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AN ACT

Additional to, and amendatory of, an Act, entitled, “an Act concerning the District of Columbia.”

[Approved May 3, 1802.]

BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Circuit Court of the county of Washington, in The Territory of Columbia, shall have power to proceed in all Common law and Chancery causes, which now are or hereafter shall be instituted before it, in which either of the parties reside without the said territory, in the same manner that non-residents are proceeded against in the general Court, or in the Supreme Court of Chancery in the State of Maryland.

SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Cir cuit Court of the county of Alexandria, in the District of Columbia, shall have power to proceed in all common law and chancery causes, which now are, or here after shall be instituted before it, in which either of the parties are non-residents of said District of Columbia, in the same way, and under the same regulations ob. served by the District Court, or by the High Court of Chancery in Virginia, in proceeding against non-residents.

SECT. And be it further enacted, That the Courts of the counties of Alexandria and Washington shall hereafter be holden at the periods following, to wit: For the county of Alexandria,on the 4th Monday of June and November-and for the county of Washington, on the fourth Monday of July and December, in each year; and all process heretofore issued from the offices of the said Courts, and not yet returned, shall be returnable to the first day of the sessions of the said Courts, respectively; and all causes now depending in the same, shall stand adjourned and continued over to the next sessions of the said Courts as established by this act.And the said Courts are hereby invested with the same power of holding adjourned sessions that are exercised by the Courts of Maryland.

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SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That no capias ad satisfaciendum shall hereafter issue on any judgment rendered by a single magistrate, or in any case where the judgment exclusive of costs, shall not exceed twenty-dollars; but that in such cases execution shall be only on the goods and chattles of the debtor, and shall issue by order of the justice who may have taken cognizance of the action from the clerks office, and shall be returnable thereto. That all such executions be returnable on the first Monday in every month; and that the same, and also the warrant to bring the party before the justice, be directed to one of the constables whose duty it shall be to obey the same. That each of the said constables shall give bond, with one sufficient surety, to be approved of by any one of the district Judges, for the faithful execution of the duties of his office, in the sum of five hundred dollars. That the Clerk's fees for issuing and filing the return of every such execution, shall be twenty five cents : The constable's fees for return and service,shall be fifty cents: and that a commission of eight per cent. be allowed the constable for every sum thereon by him levied.

SECT. 5. And be it further enacted, That so much of the original act to which this is a further supplement, as confines the jurisdiction of the courts of this territory to cases between parties who are inhabitants of, or residents within the same, shall not be construed to extend to any case where, by the laws of Maryland and Virginia, respectively, attachments may issue to affect the property of absconding debtors, or others having property within the district, and whose persons are not answerable to the process of the Court.

SECT. 6. And be it further enacted, That the taxes to be levied in the county of Alexandria, shall hereafter be assessed by the Justices of the Peace of the said county; and the poor of the town and country parts of the said county of Alexandria, shall be provided for respectively, in like manner as the county and corporation courts were authorised to do by the laws of Virginia, as they stood in force within the said county, on the first Monday of December, in the year 1800.

SECT. 7. And be it further enacted, That no part of the laws of Virginia or Maryland, declared by an act of Congress, passed the 27th day of February, one thousand eight hundred and one, "Concerning the District of Columbia," to be in force within the said district, (shall ever be construed so as to prohibit the owners of slaves to hire them within, or remove them to the said district) in the same way as was practised prior to the passage of the above recited act.

SECT. 8. And be it further enacted, That so much of two acts of Congress, the one passed on the twenty-seventh day of February one thousand eight hundred and one, entitled, "an Act concerning the District of Columbia," the other passed the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and one, supplementary to the aforesaid act, as provides for the compensation to be made to certain Justices of the Peace thereby created, and for compensation to the jurors attending the Courts within said district, except so much thereof as relates to their travelling expences attending the same, shall be, and is hereby repealed-and jurors in future, shall serve in the said Courts, and be summoned to attend the same in like manner as jurors serve, and were summoned in the Courts of Virginia, prior to the passage of the above recited act.

SECT. 9. And be it further enacted, That ordinary licenses, retailers licenses, and hawkers and pedlars licenses, shall be granted by the Circuit Court of the said district in the respective counties, as the same were heretofore granted by the Courts of Maryland and Virginia, respectively: and the several Judges of the said Circuit Court shall have like authority to grant such licences in vacation, as the justices of the Courts of Maryland and Virginia heretofore possessed: And the money arising from such licenses, shall be applied to the use and benefit of the said counties respectively, in such manner, and to such purposes,as the justices of the levy Courts in the same shall appoint and direct.

SECT. 10. And be it further enacted, That the marshal of the district of Columbia be, and he hereby is

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authorized and directed, with the approbation of the President of the United States, to cause a good and sufficient jall to be built within the City of Washington, not exceeding eight thousand dollars be, and the same baby is appropriated to that purpose, to be paid out fpropriated monies in the Treasury. of further enacted, That the corpo

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SECT. 11

ration of Geungov the district of Columbia, shall have full power ankt 12cm/ to tax any particular part or district of the tour, fa paving the streets, lanes or alleys therein, or for sirlaug wells, or erecting pumps, which may appear for the benefit of such particular part or district, provided that the rate tax so to be levied shall not exceed two dollars per foot front, and that the same shall be enforced and collected in the same manner that the taxes which the said corporation had heretofore been authorised to lay and collect.

SECT. 12. And be it further enacted, That articles inspected at one port in the said district, shall not be subject to a second inspection at any other port in the said district.

SECT. 13. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be authorized to cause the Militia of the respective counties of Washington and Alexandria to be formed into regiments and other corps, conformably, as nearly as may be, to the laws of Maryland and Virginia, as they stood in force in the said counties, respectively, on the first Monday in December in the year one thousand eight hundred, and that he appoint and commission, during pleasure, all such officers of the militia of the said district, as he may think proper-that he be authorized to call them into service, in like manner as the executive of Maryland and Virginia were authorized in the counties of Washington and Alexandria, respectively, on the first Monday of December, one thousand eight hundred. And that such militia, when in actual service, be entitled to the same pay and emoluments as the militia of the United States, when called out by the President.

CITY OF WASHINGTON.

AN ACT

To incorporate the Inhabitants of the City of Washington in the District of Columbia.

[Approved May 3, 1802.]

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E it enacted by the Senate and House of Reprefentatives

That the Inhabitants of the City of Washington be conftituted a body politic and corporate by the name of a Mayor and Council of the City of Washington, and by their corporate name, may fue and be fued, im plead and be impleaded, grant, receive, and do all other acts as natural perfons, and may purchase and hold, real, perfonal, and mixed property, or difpofe of the fame for the benefit of the faid City; and may have and use a City Seal, which may be broken or altered at pleasure. The City of Washington fhall be divided into three divifions or wards, as now divided by the levy Court for the county, for the purpose of affeffment, but the number may be increafed hereafter, as in the wifdom of the City Council fhall feem moft conducive to the general intereft and convenience.

SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Council of the City of Washington fhall confift of twelve members, refidents of the City, and upwards of twentyfive years of age, to be divided into two chambers; the firft chamber to confift of 7, and the 2d of 5 members; the 2d chamber to be chosen from the whole number of Counsellors elected by their joint ballot. The City Council to be elected annually by ballot, in a general ticket by the free white male inhabitants of full age, who have refided twelve months in the City, and paid taxes therein the year preceding the election's being he: the Justices of the county of Wabington, refident in the City, or any three of them, to prefide as jud

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