An Act to secure the attendance of witnesses from without the District of Columbia in criminal proceedings
PL 82-272 (H.R.5256), enacted 03/05/1952

14 
PUBLIC LAW 270-MAR. 5, 1952 
[66 ST A T . 
March 5. 1952 
[H.R.31003 
Public Law 270 
CHAPTER 80 
AN ACT 
To repeal the Act of August 7, 1939 (53 Stat. 1243; 48 U. S. C, sec. 353). 
Alaska. 
Lands for educa-
tional purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Act of 
August 7,1939 (53 Stat. 1243; 48 U. S. C, sec. 353), be, and is hereby, 
repealed. 
SEC. 2. Section 1 of the Act of March 4, 1915 (38 Stat. 1214, 1215), 
as amended (48 U. S. C 1946 edition, sec. 353), is hereby amended by 
striking out the following language in the last proviso of that section: 
""if any of said sections, or any part thereof, shall be of known mineral 
character at the date of acceptance of survey thereof, the reservation 
herein made shall not be effective or applicable, but the entire pro-
ceeds or income derived by the United States from such sections sixteen 
and thirty-six and such section thirty-three in each township in the 
Tanana Valley area hereinbefore described, and the minerals therein, 
together with^'. 
SEC. 3. Section 1 of the Act of March 4, 1915 (38 Stat. 1214, 1215), 
as amended (48 U. S. C, 1946 edition, sec, 353), is further amended 
by adding the following language at the end of the section: 
"Nothing in this Act shall affect any lands included within the limits 
of existing reservations of or by the United States, or lands subject 
to or included in any valid application, claim, or right initiated or 
held under any laws of the United States unless and until such reserva-
tion, application, claim, or right is extinguished, relinquished, or 
canceled." 
Approved March 5, 1952. 
March 5, 1952 
[H.R.4703] 
Public Law 271 
CHAPTER 81 
AN ACT 
To provide that the Board of Education of the District of Columbia shall have 
sole authority to regulate the vacation periods and annual leave of absence of 
certain school officers and employees of the Board of Education of the District 
of Columbia. 
D. C. B o a r d of 
Education. 
Employee leave. 
61 Stat. 248. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the authority 
to regulate the vacation periods and annual leave of absence of all 
individuals employed by the Board of Education of the District of 
Columbia, whose positions are included in salary classes 13-23, inclu-
sive, established by the District of Columbia Teachers' Salary Act of 
1947, shall be vested solely in the Board of Education of the District 
of Columbia. The annual leave of absence granted by the Board of 
Education of the District of Columbia under the authority of this Act 
shall be in lieu of annual leave of absence granted under any other Act. 
Approved March 5, 1952. 
Public Law 272 
CHAPTER 82 
K. 
u = 10C0 
A N 
A C T 
March 5, 1952 
[H. R. 5256] 
To secure the attendance of witnesses from without the District of Columbia 
in criminal proceedings. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
shS?f tftll:^'^* U'nited States of America in Congress assembled^ That this Act may 
be cited as the "District of Columbia Uniform Act To Secure the 
66 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 272-MAR. 5, 1952 
16 
Attendance of Witnesses From Without a State in 
Criminal 
Proceedings". 
SEC. 2. As used in this Act— 
(a) The term "witness'' includes a person whose testimony is 
desired in any proceeding or investigation by a grand jury or in a 
criminal action, prosecution, or proceeding. 
(b) The word "State" includes any Territory of the United States 
and the District of Columbia. 
(c) The word "summons" includes a subpena, order, or other notice 
requiring the appearance of a witness. 
SEC. 3. (a) If a judge of a court of record in any State which by 
its laws has made provision for commanding persons within that 
State to attend and testify in the District of Columbia certifies under 
the seal of such court (1) that there is a criminal prosecution pending 
in such court, or that a grand jury investigation has commenced or is 
about to commence, (2) that a person being within the District of 
Columbia is a material witness in sucli prosecution, or grand jury 
investigation, and (8) that his ])resence will be required for a speci-
fied number of days, upon presentation of such certificate to any 
judge of the municipal court for the District of Columbia, such judge 
shall fix a time and place for a hearing, and shall make an order 
directing the witness to appear at a time and place certain for the 
hearing. 
(b) If at such hearing the judge determines that the witness is 
material and necessary, that it will not cause undue hardship to the 
witness to be compelled to attend and testif}' in the prosecution or a 
grand jury investigation in the other State, and that the laws of the 
State in which the prosecution is pending, or grand jury investigation 
has commenced or is about to commence and of any other State 
through which the witness may be required to pass by ordinary course 
of travel, will give to him protection from arrest and the service of 
civil and criminal process, he shall issue a summons, with a copy of 
the certificate attached, directing the witness to attend and testify 
in the court where the prosecution is pending, or where a grand jury 
investigation has commenced or is about to commence at a time and 
place specified in the summons. 
In any such hearing the certificate 
shall be prima facie evidence of all the facts stated therein. 
(c) If said certificate reconmiends that the Avitness be taken into 
immediate custody and delivered to an officer of the requesting State 
to assure his attendance in the requesting State, such judge may, in 
lieu of notification of the hearing, direct that such witness be forth-
with brought before him for said hearing; and the judge at the hear-
ing being satisfied of the desirability of such custody and delivery, for 
w^hich determination the certificate shall be prima facie proof of such 
desirability may, in lieu of issuing subpena or summons, order that 
said witness be forthwith taken into custody and delivered to an officer 
of the requesting State. 
(d) If the witness, who is summoned as above provided, after 
being paid or tendered by some properly authorized person the sum of 
10 cents a mile for each mile by the ordinary traveled route to and from 
the court where the prosecution is pending and $5 for each day that he 
is required to travel and attend as a witness, fails without good cause 
to attend and testify as directed in the summons, he shall be punished 
in the manner provided for the punishment of any witness who dis-
obeys a summons issued from the municipal court for the District of 
Columbia. 
SEC. 4. (a) If a j^erson in any State, which by its laws has made 
provision for commanding persons within its borders to attend and 
testify in criminal prosecutions, or grand jury investigations com-
menced or about to commence, in the District of Columbia, is a 
Definitions. 
P ersons in D. C. 
Certification re-
quirement. 
D. C. municipal 
court. 
Hearings and de-
terminations. 
Failure to attend, 
etc. 
P ersons outside 
D.C. 
Issuance of cer-
tificate. 
16 
PUBLIC LAW 273-MAR. 6, 1952 
[66 
S T A T . 
Payment. 
Failure to attend, 
etc. 
Exemption from 
arrest. 
Separability. 
material witness in a prosecution pending in a court of record in the 
District of Columbia, or in a grand jury investigation which has 
commenced or is about to commence, a judge of such court may issue a 
certificate under seal of the court stating these facts and specifying 
the number of days the witness will be required. Said certificate may 
include a recommendation that the witness be taken into immediate 
custody and delivered to an officer of the United States or the District 
of Columbia to assure hife attendance in the District of Columbia. 
This certificate shall be presented to a judge of a court of record in 
the county in w^hich the witness is found. 
(b) If the witness is summoned to attend and testify in the District 
of Columbia he shall be tendered the sum of 10 cents a mile for each 
mile by the ordinary traveled route to and from the court where the 
prosecution is pending or where the grand jury investigation has 
commenced or is about to commence, and $5 for each day that he is 
required to travel and attend as a witness. 
A witness who has 
appeared in accordance with the provisions of the summons shall not 
be required to remain within the District of Columbia a longer period 
of time than the period mentioned in the certificate, unless otherwise 
ordered by the court. 
If such witness, after coming into the District 
of Columbia, fails without good cause to attend and testify as directed 
in the summons, he may be punished in the manner provided for the 
punishment of any other witness who disobeys a summons issued from 
the court in the District of Columbia where the prosecution has been 
instituted or the grand jury investigation has commenced or is about 
to commence. 
SEC. 5. (a) If a person comes into the District of Columbia in 
obedience to a summons directing him to attend and testify in the 
District of Columbia he shall not while in the District of Columbia 
pursuant to such summons be subject to arrest or the service of process, 
civil or criminal, in connection with matters which arose before his 
entrance into the District of Columbia under the summons. 
(b) If a person passes through the District of Columbia while going 
to another State in obedience to a summons to attend and testify in 
that State or while returning therefrom, he shall not while so passing 
through the District of Columbia be subject to arrest or the service 
of process, civil or criminal, in connection with matters Avhich arose 
before his entrance into the District of Columbia under the summons. 
SEC. 6. If any provision of this Act or the application thereof to 
any person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not 
apply to other provisions of this Act. 
Approved March 5, 1952. 
March 6, 1952 
[H.R.5097] 
Public Law 273 
CHAPTER 94 
AN ACT 
To extend the time during which the Secretary of the Interioi- may enter into 
amendatory repayment contracts under the Federal reclamation laws, and 
for other purposes. 
note, 485c, 485f. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of Amenca in Congress assenibled^ Tliat the authority 
4 3 use 485band vested ill the Secietarv of tlie Interior by sections 8, 4, and 7 of the 
Reclamation Project Act of 1989 (58 Stat. 1187, 1188) and by section 
3 of the Act of Ai)ril 24, 1945 (59 Stat. 75, 76), is hereby extended 
through December 81, 1954. 
Approved March 6, 1952.