Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

APPENDIX.

RULES OF THE COURT OF COMMISSIONERS OF ALABAMA CLAIMS.

I. The clerk of the court is directed to file of record all claims which may be transmitted to him, and to enter the same on the docket in the order of time in which they may be received.

Claims transmitted by mail may be addressed to "John Davis, esq., elerk of the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims, Washington, D. C."

IL All claims must be verified by the affidavit of the claimant, and filed in this court within six months from the 22d day of July, 1874. IIL Every claim shall be stated in a petition addressed to the court, and signed by the claimant or his attorney.

The petition shall set forth

1st. The title of the case, with the full Christian names and surnames of all the claimants, the places and times of their birth, and the places of their residence between the 13th day of April, 1861, and the 9th day of April, 1865, both inclusive.

If any of the claimants be naturalized citizens, an authenticated certificate of their naturalization shall be appended to the petition, and the petition shall also state whether the claimants, or any of them, have been naturalized in any other country than the United States; and, if not so naturalized, whether any and what steps have been taken toward being so naturalized.

2d. A plain and concise statement of the facts and circumstances, giving place and date, free from argument, and stating all assignments and transfers, whether in whole or in part.

3d. The prayer, in which the claimant shall state distinctly the amount of the actual loss or damage for which he asks judgment, and the date from which he claims interest thereon.

The claimant shall also give the post-office address of himself and of his attorney; and may append to his petition, as exhibits, the instru ments or documents to which it refers, but shall not insert the same in the body of the petition. Immediately upon the filing of any petition, fifty copies of the same and the accompanying documents shall be printed in octavo form, under the direction of the clerk, for the use of the court and counsel.

IV. Parties having a common interest, growing out of the destruction of the same vessel or its cargo, may unite in one petition for the recovery of their respective claims, which may be heard together, but separate judgments shall be rendered in the case of each claimant.

V. Any person of good moral character admitted to practice as attorney or counsel in the supreme court of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, or in any of the Federal courts, on filing with the clerk a written statement of the date and place of such admission, with his name and post-office address in full, may, on motion, be admit ted to practice in this court.

VI. It shall not be necessary for the United States to deny, specially, in writing, the validity of any claim; but a general denial of every

claim shall be entered of record by the clerk as of course, and thereby every material allegation shall be considered as put in issue by the United States.

Objections as to the law of the case may be raised by the United States at any stage of the proceedings by demurrer, stating the grounds of such objections with reasonable certainty.

VII. Testimony to be used in this court may be taken before a commissioner empowered by any circuit or district court of the United States to take testimony, on a rule entered of record in this court for that purpose by either party in any pending case, provided twenty days' notice be given to the adverse party; but nothing herein contained shall prevent the taking of testimony before any other person, with the leave of this court, nor prevent counsel from accepting, by agreement in writing, a shorter notice than twenty days.

VIII. It shall be the duty of the counsel of the claimant, at least ten days before the day of hearing, to file with the clerk of the court fifty copies of a brief (printed in octavo form) of the argument in behalf of the claimant.

IX. Claims supported by printed or written testimony shall be first heard in the order in which they stand on the docket, unless otherwise specifically ordered by the court; and afterward those claims shall be heard in support of which the claimant may desire to introduce oral testimony.

X. In cases where the amount claimed exceeds the sum of one thousand dollars, the claimant shall be at the expense of printing his own brief and testimony. In cases not exceeding that amount the printing shall be done, under the direction of the clerk of the court, at the expense of the United States.

XI. The time to be occupied in the oral arguments of counsel shall be regulated by the rule in force in the Supreme Court of the United States.

XII. Whenever any deposition or document shall have been filed in any case before this court, either party to any other case may use such testimony on the hearing thereof: Provided, That the party so desiring to use such testimony in a case in which the same was not originally taken shall file a notice in the case in which such testimony is sought to be used five days before the hearing thereof of his intention so to do, specifying therein particularly the depositions or documents sought to be used and the case or cases in which the same were originally taken.

SPECIAL RULE, (adopted March 7, 1876.)

In case of any claimant who may desire to present a claim under the provisions of an act entitled "An act to extend the time for claimants, under section eleven of chapter four hundred and fifty-nine of the laws of the Forty-third Congress, to prove their claims," approved March 6th, 1876, and who may be absent from the United States at the time of the making or of presenting his petition, such petition may be presented and verified by the attorney in fact of such claimant, or by any agent specially authorized thereto, or by any person acting as agent or next friend; but in every case of a petition filed without precedent authority specifically given, the court will require subsequent ratification of such petition or claim by the claimant. Such agency or ratification shall, in every case, be duly established by proof to the satisfaction of the court.

AN ACT* for the creation of a court for the adjudication and disposition of certain moneys received into the Treasury under an award made by the tribunal of arbitration constituted by virtue of the first article of the treaty concluded at Washington the eighth of May, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-one, between the United States of America and the Queen of Great Britain.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint five suitable persons, who shall constitute a court, to be known as the "Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims." Each of the judges and other officers of said court shall take the oath of office prescribed by law to be taken by all officers of the United States. The President shall designate, by appointment, one of said judges to be presiding judge of the court; and all vacancies which may occur in said court by reason of death, resignation, or inability, or refusal or neglect of any or either of said judges to discharge the duties of his position, shall be filled in the same manner as vacancies occurring in offices under the Constitution of the United States are filled.

SEC. 2. That the said judges shall meet and organize said court in the city of Washington, where the said court shall hold its sittings. Three judges of said court shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and the agreement of three shall be necessary to decide any question arising before said court.

SEC. 3. That the said court be, and it is hereby, authorized to pub. lish notice of its sessions, and to make all needful rules and regulations, not contravening the laws of the United States or the provisions of this act, for regulating the forms and mode of procedure before the said court, and for carrying into full and complete effect the provisions of this act. Such rules and mode of procedure shall conform, as far as practicable, to the mode of procedure and practice of the circuit courts. of the United States; and the said court is hereby vested with the same powers now possessed by the circuit and district courts of the United States to compel the attendance and testimony of parties, claimants, and witnesses, to preserve order, and to punish for contempts; and in all claims which shall be presented before said court the person or persons prosecuting such claim shall be deemed the complainant and the United States shall be deemed the respondent. And said court shall have power to compel the production of any books or papers deemed material to the consideration of any claim or matter pending therein. SEC. 4. That each of the said judges shall be paid monthly, at the rate of six thousand dollars per aunum; and they shall have a clerk, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to be paid at the rate of three thousand dollars per annum; and the said court shall have authority to appoint one shorthand reporter, to be paid monthly, at the rate of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum; and said court shall be further allowed the necessary actual expenses of office-rent, furniture, fuel, stationery, and printing, and other necessary incidental expenses, to be certified by the presiding judge of said court, and to be audited and paid on vouchers under the direction of the Secretary of State.

SEC. 5. That the President may designate a counselor at law, admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, to appear as counsel on behalf of the United States, and represent the interest of the Government in said suit, and in all claims filed for indemnity for

Chap. 459 of the laws of the first session of the 43d Congress.

losses, as provided by this act, subject to the supervision and control of the Attorney-General. Such counsel shall receive for his services and expenses such reasonable allowance in each claim as may be approved by the court, to be apportioned in each claim adjudicated, and paid from said award upon the certificate of one of the judges.

SEC. 6. That the marshal of the United States for the District of Columbia, or his deputies, shall serve all process issued by said court, preserve order in the place of sitting, and execute the orders of said

court.

SEC. 7. That the said court shall proceed immediately after its first meeting in the city of Washington, with all convenient dispatch, to arrange and docket the several claims admissible under this act, and to consider the evidence which shall have been or which may be offered by the respective claimants, and in opposition thereto, allowing such further time for the production of such further evidence as may be required and as it shall think reasonable and just, and shall thereupon proceed to determine and award upon each of said claims according to the provisions of this act.

SEC. 8. That the judges of the court created by this act shall convene in the city of Washington as soon as conveniently may be after their appointment; and the said court shall exist for one year from the date of its first convening and organizing; and should it be found impracti cable to complete the work of the said court before the expiration of the said one year, the President may, by proclamation, extend the time of the duration thereof to a period not more than six months beyond the expiration of the said one year; and in such case all the provisious of this act shall be taken and held to be the same as though the continuance of the said court had been originally fixed by this act at the limit to which it may be thus extended.

SEC. 9. That all records, documents, or other papers which now or hereafter, during the continuance of the court, may come into the pos session of the Department of State, in relation to such claims, and which shall be found necessary to the examination and adjudication of the same, shall, upon the order or requisition of said court, be delivered to the court for that purpose, and be given such weight as evidence as the court shall think just.

SEC. 10. That each of the said judges shall have authority to admin ister oaths and affirmations, and to take the depositions of claimants, parties, and witnesses, in all matters pertaining to the presentation or examination of said claims; and if any person shall knowingly and willfully swear or affirm falsely in such examination or deposition to any matter or fact material to the investigation of the claim touching which such person is examined, or if any person, whether claimant or witness, shall so swear or affirm falsely to the contents of any memorial, petition, affidavit, deposition, or other paper containing any matter or fact material in the examination of any claim pending before, or to be presented before, said court, or shall, in giving testimony, or in swearing or affirming to any deposition, affidavit, or other paper, before any officer authorized to administer oaths or to take such testimony, so swear or affirm falsely to any matter or thing material in the examination of any claim pending or to be presented before said court, every such person so swearing or affirming falsely as aforesaid shall be deemed guilty of per jury, the same as if such false oath or affirmation had been taken in a judicial proceeding in any of the courts of the United States, and shall be liable to indictment and trial in the district or circuit court of the United States for the district in which such perjury shall have been

« AnteriorContinuar »