Year: 1863

LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES,


Passed at the Third Session of the Thirty


Serenth Congress.


[PUBL,c-NO. &c..


An Act further to regulate Proceedings in


Prize Cases, and to amend various acts OF


Congress in relation thereto.


Be it enacted by the Senate and House O
Representatives. Of the United States Of Amer
ica IN 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, or liable to dete-
rioratc or deprcciate, or whenever the costs
of keeping the same shall be disproportlonate
to its value, or whenever all the parties in
interest 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 operate to prevent the making or exc
cution of such order. And upon any sale,
it shall be the daty of the marshal forthwith
to deposit the gross proceeds OF the sale
with the assistant treasurer of the United
States nearest to the place of sale, and SUBJ
jct to the order of the court in the particu-
lar case; and the court may at any time or
der the payment from such deposit Of the
expenses and disbursements necessarily in
Cured in the custody, preservation. and sale
of said property, audited and allowed by the
court in the manner provided by law. And
when a decree of condemnation shall be
made in any cause, the court may, in like
manner, order the payment from said depart
ment of the costs, fees, and charges. dccreed
in the cause. And on a final decree Of dis
tributon, after the payment Of such costs,
fees, and expenses, the residue Of the depos-
it shall. by order Of the court, be paid into
the treasury of the United States for distri-
button according to the decree. And the
clerk of the court shall forthwith transmit to
the Secretary of the Treasury and the Sccre-
tary Of the Navy certified copies of said final
decree of distribution and in case the final
decree shall be for restitution without costs,
the costs, fees, and disbursements allowed by
the court and unpaid shall be charge upon
the fund for d d,'fraying the expenses of suits
in which the United States is party or in
tercstrd. And the Treasury Department
shall credit the Navy Department with the
amount held for for distribution; and the
several officers, marines, sailors, dan 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 respect
lively entitled.


Sec. 2. Ind be IL. further enacted, That
the Secretary of the Navy or the Secretary
of War shall be, and they or either of them
are hereby, authorized to take any captured
vessel, any arms or munitions of war, or 9TH
e.. 81 ,f norf
and when the same shall have been taken,
before being sent in for adjudication, or af-
forwards, 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 tho case !;
and when there is final decree Of distribu-
ton in the prize court, or if no proceedings
in prize shall be taken, the money shall be
credited to the Navy Department to be dis
tributed according to law.


Sec. 3. And be IL further enacted, That
the Secretary of the Navy shall employ
an auctioncer or auctoneers of established
reputation in that branch of merchandise,
to make sal. s of all prize goods, under the
direction of the marshall of the district in
which the property shall be ordered to be
sold, and at a rate Of compensation not to
exceed in any case one and one fourth per
centum upon the gross amount Of the sales !;
and such sales shall br advertised in the full
lest and most conspicuous manner, and to
the satisfaction of the Secretary Of the Navy;
and any fraud, collusion, or combination, or
any act or fraudulent device or contrivance in
the sale and disposition Of any prize proper
ty. by which the captors or the Government
are or may be defraded, 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 jurisdic-
ton, shall be liable to fine not exceeding
twenty thousand dollars, and to imprison-
ment not exceeding ten years, or to both, in
the discretion of the court.


Sec. 4. And be 1t further enacted, That
the third section of the act Of twenty fifth of
March, eighteen hundred and sixty. two, en-
titled " An act to facilitate evidence and
proceedings in and in adjudications upon
captured property ofprize." 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 reason
of the captors having interests conflict
ing with those Of the United States, and
proper in the opinion Of the court to be rep
resented by separate counsel from those rep
rcsenting the United States. And so much
of the twelfth section Of the act of July
seventeen, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,
entitled "An act for the better government
of the navy of the United States" as au-