is in excess of $500, the facts relating to the seizure should be reported to the United States Attorney for appropriate action in accordance with the provisions of Section 3084 of the Revised Statutes heretofore cited. (Chapter XXVI, Section 10.)

Prosecution for Forfeiture

SEC. 16. Upon such report of seizure to the United States Attorney, it is provided by Section 838 of the Revised Statutes that:

"It shall be the duty of every District Attorney to whom any collector of customs, or of internal revenue, shall report, according to law, any case in which any fine, penalty, or forfeiture has been incurred in the district of such attorney for the violation of any law of the United States relating to the revenue, to cause the proper proceedings to be commenced and prosecuted without delay, for the fines, penalties, and forfeitures in such case provided, unless, upon inquiry and examination, he shall decide that such proceedings cannot probably be sustained, or that the ends of public justice do not require that such proceedings should be instituted; in which case he shall report the facts in the customs cases to the Secretary of the Treasury, and in internal revenue cases to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue for their direction. And for the expenses incurred and services rendered in all such cases, the district attorney shall receive and be paid from the Treasury such sum as the Secretary of the Treasury shall deem just and reasonable, upon the certificate of the judge before whom such cases are tried and disposed of: Provided, That the annual compensation of such district attorney shall not exceed the maximum amount prescribed by law, by reason of such allowance and payment."

Bailing of Property Under Seizure

SEC. 17. Should the United States Attorney conclude to proceed for the forfeiture of the merchandise, it is provided by Section 938 of the Revised Statutes that:

"Upon the prayer of any claimant to the court, that any vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, seized and prosecuted under any law respecting the revenue from imports or tonnage, or the registering and recording, or the enrolling and licensing of ves

sels, or any part thereof, should be delivered to him, the court shall appoint three proper persons to appraise such property, who shall be sworn in open court, or before a commissioner appointed by the district court to administer oaths to appraisers, for the faithful discharge of their duty; and the appraisement shall be made at the expense of the party on whose prayer it is granted. If, on the return of the appraisement, the claimant, with one or more sureties, to be approved by the court, shall execute a bond to the United States for the payment of a sum equal to the sum at which the property prayed to be delivered is appraised, and produce a certificate from the collector of the district where the trial is had, and of the naval officer thereof, if any there be, that the duties on the goods, wares, and merchandise, or tonnage duty on the vessel so claimed, have been paid or secured in like manner as if the same had been legally entered, the court shall, by rule, order such vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise to be delivered to such claimant; and the said bond shall be lodged with the proper officer of the court. If judgment passes in favor of the claimant, the court shall cause the said bond to be canceled; but if judgment passes against the claimant, as to the whole or any part of such vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise and the claimant does not within twenty days thereafter pay into the court, or to the proper officer thereof, the amount of the appraised value of such vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise so condemned, with the costs, judgment shall be granted upon the bond, on motion in open court without further delay."

Investigation Before a United States Commissioner

SEC. 18. With the view to conducting an investigation before a United States Commissioner in cases involving violations of the customs laws, it is provided by Section 15 of the Act of June 22, 1874:

"That it shall be the duty of any officer or person employed in the customs-revenue service of the United States, upon detection of any violation of the customs laws, forthwith to make complaint thereof to the collector of the district, whose duty it shall be promptly to report the same to the district attorney of the district in which such frauds shall be committed. Immediately upon the receipt of such complaint, if, in his judgment, it can be sustained, it shall be the duty of such district attorney to cause investigation into the facts to be made before a United States Commissioner having jurisdiction thereof, and to initiate proper proceedings to recover the fines and penalties in the prem ises, and to prosecute the same with the utmost diligence to final judgment."

The Mitigation or Remission of Fines, Penalties and Forfeitures Where the Amount Involved Does Not Exceed $1000.

SEC. 19. If the amount involved does not exceed $1000, it is provided by Section 5293 of the Revised Statutes that:

"The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to prescribe such rules and modes of proceeding to ascertain the facts upon which an application for remission of a fine, penalty, or forfeiture is founded, as he deems proper, and upon ascertaining them, to remit the fine, penalty, or forfeiture, if in his opinion it was incurred without willful negligence or fraud, in either of the following cases:

"First. If the fine, penalty, or forfeiture was imposed under authority of any revenue law, and the amount does not exceed one thousand dollars.

"Second. Where the case occurred within either of the collection-districts in the States of California or Oregon.

"Third. If the fine, penalty, or forfeiture was imposed under authority of any provision of law relating to the importation of merchandise from foreign contiguous territory, or relating to manifests for vessels enrolled or licensed to carry on the coastingtrade on the northern, northeastern, and northwestern frontiers.

"Fifth. If the fine, penalty, or forfeiture was imposed by authority of any provisions of law for levying or collecting any duties or taxes, or relating to registering, recording, enrolling, or licensing vessels, and the case arose within the collection district of Alaska, or was imposed by virtue of any provisions of law relating to fur seals upon the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George."

Suitable regulations carrying this provision of law into effect have been prescribed under Article 925 of the Customs Regulations of 1915.

Where the Amount Involved Is in Excess of $1000

SEC. 20. If the fine, penalty or forfeiture incurred is in excess of $1000, a summary investigation before a United States District Judge will be necessary under Section 5292 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that:

"Whenever any person who shall have incurred any fine, penalty, or forfeiture, or disability, or may be interested in any vessel or merchandise which has become subject to any seizure, forfeiture, or disability by authority of any provisions of law for imposing or collecting any duties or taxes, or relating to registering, recording, enrolling, or licensing vessels, and for regulating the same or for providing for the suppression of insurrections or unlawful combinations against the United States, shall prefer his petition to the judge of the district in which such fine, penalty, or forfeiture, or disability has accrued, truly, and particularly setting forth the circumstances of his case, and shall pray that the same may be mitigated or remitted, the judge shall inquire, in a summary manner, into the circumstances of the case; first causing reasonable notice to be given to the person claiming such fine, penalty, or forfeiture, and to the attorney of the United States for such district, that each may have an opportunity of showing cause against the mitigation or remission thereof; and shall cause the facts appearing upon such inquiry to be stated and annexed to the petition, and direct their transmission to the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary shall thereupon have power to mitigate or remit such fine, forfeiture, or penalty, or remove such disability, or any part thereof, if, in his opinion, the same was incurred without willful negligence, or any intention of fraud in the person incurring the same; and to direct the prosecution, if any has been instituted for the recovery thereof, to cease and be discontinued, and upon such terms or conditions as he may deem reasonable and just.”

Release on Payment of Appraised Value

SEC. 21. It is also provided under Section 3081 of the Revised Statutes that:

"The collectors of the several districts of the United States, in all cases of seizure of any merchandise for violation of the revenue laws, the appraised value of which, in the district wherein such seizure shall be made, does not exceed one thousand dollars, are hereby authorized, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to release such merchandise on payment of the appraised value thereof."

The appraised value under this section has reference to the home appraised value in the United States; that is, the foreign value of the merchandise with the duties added. (Article 919, Customs Regulations of 1915.)

Fines Covered Into the Treasury Cannot Be

Refunded

SEC. 22. Referring again to Sections 5292 and 5293 of the Revised Statutes (Chapter XXVI, Sections 19 and 20), it will be observed that those sections authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to mitigate or remit fines in certain specified cases. No specific authority to refund fines is, however, enumerated therein. It has accordingly been held (Opinions of the Attorney General, Vol. XXI, p. 320) that no such authority exists, and that in the absence of statutory authority fines incurred in Customs Cases, covered into the Treasury, cannot be refunded. (Article 315, Customs Regulations, 1915.)