9. It shall be the duty of the lighthouse board to furnish, upon the requisition of the 31 Aug. 18522 16. secretary of the treasury, all the estimates of expense which the several branches of the Estimates, &c., to lighthouse service may require, and such other information as may be required to be be laid before laid before congress at the commencement of each session. congress. Ibid. 17. 10. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed; and all acts and parts of acts relating to the lighthouse establishment Repeal of inconof the United States, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, and necessary to sistent acts. enable the lighthouse board, under the superintendence of the secretary of the treasury, to perform all duties relating to the management, construction, illumination, inspection and superintendence of lighthouses, light-vessels, beacons, buoys, sea-marks and their accessories, including the procuring and testing of apparatus, supplies and materials of all kinds for illuminating, building and rebuilding when necessary, maintaining and keeping in good repair the lighthouses, light-vessels, beacons, buoys and sea-marks of the United States, and the second and third sections of the act making appropriations for lighthouses, light-vessels, buoys, &c., approved March 3d 1851, (a) are hereby declared to be in full force, and shall have the same effect as though this act had not passed: Provided, That no additional salary shall be allowed to any civil, military or naval officer No additional who shall be employed on the lighthouse board, or who may be in any manner attached to the lighthouse service of the United States under this act: And provided further, Members not to That it shall not be lawful for any member of the lighthouse board, inspector, light- contracts. keeper or other person in any manner connected with the lighthouse service, to be engaged either directly or indirectly in any contract for labor, materials or supplies for the lighthouse service; nor to possess, either as principal or agent, any pecuniary interest in any patent, plan or mode of construction or illumination, or in any article of supply for the lighthouse service of the United States. II. GENERAL PROVISIONS. salaries. be interested in 9 Stat. 504. marked, &c. 11. Hereafter all buoys along the coast, or in bays, harbors, sounds or channels, shall 28 Sept. 1850 2 6. be colored and numbered, so that passing up the coast or sound, or entering the bay, harbor or channel, red buoys with even numbers shall be passed on the starboard hand; Buoys, how black buoys with uneven numbers on the port hand; and buoys with red and black stripes on either hand: buoys in channel ways to be colored with alternate white and black perpendicular stripes. Ibid. 7. perintendents. 12. There shall be allowed to collectors, when acting as superintendents of lighthouses, beacons, light-boats and buoys, the same rate of commission on the disburse- Compensation of ment of the aforesaid appropriations, as were allowed and paid for the year ending 4th collectors, as su March 1849: Provided, That no collector shall receive for his services, as superintendent aforesaid, over the sum of four hundred dollars per annum: And provided further, That the secretary of the treasury shall assign to the collectors the superintendence of such lighthouses, beacons, light-boats and buoys, as he may judge best and most convenient for the public interest. Ibid. 28. Steamer for 13. That there be and hereby is appropriated the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to purchase a steamer to be employed in the coast survey upon the Pacific coast; and used, if deemed expedient, in designating the sites of the several light- Pacific coast. houses provided for in California. 9 Stat. 608. compensation ex Collectors whose ceeds $2500, to receive none as superintendents. 14. The collectors at the several ports at which the collector has heretofore discharged 3 March 1851 3 1. the duties or acted as superintendents of lights, shall continue to discharge them, and to act as such: And provided further, That collectors whose compensation exceeds twentyfive hundred dollars, shall receive no compensation as superintendents of lights, or disbursing agents.(b) 15. If such person as the secretary of the treasury shall designate, shall report, in any 3 March 1851 & 2 of the cases herein provided for, that preliminary surveys are necessary to determine the site of a proposed lighthouse or light-boat, beacon or buoy, or to ascertain more fully what the public exigency demands, the secretary of the treasury shall thereupon direct the superintendent of the survey of the coast of the United States to perform such duty on the seaboard, and the colonel of the corps of topographical engineers to perform such duty on the north-western lakes. 16. The officers so directed shall forthwith enter upon the discharge of the duty, and after fully ascertaining the facts, shall report:-First, whether the proposed facility to navigation is the most suitable for the exigency which exists;-and second, where it should be placed, if the interests of commerce demand it:-third, if the thing proposed be not the most suitable, whether it is expedient to make any other kind of improvement;-fourth, whether the proposed light has any connexion with other lights, and if so, whether it cannot be so located as to subserve both the general and the local wants (a) See infra, 15–16 (b) And see act 30 September 1850 2 1. 9 Stat. 533. 9 Stat. 628. houses, &c. Surveys for light Ibid. 3. Form of report. 3 March 1851. of trade and navigation;-and fifth, whether there be any, and if any, what other facts of importance touching the subject. 17. All such reports shall, as speedily as may be, be laid before the secretary of the treasury, and if such as to authorize the work without further legislation, he shall forthwith proceed with it, otherwise such reports shall be laid before congress at the next ensuing session; but in all cases where the person designated by the secretary of the treasury, under the second section of this act, does not report such preliminary examination as expedient, the provisions of this act shall without delay be carried into execution. 18. The salary of the keeper of the Minot's Ledge light shall hereafter be at the rate of one thousand dollars per annum, and the assistants five hundred and fifty dollars per annum. 19. That the president be and he is hereby required to cause to be detailed from the engineer corps of the army, from time to time, such officers as may be necessary to superintend the construction and renovating of lighthouses. 8 April 1812 1. 2 Stat. 701. Louisiana ad mitted into the Union. (a) 8 Stat. 200. 22. Repealing section. 24. Compensation of officers. 25. Port of entry at Nova Iberia. 26. Importers of goods into certain places to deposit schedule with surveyor and give bond. Notice to be given to collector at New Orleans. 27. Duties of collector at New Orleans. Duplicate manifests to be delivered. And of surveyor. 28. Penalties for neglect. Delivery of manifest. Inspection. bond. Deposit of bonds. 29. Entry not to be permitted where duties exceed amount of 30. Appointment of surveyors. 31. How penalties recoverable. How remitted. 32. Lafayette a port of delivery. 33. Vessels to clear at New Orleans. 34. Salt may be discharged opposite New Orleans. 35. District to be called district of New Orleans. 36. Discharge of vessels at Lafayette. 37. Occasional inspectors at New Orleans. 40. Privileges granted by act of 1831 extended to inland transportation. 41. Additional temporary inspectors at New Orleans. 43. Head gauger. 44. Port of New Orleans further extended. 45. Lake Port, a port of delivery. 46. Vessels to clear at New Orleans. I. ADMISSION INTO THE UNION. 1. Whereas, the representatives of the people of all that part of the territory or country ceded, under the name of "Louisiana," by the treaty made at Paris, on the 30th day of April 1803, (a) between the United States and France, contained within the following limits, that is to say: beginning at the mouth of the river Sabine; thence, by a line to be drawn along the middle of said river, including all islands, to the thirty-second degree of latitude; thence, due north, to the northernmost part of the thirty-third degree of north latitude; thence, along the said parallel of latitude, to the river Mississippi; thence, down the said river, to the river Iberville; and from thence, along the middle of the said river, and lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the Gulf of Mexico; thence, bounded by the said gulf, to the place of beginning, including all islands within three leagues of the coast; (b) did, on the 22d day of January 1812, form for themselves a constitution and state government, and give to the said state the name of the state of Louisiana, in pursuance of an act of congress, entitled "An act to enable the people of the territory of Orleans to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of the said state into (b) By act 14 April 1812, to enlarge the limits of the state of Louisiana, it is provided, that in case the legislature of the state of Louisiana shall consent thereto, all that tract of country comprehended within the following bounds, to wit: Beginning at the Junction of the Iberville, with the river Mississippi; thence along the middle of the Iberville, the river Amite, and of the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the eastern mouth of the Pearl river; thence up the eastern branch of Pearl river to the thirtyfirst degree of north latitude; thence along the said degree of latitude, to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the place of beginning; shall become and form a part of the said state of Louisiana, and be subject to the constitution and laws thereof, in the same manner, and for all intents and pur poses as if it had been included within the original boundaries of the said state. 2 Stat. 708. 8 April 1812. the Union, on an equal footing with the original states, and for other purposes:"(a) And the said constitution having been transmitted to congress, and by them being hereby approved: Therefore be it enacted, That the said state shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatever, by the name and title of the state of Louisiana: Provided, that it shall be taken as a condition upon which the said Conditions. state is incorporated in the Union, that the river Mississippi, and the navigable rivers and waters leading into the same, and into the Gulf of Mexico, shall be common highways, and for ever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said state as to the inhabitants of other states and the territories of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost or toll therefor, imposed by the said state; and that the above condition, and also all other the conditions and terms contained in the third section of the act, the title whereof is herein before recited, shall be considered, deemed and taken, fundamental conditions and terms, upon which the said state is incorporated in the Union. Ibid. 2. 2. All the laws of the United States, not locally inapplicable, shall be extended to the said state, and shall have the same force and effect within the same, as elsewhere within Laws of the the United States. II. CIRCUIT COURT. United States extended. 5 Stat. 731. Spring term. 20 July 1854 ? 2. 3. The circuit court for the district of Louisiana shall commence its spring term at 1 March 1845 1. New Orleans on the fourth Monday of April in each and every year, after the ensuing spring term of said court shall have been held at the time now appointed by law. 4. The fall term of the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of Louisiana, shall hereafter be held on the first Monday of November in each year instead of the third Monday of December, as heretofore provided by law. (b) III. DISTRICT COURTS. 10 Stat. 307. Fall term. 2 Stat. 703. erected. 5. The said state, together with the residue of that portion of country which was com- 8 April 1812 3. prehended within the territory of Orleans, as constituted by the act entitled "An act erecting Louisiana into two territories, and providing for the temporary government District court thereof," shall be one district, and be called the Louisiana district; and there shall be established in the said district, a district court, to consist of one judge, who shall reside therein, and be called the district judge; [and there shall be, annually, four stated sessions of the said court held at the city of Orleans, the first to commence on the third Monday in July next, and the three other sessions progressively, on the third Monday of every third calendar month thereafter.] (c) The said judge shall, in all things, have Powers and juris and exercise the same jurisdiction and powers which, by the act, the title whereof is in this section recited, were given to the district judge of the territory of Orleans; and he shall be allowed an annual compensation of three thousand dollars, (d) to be paid quarteryearly at the treasury of the United States. The said judge shall appoint a clerk of the Clerk, said court, (e) who shall reside, and keep the records of the court, in the city of Orleans, and shall receive for the services performed by him, the same fees heretofore allowed to the clerk of the Orleans territory. (g) diction. 9 Stat. 401. State divided into two districts. 6. For the more convenient transaction of business in the courts of the United States 3 March 1849 § 1. within the state of Louisiana, the said state shall be and the same is hereby divided into two judicial districts, in the manner following, to wit: the parishes of Sabine, Desoto, Caddo, Natchitoches, Bossier, Rapides, Claiborne, Jackson, Catahoula, Caldwell, Ouachita, Union, Morehouse, Franklin, Carroll, Madison, Tensas, Concordia, St. Landry, Avoyelles, Calcasieu, St. Mary, St. Martin, Vermillion and Lafayette, shall compose one Western district. district, to be called the western district of Louisiana ;(h) and all the remaining part of the said state shall compose another district, to be called the eastern district of Louisi- Eastern district. ana. And all criminal actions or civil suits, either in law or equity, which have arisen in the western district, or against persons residing therein, or concerning lands situated therein, together with all process, writs, recognisances and records, belonging thereto, shall be transferred to the western district; and all civil suits hereafter instituted against persons residing in said western district, or suits concerning lands situated in the same, in the courts of the United States, shall be in said district. And there shall be held Terms of the annually in said district, one stated session of the court at each of the following places, western district to wit: at Opelousas, on the first Monday in August, for the parishes of St. Landry, Calcasieu, St. Mary, St. Martin, Vermillion and Lafayette; at Alexandria, on the first Monday in September, for the parishes of Rapides, Avoyelles, Natchitoches; at Shreveport, on the first Monday in October, for the parishes of Caddo, Sabine, Desoto, Bossier and Claiborne; (i) at Monroe, on the first Monday in November, for the parishes of (a) 20 February 1811. 2 Stat. 641. (b) At New Orleans, by act 3 March 1837 2. 5 Stat. 177. (c) See infra, 10. (d) $3500 by act 17 February 1855. 10 Stat. 609. (e) By act 3 March 1821, the clerk is authorized to appoint a deputy, for whose acts he is to be liable. 8 Stat. 645. (7) The 4th section provides for the appointment of a district attorney and marshal. (h) See infra, 9. (i) See infra, 9. 3 March 1849. District judge. Circuit court powers. Clerk. Terms of the eastern district. 29 July 1850 9 Stat. 441. Term at St. 1. Ouachita, Jackson, Union, Morehouse, Frank in, Catahoula, Carroll, Madison, Tensas and Concordia.(a) And a person learned in the law, residing in said western district, shall be appointed by the president of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, judge thereof, with a salary of two thousand dollars per annum,(b) payable semi-annually, with the same powers and duties as the district judge of the United States for the district of Louisiana, as it now exists, and such as are conferred on him, or required of him, by this act; who is required to hold said terms, and authorized and required to hold special sessions of the said court, in the said western district, for the trial of civil or criminal cases, whenever he may deem it expedient. That all process, writs and recognisances of every kind, whether respecting juries, witnesses, bail or otherwise, which relate to cases to be tried at said special sessions, shall be considered as belonging to such sessions, in the same manner as if they had been issued or taken in reference thereto; that any special session may be adjourned to any time or times previous to the next stated meeting of the district court for said districts; that all business pending for trial at any special court shall, at the close thereof, be considered as of course removed to the next stated term of the court. That the district court, in said western district, shall perform all the duties, and possess all the powers, of circuit courts of the United States for the state of Louisiana, except in cases f appeal and writs of error; and the said judge shall appoint a clerk of the court in the western district, (c) for each place where the court sits, who shall reside, and keep the records of the court, at that place, and shall receive, for the services performed by them, the same fees and compensation that are allowed to the clerk of said court holding its sessions in New Orleans, in the same state, and shall be subject, in every respect, to the same restrictions and responsibilities. And the district court for the eastern district shall be held in New Orleans as heretofore; (d) and it shall be the duty of the clerks of the district and circuit courts of the United States in New Orleans to transmit, by some safe conveyance, or deliver to the clerks of the western district, or their order, the original papers in all such cases as properly belong to the court in the western district by the provisions of this act, together with a transcript of the proceedings had therein. 7. That the act entitled "An act for the better organization of the district court of the United States within the state of Louisiana," approved 3d of March 1849, be so amended that it shall be the duty of the judge of the western district of said state to hold a term of the court at St. Joseph's, in the parish of Tensas, on the first Monday in December, in each year, for the parishes of Carroll, Madison, Tensas and Concordia, and to appoint a clerk of the court for that place. And it shall be the duty of the clerk of the district court of the United States, at Monroe, to deliver to the clerk at St. Joseph's, or to his order, the original papers in all such cases as properly belong to the court at that place, together with a transcript of the proceedings had thereon. And it shall bə the duty of the marshal of said western district to attend the terms of said court at St. Joseph's, by himself or deputy, and to perform all the duties of his office for that court in the same manner, and with the same powers, duties and emoluments as he is required to do for the courts at other places in the district, by the act to which this is an amendment. Ibid. ? 2. 8. Writs of error and appeal shall lie from decisions of the district court of the westAppeals from ern district of Louisiana, exercising circuit court jurisdiction, to the supreme court of court of western the United States, in the same causes as from a circuit court to the supreme court, and under the same regulations. district. Ibid. 3. 9. That the parish of Bienville shall form a part of the western district of Louisiana, Courts for Bien- and be one of the parishes for which a court is to be held at Shreveport; and that the ville and Cald parish of Caldwell shall be one of the parishes for which a court is to be held at Monroe; and that this act shall take effect from and after its passage. well. 10. There shall hereafter be annually only three stated sessions of the district court of the United States for the eastern d'strict of Louisiana, which shall be held at New Orleans on the third Mondays of November, February and May: Provided, That the judge of said court shall be and he is hereby authorized, to adjourn any stated session to any time or times previous to the next stated session of said district court, whenever he may deem it expedient. IV. PRACTICE OF THE Courts. 11. The mode of proceeding in civil causes (e) in the courts of the United States, that now are, or hereafter may be, established in the state of Louisiana, shall be conformable (a) See infra, 7, 9. (b) $2500 by act 17 February 1855. 10 Stat. 609. medies in the courts of the United States are to be at common law or in equity, not according to the practice of the state courts, (c) The 24 section provides for the appointment of a district but according to the principles of common law and equity as dis attorney and marshal for the western district. (d) See infra, 10. (e) This would include cases in equity. But the acts of con gress have distinguished between remedies at common law and in equity; and to effectuate the purposes of the legislature, the re tinguished and defined in that country from which we derive our knowledge of those principles. And since there are no courts of equity or state laws in Louisiana regulating the practice in equity cases, the federal courts in that state are bound to proceed according to the principles and usages of courts of equity, and the rules to the laws directing the mode of practice in the district courts of the said state: (a) 26 May 1824. Provided, That the judge of any such court of the United States may alter the times Proceedings to limited or allowed for different proceedings in the state courts, and make, by rule, such conform to prac other provisions as may be necessary to adapt the said laws of procedure to the organi- courts. zation of such court of the United States, and to avoid any discrepancy, if any such Judges may preshould exist, between such state laws and the laws of the United States.(b) tice of state scribe rules of practice. Ibid. & 2. summoned. 12. Petit jurors, for the trial of all causes, as well civil as criminal, shall be designated, summoned and returned in the manner that now is directed by the laws of the How jurors to be said state, with respect to jurors, to serve in the district courts of the said state of selected and Louisiana;(c) and all the duties directed by such state laws to be performed by the sheriff's and clerks, in relation to the designation, summoning and returning such jurors, shall be performed by the marshal of the United States and the clerk of the court of the United States, in the district where such court of the United States shall sit; and the petit jurors to serve in such court of the United States, shall be taken from the parish in which said court holds its sessions, but the grand jurors may come from any part of the district, and may be summoned and impannelled by the marshal, in the manner now prescribed; and the marshal, for the purpose of designating such petit jurors, shall take the names of all persons liable to serve as jurors, from the list made by the sheriff, for the purpose of drawing jurors for the district court of the state; and such number of jurors shall be drawn for each term of such court of the United States, or for such portion of each term, as the court may, by its rules, direct: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the judge of any of the said courts of the United States from directing a jury to be summoned from any other parish within the district, whenever it may be necessary to secure an impartial trial; but that, in all such cases, the names of the jury shall be also designated by lot, in the manner directed by the laws of the state, for designating jurors to serve in the district courts: And pro- Special juries. vided also, That special juries may be directed for the trial of any particular civil cause, by the consent of parties, but not otherwise. 4 Stat. 492. 13. That the judge of the district court of the United States for the eastern district 3 March 1831 ? 2. of Louisiana be and is hereby authorized to appoint an interpreter to said court, and to allow him a compensation not exceeding three hundred and thirty-three dollars and Interpreter to be appointed in castthirty-three and one-third cents, for his services at each regular term of said court, to ern district. be holden subsequently to the passage of this act; and the marshal is authorized to pay the same upon the order of the judge: Provided always, That it shall be the duty of the His duties. said interpreter, during his continuance in office, to attend all and every of the called or irregular sessions of the said court, without any additional compensation therefor: Provided also, That the said interpreter shall not receive, under this act, more than one Salary. thousand dollars for each year. V. COLLECTION DISTRICTS. 1 Stat. 639. 14. There shall be a district on the river Mississippi, south of the state of Tennessee, 2 March 1799 8 17. which shall include all the waters, shores and inlets of the river Mississippi, and other navigable rivers and waters connected therewith, lying within the jurisdiction of the District south of United States and south of the said state; and it shall be lawful for the president of the United States to designate a proper place, to be the port of entry and delivery within the same, and to appoint a collector to reside thereat.(d) Tennessee. 2 Stat. 252. 15. To the end that the laws provided for the collection of the duties imposed by law 24 Feb. 1804 ? 4. on goods, wares and merchandise, imported into the United States, and on the tonnage of ships and vessels, and the laws respecting the revenue and navigation of the United District of Mississippi. States, may be carried into effect within the said territories, the territories ceded to the United States by the treaty above mentioned, and also all the navigable waters, rivers, creeks, bays and inlets, lying within the United States, which empty into the Gulf of Mexico, east of the river Mississippi, shall be annexed to the Mississippi district, and shall, together with the same, constitute one district, to be called the " district of Mississippi." The city of New Orleans (e) shall be the sole port of entry in the said dis prescribed by the supreme court. Livingston v. Story, 9 Pet. 656-8. Livingston v. Story, 12 Ibid. 339. Gaines v. Relf. 15 Thid. 14-15. Poultney v. City of La Fayette, 12 Ibid. 474. Ex parte Whitney, 13 Ibid. 404. (a) Congress has not hereby altered the appellant jurisdiction of the supreme court, nor attempted to give it power to re-examine the facts once tried by a jury in an action at law. Parsons v. Bedford, 3 Pet. 433. If the record contains the evidence, but no bill of exceptions, and nothing raising any points of law distinct from the evidence, that court cannot revise the judgment on a writ of error Minor e. Tillotson, 2 How. 392. The practice of the circuit court of the United States for Louisiana, as to giving reasons for the judgment and as to the form and effect of verdicts, is governed by the acts of congress and the rules of the common law, and not by the laws of the state. Parks v. Turner, 12 lbid. 89. And where the judge passes on both law and fact, if a jury trial is not claimed, the proper practice is, for the judge to insert in the record the facts found by him; and the supreme court, on a writ of error, must treat such facts as conclusively settled, and consider the law arising thereon, as upon a case stated. United States v. King. 7 Ibid. $33. (b) The district court had no authority to make a rule declaring that equity practice was abolished. Story v. Livingstone, 13 Pet. 368-9. (c) But see the general act of 20 July 1840, in reference to jurors in the courts of the United States. 5 Stat. 394. (d) See infra. 15. (e) The act 9 February 1837, provides, that the port of New Orleans shall extend, on the river, from the lower to the upper corporate limits of the municipalities of the city of New Orleans. 5 Stat. 146. And see infra, 39, 44. |