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27 July 1866.

case of default.

of any contractor to comply with his contract in furnishing the paper contracted for, in the proper time, and of proper quality and weight, it shall be the duty of the superintendent of public printing to report the same to the joint committee on printing, if congress is in session, or to the secretary of the interior, if during a recess of congress, and he shall, under the direction of the joint committee on printing, or of the secretary New contract, in of the interior, as the case may be, enter into a new contract with the lowest and best bidder for the interest of the government, amongst those whose proposals were rejected at the last opening of bids, or advertise for new proposals, under the regulations before established; and during the interval which may thus be created, he shall, under the direction of the joint committee on printing, or of the secretary of the interior, as above provided, purchase in open market, at the lowest market price, all such paper necessary for the public service. For any increase of cost to the government in procuring a supply of paper for the use of the government, the contractor or contractors in default, and his or their securities, shall be charged with and held responsible for the same, and shall be prosecuted upon their bond, by the solicitor of the treasury, in the name of the United States, in the circuit court of the United States in the district in which the defaulting contractor resides; and to enable the solicitor to do so, it shall be the duty of the superintendent of public printing to report to him the default on its happening, with a full statement of all the facts in the case: And provided further, That the joint committee on public printing, or, during the recess of congress, the secretary of the interior, be authorized to empower the superintendent of public printing to make purchases of paper, in open market, at the lowest market price, whenever in their opinion the quantity required is so small, or the want is so immediate, as not to justify advertisement for and award of contract therefor.

Liability of defaulting contractor.

Purchases in open market.

22 Feb. 1867 21. 14 Stat. 398.

Ibid. ? 2.

Duties of the congressional printer.

Ibid. 3. Salary.

20 July 1868 21. 15 Stat. 111.

Ibid. 29. Laws regulating

38. The senate shall elect some competent person, who shall be a practical printer, to take charge of and manage the government printing office.

39. The person so elected shall be deemed an officer of the senate, and shall be designated "congressional printer." He shall superintend the printing and binding of the journals and such other documents as shall be ordered by each house of congress, and shall superintend the execution of all the printing and binding for the respective departments of the government now required by law to be executed at the government printing office, and shall, in all respects, be governed by the laws in force in relation to the superintendent of public printing and the execution of the printing and binding. 40. From and after the passage of this act, and the election of a congressional printer in pursuance thereof, the office of superintendent of public printing shall be abolished; and the salary of the said officer shall be at the rate of four thousand dollars a year. 41. All necessary letter-press printing and book-binding, in all the departments and bureaus, shall be done and executed at the government printing office, and not elsewhere, except registered bonds and written records, which may be bound as heretofore at the department.

42. That all laws and parts of laws that regulate the prices of labor in the government printing office be and the same are hereby repealed; and it shall be the duty of prices repealed. the congressional printer to contract with the persons in that employment, at such prices as are for the interest of the government, and are just to those employed.

27 July 1868 2 1. 15 Stat. 262.

43. That no bills be paid by the treasury for printing specifications of patents, above the contract price, except that seventy cents may be added to each thousand words for the additional cost of composition, occasioned by change made in the printing by order of the commissioner of patents.

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13 Stat. 306.

manders of cap

turing vessels.

1. It shall be the duty of the commanding officer of any vessel or vessels making a 30 June 1864 1. capture, to secure the documents of the ship and cargo, including the log-book, with all other documents, letters and other papers found on board, and make an inventory of Duties of conthe same, and seal them up, and send them, with the inventory, to the court in which proceedings are to be had, with a written statement that they are all the papers found, and in the condition in which they were found, or explaining the absence of any documents or papers, or any change in their condition. He shall send to said court, as witnesses, the master, one or more of the other officers, the supercargo, purser or agent of the prize, and any person found on board whom he may suppose to be interested in, or to have knowledge respecting the title, national character or destination of the prize; he shall send the prize, with the documents, papers and witnesses, under charge of a competent prize master and prize crew, into port for adjudication, explaining the absence of any usual witnesses; and in the absence of instructions from superior authority, as to the port to which it shall be sent, he shall select such port as he shall deem most convenient, in view of the interests of probable claimants as well as of the captors. If the captured vessel, or any part of the captured property, is not in condi- Proceedings tion to be sent in for adjudication, a survey shall be had thereon, and an appraisement vessel cannot be where captured made by persons as competent and impartial as can be obtained, and their reports shall sent in. be sent to the court in which proceedings are to be had; and such property, unless appropriated for the use of the government, shall be sold by the authority of the commanding officer present, and the proceeds deposited with the assistant treasurer of the United States most accessible to said court, and subject to its order in the cause.

Ibid. § 2.

prize.

2. If any vessel of the United States shall claim to share in the prize, either as having made the capture, or as having been within signal distance of the vessel or vessels Duties of commaking the capture, the commanding officer of such vessel shall make out a written mander of vessel statement of his claim, with the grounds on which it is rested, the principal facts tend- chiming to share ing to show what vessels made the capture, and what vessels were within signal distance of those making the capture, with reasonable particularity as to times, distances, localities and signals made, seen or answered; and such statement of claim shall be signed by him and sent to the court in which proceedings shall be had, and shall be filed in the cause.

Ibid. 23.

3. It shall be the duty of the prize master to make his way diligently to the selected port, and there immediately deliver to a prize commissioner the documents and papers Duties of prizeand the inventory thereof, and make affidavit that they are the same and in the same master. condition as delivered to him, or explaining any absence or change of condition therein, and that the prize property is in the same condition as delivered to him, or explaining any loss or damage thereto; and he shall further report to the district attorney, and give to him all the information in his possession respecting the prize and her capture; and he shall deliver over the persons sent as witnesses to the custody of the marshal, and shall retain the prize in his custody until it shall be taken therefrom by process from the prize court.

4. The attorney of the United States for the district shall immediately file a libel VOL. II.-34

Ibid. 24.

30 June 1864. against such prize property, and shall forthwith obtain a warrant from the court (a) diDuties of district recting the marshal to take it into his custody, and shall proceed diligently to obtain a

attorney.

Ibid. 25.

Appointment of prize commissioners.

Ibid. 26.

Duties of prize commissioners.

Ibid. 7.

Duties of the marshal.

condemnation (b) and distribution thereof; and to that end shall see that the proper preparatory evidence is taken by the prize commissioners, and that the prize commissioners also take the depositions, de bene esse, of the prize crew and other transient persons cognisant of any facts bearing on condemnation or distribution. It shall also be the duty of the district attorney to represent the interests of the United States in all prize causes, and he shall not act as separate counsel for the captors on any private retainer or compensation from them, unless in a question between the claimants and the captors on a demand for damages. The district attorney shall examine all fees, costs and expenses sought to be charged on the prize fund, and protect the interest of the captors and of the United States. The district attorneys of all districts in which any prize causes are or may be pending, shall, as often as once in three months, send to the secretary of the navy a statement of the condition of all prize causes pending in their districts, in such form and embracing such particulars as the secretary of the navy shall require.

5. Any district court may appoint prize commissioners, not exceeding three in number, of whom one shall be a retired naval officer, approved by the secretary of the navy, who shall receive no other compensation than his pay in the navy, and who shall protect the interests of the captors and of the department of the navy in the prize property, and at least one of the others shall be a member of the bar of the court, of not less than three years' standing, and acquainted with the taking of depositions.

6. The prize commissioners, or one of them, shall receive from the prize master the documents and papers and inventory thereof, and shall take the affidavit of the prize master herein before required, and shall forthwith take the testimony of the witnesses sent in, separate from each other, on interrogatories prescribed by the court, in the manner usual in prize courts; and the witnesses shall not be permitted to see the interrogatories, documents or papers, or to consult with counsel or with any persons interested, without special authority from the court; and the witnesses who have the rights of neutrals shall be discharged as soon as practicable. The prize commissioners shall also take depositions, de bene esse, of the prize crew and others, at the request of the district attorney, on interrogatories prescribed by the court. They shall also, as soon as any prize property comes within the district for adjudication, examine the same, and make an inventory thereof, founded on an actual examination, and report to the court whether any part of it is in a condition requiring immediate sale for the interests of all parties, and notify the district attorney thereof; and if it be necessary to the examination or making of the inventory, that the cargo be unladen, they shall apply to the court for an order to the marshal to unlade the same, and shall, from time to time, report to the court anything relating to the condition of the property or its custody or disposal, which may require any action by the court; but the custody of the property shall be only in the marshal. They shall also seasonably return into court, sealed and secured from inspection, the documents and papers which shall come to their hands, duly scheduled and numbered, and the other preparatory evidence, and the evidence taken de bene esse, and their own inventory of the prize property; and if the captured vessel or any of its cargo or stores are such that, in their judgment, may be useful to the government in war, they shall report the same to the secretary of the navy.

7. The marshal shall safely keep all prize property under warrant from the court, and shall report to the court any cargo or other property that he thinks requires to be unladen and stored or to be sold; he shall insure prize property if, in his judgment, it is for the interest of all concerned; he shall keep in his custody all persons found on board a prize and sent in as witnesses, until they are released by the prize commissioners or the court. If a sale of property is ordered, he shall sell the same in the manner required by the court, and collect the purchase-money, and forthwith deposit the gross proceeds of the sales with the assistant treasurer of the United States nearest the place of sale, subject to the order of the court in the particular cause. And each marshal shall forward to the secretary of the navy, whenever and as often as he may require it, a full statement of the condition of each prize and of the disposition made thereof. 8. Whenever any prize property shall be condemned, or shall at any stage of the When prize pro- proceedings be found by the court to be perishing, perishable, or liable to deteriorate or depreciate, or whenever the costs of keeping the same shall be disproportionate to its value, it shall be the duty of the court to order a sale thereof; and whenever, after the half Bales of Cotton, 25 Law Rep. 451; s. c. Rev. Cas. 1. Captures, jure belli, upon the interior waters of the Mississippi river, may be within the jurisdiction of a prize court.

Ibid. 28.

perty may be sold.

(a) The district courts are permanent prize tribunals, and take cognisance of questions of prize, by virtue of their general jurisdiction. The Amy Warwick, 2 Spr. 123, 143. Where prize courts take jurisdiction of captures, by combined land and naval forces, it must appear that the naval force contributed directly to the capture. United States v. Two Hundred and Sixty-nine and one

Ibid.

(b) The right of property in a prize is not vested in the captor until condemnation in a competent court. Stewart v. United States, 1 N. & H. 113.

return day on the libel, all the parties in interest, who have appeared in the cause, shall 30 June 1864. agree thereto, the court is authorized to make such order; and no appeal shall operate Mode of sale. to prevent the making or execution of such order. The secretary of the navy shall employ an auctioneer or auctioneers, of known skill in the branch of business to which any sale pertains, to make the sale; but the sale shall be conducted under the supervision of the marshal, and the collecting and depositing of the gross proceeds shall be by the auctioneer or his agent. Before any sale the marshal shall cause full catalogues and schedules to be prepared and circulated, and a copy of each shall be returned by the marshal to the court in each cause. The marshal shall cause all sales to be advertised fully and conspicuously in newspapers ordered by the court, and by posters, and he shall, at least five days before the sale, serve notice thereof upon the naval prize commissioners; and the goods shall be open to inspection at least three days before the sale.

what vessels

shall share in

the prize.

9. In case a decree of condemnation shall be rendered, the court shall consider the Ibid. 29. claims of all vessels to participate in the proceeds, and for that purpose shall, at as Court to decree early a stage of the cause as possible, order testimony to be taken, tending to show what part should be awarded to the captors, and what vessels are entitled to share; and such testimony may be sworn to before any judge or commissioner of the courts of the United States, consul or commercial agent of the United States, or notary public, or any officer of the navy highest in rank, reasonably accessible to the deponent. The court shall make a decree of distribution, determining what vessels are entitled to share in the prize, and whether the prize was of superior, equal or inferior force to the vessel or vessels making the capture; and said decree shall recite the amount of the gross proceeds of the prize subject to the order of the court, and the amount deducted therefrom for costs and expenses, and the amount remaining for distribution, and whether the whole of such residue is to go to the captors, or one-half to the captors, and one-half to the United States.

Ibid. 10.

10. The net proceeds of all property condemned as prize shall, (a) when the prize was of superior or equal force to the vessel or vessels making the capture, (b) be decreed to Distribution of the captors; and when of inferior force, one-half shall be decreed to the United States proceeds. and the other half to the captors: Provided, That, in case of privateers and letters of marque, the whole shall be decreed to the captors, unless it shall be otherwise provided in the commissions issued to such vessels. All vessels of the navy within signal dis- What vessels to tance of the vessel or vessels making the capture, (c) under such circumstances and in such condition as to be able to render effective aid, if required, (d) shall share in the prize; and in case of vessels not of the navy, none shall be entitled to share except the vessel or vessels making the capture, in which term shall be included vessels present at the capture and rendering actual assistance in the capture. All prize-money adjudged to the captors shall be distributed in the following proportions, namely:

share.

I. To the commanding officer of a fleet or squadron, one-twentieth part of all prize- Proportion of money awarded to any vessel or vessels under his immediate command.(e)

II. To the commanding officer of a division of a fleet or squadron, on duty under the orders of the commander-in-chief of such fleet or squadron, a sum equal to one fiftieth part of any prize-money awarded to a vessel of such division, for a capture made while under his command, the said fiftieth part to be deducted from the moiety due to the United States, if there be such moiety, otherwise from the amount awarded to the captors: Provided, That such fiftieth part shall not be in addition to any share which may be due to the commander of the division, and which he may elect to receive, as commander of a single ship making or assisting in the capture.

III. To the fleet-captain, one hundredth part of all prize-money awarded to any vessel or vessels of the fleet or squadron in which he is serving, except in a case where the capture is made by the vessel on board of which he is serving at the time of such capture; and in such case, he shall share, in proportion to his pay, with the other officers and men on board such vessel, as is hereinafter provided.

IV. To the commander of a single ship,(g) one-tenth part of all the prize-money awarded to the ship under his command, if such ship, at the time of the capture, was under the command of the commanding officer of a fleet or squadron, or a division, and three-twentieths, if his ship was acting independently of such superior officer.

V. After the foregoing deductions, the residue shall be distributed and proportioned (a) This did not alter the rule of distribution, as to pending cases. 11 Opin. 102.

(b) What co-operation constitutes a vessel one of those “making the capture," within the meaning of the act. The Atlanta, 2 Spr. 251; s. c. 3 Wall. 425.

(c) Under our statutes but two classes of ships can share the proceeds of a prize: 1. Those making the capture; 2. Those within signal distance of the vessel making the capture. The Cherokee, 2 Spr. 235. And see Rice v. Taylor, Hopk. Adm. Dec.

officers and sea

mell.

16. Pray . The Recovery, Ibid. 47. Cassen v. The Tristram Shandy, Ibid. 84.

(d) See The Cherokee, 2 Spr. 235. The Atlanta, Ibid. 251; s. c. 3 Wall. 425. The Aries, 2 Spr. 262. The St. John, Ibid. 266. The Ella and Anna, Ibid. 267. The Anglia, Blatch. Pr. Cas. 566. The Ella, 2 Int. R. Rec. 117. The Selma, 1 Am. L. Rev. 84. (e) See 11 Opin. 94, 147. (g) See 11 Opin. 148.

30 June 1864.

Ibid. 11.

Bounty for destroying enemies' vessels.

Distribution of ransom-money and salvage.

Tbid. 12.

Assignments of prize-money.

Ibid. 13. Appeals in prize

causes.

among all others doing duty on board (including the fleet-captain), and borne upon the books of the ship, in proportion to their respective rates of pay in the service.

No commanding officer of a fleet or squadron shall be entitled to receive any share of prizes captured by any vessel or vessels not under his command, nor of such prizes as may have been captured by any ships or vessels intended to be placed under his command, before they have acted under his orders; nor shall the commanding officer of a fleet or squadron, leaving the station where he had command, have any share in the prizes taken by ships left on such station, after he has gone out of the limits of his said command, nor after he has transferred his command to his successor.(a) No officer or other person who shall have been temporarily absent on duty from a vessel on the books of which he continued to be borne, while so absent, shall be deprived, in consequence of such absence, of any prize-money to which he would otherwise be entitled; and he shall continue to share in the captures of the vessels to which he is attached until regularly discharged therefrom.(b)

11. A bounty shall be paid by the United States for each person on board any ship or vessel of war belonging to an enemy, at the commencement of an engagement, which shall be sunk or otherwise destroyed in such engagement, by any ship or vessel belonging to the United States, or which it may be necessary to destroy in consequence of injuries sustained in action, of one hundred dollars, if the enemy's vessel was of inferior force, and of two hundred dollars, if of equal or superior force, to be divided among the officers and crew in the same manner as prize-money; and when the actual number of men on board any such vessel cannot be satisfactorily ascertained, it shall be estimated according to the complement allowed to vessels of its class in the navy of the United States; and there shall be paid as bounty to the captors of any vessel of war captured from an enemy, which they may be instructed to destroy, or which shall be immediately destroyed for the public interest, but not in consequence of injuries received in action, fifty dollars for every person who shall be on board at the time of such capture. All ransom-money, salvage, bounty or proceeds of condemned property accruing or awarded to any vessel of the navy, shall be distributed and paid to the officers and men entitled thereto, in the same manner as prize-money, under the direction of the secretary of the navy.(c)

12. Every assignment of prize or bounty money, or wages due to persons enlisted in the naval service, and all powers of attorney or other authority to draw, receipt for or transfer the same, shall be void, unless the same be attested by the captain or other commanding officer, and the paymaster; and in case of any assignment of wages, the same shall specify the precise time when they commence. But the commanding officer of every vessel is required to discourage his crew from selling any part of their prizemoney or wages, and never to attest any power of attorney until he is satisfied that the same is not granted in consideration of money given for the purchase of prize-money or wages.

13. Appeals from the district courts of the United States in prize causes shall be directly to the supreme court, and shall be made within thirty days of the rendering of the decree appealed 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 district judge, that the adjudication involves a question of general importance. Notwithstanding such appeal, the district court may make and execute all necessary orders for the custody and disposal of the prize property; and in case of appeal from a decree of condemnation, may still proceed to make a decree of distribution so far as to determine what share of the prize shall go to the captors, and what vessels are entitled to participate therein. Any prize cause now pending in any circuit court shall, on the application of all parties in interest, who have appeared in the cause, be transferred by that court to the supreme court; (d) and such transfer may be made, in the discretion of the court, and on such terms as it may direct, on the application of any party: Provided, That if the amount in controversy does not exceed two thousand dollars, such transfer shall not be made, unless the court shall certify that the adjudication involves a question of general importance. All appeals to the supreme court from the circuit court in prize causes, now remaining therein, shall be claimed and allowed in the same manner as in cases of appeal from the district court to the supreme court. In any case of appeal or transfer, the court below, or the appellate court, may order any original document or

(a) See 11 Opin. 9.

(b) See 11 Opin. 9, 327.

See 11 Opin. 326.

(d) This clause is unconstitutional; congress cannot thus confer on the supreme court a jurisdiction withheld by the constitution. The Alicia, 7 Wall. 571.

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