court to be represented by
separate counsel from those representing the
United States. And so much OF the twelfth
section of the act of July seventeen, eighteen
hundred ard siXty-two, entitled 'An act for
the better government of the navy of the Uni
ted States, as authorizes the secretary OF the
navy to employ an agent or counsel for the
captors and to fix his compensation, is hereby
repealed.
Sect. s. And be it further enacted, that
tn commissioners in prize shall not exceed
two in any district of the courts of the
district court of each district, one of whom
shall be a retired naval officer, to be appoint
ed by the court and approved by the secreta-
ry of the navy; and the annual salaries in
each district of both commissioners snail not
exceed six thousand dollars; and all counsel
fees in prize cases in the supreme court ofthe
United States, which have been or may be in
CURED or authorized by any department of the
government, shall be audited and allowed by
the attorney general and solicitor of the
treasury, and shall be charge upon and paid
out of the fund appropriated for defraying the
expenses of suits in which the United States
are parties or interested.
Sect. 6. And be it further enacted, that
when the court shall allow witnesses fees to
any witness in prize cause, and the court
has no money subject to Its order in the cause,
the same shall be paid by the marshal as in
the case of witnesses in causes in which the
United States is party, and shall be repaid
from any money deposited to the order of the
court in said cause.
Sect 7. And be it further enacted, that
appeals from the district courts in the United
States in prize causes, shall be directly to the
supreme court, and shall be made within thir
ty days of the rendering of the decree ap-
pealed from, unless the court shall previously
have extended the time for cause shown in the
particular case and the supreme court shall
always be open for the entry of such appeals.
Such appeals may be claimed whenever the
amount in controversy exceeds two thousand
dollars, and in other cases on the certificate
of the dl strict Judge that the adjudication in
wolves a question of difficulty and general i'm