After the

1900. Statutes at Large, publication and distribution.-* close of each Congress, the Secretary of State shall have edited, printed, and bound a sufficient number of the volumes containing the statutes at large enacted by that Congress to enable him to distribute copies, or as many thereof as may be needed, as follows: * *. To the War Department, seventy-five copies:

Sec. 73, act of Jan. 12, 1895 (28 Stat. 615) ; U. S. C. 44: 196. 1901. Same; pamphlet edition. The Secretary of State shall cause to be edited, printed, published, and distributed pamphlet copies of the statutes of the present and each future session of Congress to the officers and persons hereinafter provided for; said distribution shall be made at the close of every session of Congress, as follows: * to the War Department, two hundred copies; Sec. 73, act of Jan. 12, 1895 (28 Stat. 614); U. S. C. 44: 195.

For publication of slip laws, see sec. 56, act of Jan. 12, 1895 (28 Stat. 609); U. S. C. 44: 191.

Notes of Decisions

session is not an officer, but a contractor. Drury v. U. S. (1908), 43 Ct. Cl. 237.

Status of publisher.-A person employed by Congress to prepare and edit the publication of the statutes at the end of each

1902. Same; preservation of copies.-The various officers of the United States, to whom, in virtue of their offices and for the uses thereof, copies of the United States Statutes at Large, published by Little, Brown and Company, have been or may be distributed at the public expense, by authority of law, shall preserve such copies, and deliver them to their successors respectively as a part of the property appertaining to the office. A printed copy of this section shall be

inserted in each volume of the statutes distributed to any such officers. R. 8. 1777; U. S. C. 5: 89.

1903. Same; legal effect.

The pamphlet copies of the statutes and the bound copies of the acts of each Congress shall be legal evidence of the laws and treaties therein contained in all the courts of the United States and of the several States therein. The said pamphlet and the Statutes at Large shall contain all laws, joint and concurrent resolutions passed by Congress, and also all conventions, treaties, proclamations, and agreements. Sec. 73, act of Jan. 12, 1895 (28 Stat. 615); U. S. C. 1; 30.

Notes of Decisions

Act of Congress as evidence.-The acts of Congress, as they stand approved by the President and enrolled in the Department

of State, are conclusive evidence of the written law. (1857) 9 Op. Atty. Gen. 1.

1904. Same; Little & Brown edition, legal effect.-The edition of the laws and treaties of the United States, published by Little & Brown, shall be competent evidence of the several public and private acts of Congress, and of the several treaties therein contained, in all the courts of law and equity and of maritime jurisdiction, and in all the tribunals and public offices of the United States, and of the several States, without any further proof or authentication thereof. R. S. 908.

The edition of the laws, etc., mentioned in this section, included vols. 1-17 of the Statutes at Large, which were published under contracts with the publishers named. Said contracts were terminated by sec. 1, act of June 20, 1874 (18 Stat. 113.) As to judicial notice taken of acts of Congress, see ante, 1903, post, 1911.

1905. Revised Statutes, first edition; scope.-The foregoing seventy-three titles embrace the statutes of the United States general and permanent in their nature, in force on the 1st day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, as revised and consolidated by commissioners appointed under an act of Congress, and the same shall be designated and cited, as the Revised Statutes of the United States. R. S. 5595.

Notes of Decisions

Nature, construction, and effect of Revised Statutes-In general.-The revision must be treated as the legislative declaration of the statute law on the subjects embraced therein on Dec. 1, 1873. When the meaning is plain, the courts can not look to the statutes revised to see if Congress erred in the revision, but they may do so, if necessary to construe doubtful language. U. S. v. Bowen (1879), 100 C. S. 508, 513. The enactment of the Revised Statutes was not original legislation, but merely a more convenient expression of the law existing on Dec. 1, 1873. U. S. v. Moore (C. C. 1878), Fed. Cas. No. 15804.

In the construction of the Revised Statutes no change of meaning will be imputed to a change of phraseology in the reenacted statute unless the language used indicates an intended departure therefrom. U. S. v. Tilden (D. C. 1878), Fed. Cas. No. 16520.

The incorporation of a particular statutory provision into the Revised Statutes. adopted in 1874, was a legislative declara

tion that the law on that subject was 21 therein provided; and, in the absence of any obscurity in the meaning, the court can not look to the preexisting statutes to see whether or not they were correctly incorporated. U. S. v. North American Com mercial Co. (C. C. 1896), 74 Fed. 145; reversed (1898) 171 U. S. 110.

The Revised Statutes are an act of Congress. The enactment was approved and became the law June 22, 1874. Wright U. S. (1879), 15 Ct. Cl. 80. The object of the Revised Statutes was to simplify and bring together all statutes and parts of statutes which, from similarity of subject. ought to be brought together, to expunge redundant and obsolete enactments, and to make such alterations as might be neces sary to reconcile contradictions and amend imperfections in the original text of the preexisting statutes, and all those statutes were abrogated by this section. Dwight & Merritt (1891), 140 U, S. 213; Bowen * U. S. (1878). 14 Ct. CL 162. It would defeat their object if courts were to disre

gard their language and administer previous enactments as if the Revised Statutes did not exist. Bowen v. U. S. (1878), 14 Ct, Cl. 162.

The Revised Statutes did not make a new state of the law, such as would authorize the head of an executive department to reexamine legal questions determined by his predecessors. State of Illinois v. U. S. (1885), 20 Ct, Cl. 342.

expression of the will of Congress, binds as much as ever. (1875) 15 Op. Atty. Gen.

493.

Marginal notes.-Marginal notes in the Revised Statutes may be referred to on questions of construction, as indicating the intention of Congress not to alter by revision the substantial provisions of previous acts. Mackey v. Miller (1903), 126 Fed. 161.

The marginal notes annexed to the sections of the Revised Statutes formed a part of the Revised Statutes when adopted by Congress, and are to be taken and read as a part thereof. U. S. v. Green (D. C. 1905), 136 Fed. 618. 624, affirmed (1905), 199 U. S. 601.

Semble that the originai dates of the provisions of the Revised Statutes must be considered in determining their effect upon each other, and that a previous decision of a court or a department based upon the circumstance that one such provision is an earlier, and the other a later, 1906. Same; effect on laws enacted prior to December 1, 1873.-All acts of Congress passed prior to said first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, any portion of which is embraced in any section of said revision, are hereby repealed, and the section applicable thereto shall be in force in lieu thereof; all parts of such acts not contained in such revision, having been repealed or superseded by subsequent acts, or not being general and permanent in their nature: Provided, That the incorporation into said revision of any general and permanent provision, taken from an act making appropriations, or from an act containing other provisions of a private, local, or temporary character, shall not repeal, or in any way affect any appropriation, or any provision of a private, local, or temporary character, contained in any of said acts, but the same shall remain in force; and all acts of Congress passed prior to said last-named day no part of which are embraced in said revision, shall not be affected or changed by its enactment. R. 8. 5596.

Notes of Decisions

Effect of section.-By the express language of this section, an act is no longer in force where the revision embraces such

act and all others on the subject. U. S. v. Bowen (1879), 100 U. S. 508, 513.

1907. Same; effect on laws enacted after December 1, 1873.-The enactment of the said revision is not to affect or repeal any act of Congress passed since the 1st day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, and all acts passed since that date are to have full effect as if passed after the enactment of this revision, and so far as such acts vary from, or conflict with any provision contained in said revision, they are to have effect as subsequent statutes, and as repealing any portion of the revision inconsistent therewith. R. S. 5601.

Notes of Decisions

Statutes in force Dec. 1, 1873.-The Revised Statutes must be regarded as passed on Dec. 1, 1873, and all other acts of the same session of Congress passed that date are to be treated as subsequent acts repealing the Revised Statutes, so far as they are inconsistent therewith. In re Oregon Bulletin Printing & Publishing Co. (C. C. 1876), Fed. Cas. No. 10561.

The Revised Statutes as enacted June 22, 1874, did not alter statutory provisions in force Dec. 1. 1873. The L. W. Eaton (D. C. 1878), Fed. Cas. No. 8612.

Acts passed since Dec. 1, 1873.-Sec. 12. act of June 22, 1874, was a subsequent statute to the Revised Statutes, and repealed any portion thereof inconsistent therewith. U. S. v. Auffmordt (1887), 122 U. S. 197.

The Revised Statutes, though adopted after the passage of act of June 9, 1874, did not repeal the provisions of that act. U. S. v. Mason (C. C. 1888), 34 Fed. 129, 130.

The Revised Statutes did not affect statutes passed between Dec. 1, 1873, and June

22, 1874. Ludington v. U. S. (1879), 15 Ct. Cl. 453.

An act approved on the same day with the Revised Statutes, June 22, 1874, is to be construed, pursuant to the true intent of this section, as if passed subsequently. Thomas v. U. S. (1880), 16 Ct. Cl. 522.

Construction of act of Feb. 18, 1875.Act of Feb. 18, 1875 (18 Stat. 316), entitled "An act to correct errors and to supply omissions in the Revised Statutes of the United States," amends the Revised Statutes by adding to them certain provisions of existing statutes; but these amendments

were not in the nature of new enactments, and are to be construed as though the Revised Statutes were originally adopted with these alterations incorporated therein. Ludington v. U. S. (1879), 15 Ct. Cl. 453.

Construction of act of Feb. 27, 1877.Act of Feb. 27, 1877, entitled "An act to perfect the revision of the statutes of the United States," etc., must be deemed to take effect only from its date, there being nothing in its language which expressly, or by necessary implication, gives to it a retrospective operation. (1877) 15 Op. Atty. Gen. 222.

1908. Same; title designations not to influence legislative construction.-The arrangement and classification of the several sections of the revision have been made for the purpose of a more convenient and orderly arrangement of the same, and therefore no inference or presumption of a legislative construction is to be drawn by reason of the title, under which any particular section is placed. R. S. 5600.

Notes of Decisions

Effect in general.-This section makes it proper to look to the original act to ascertain the legislative intent in cases of doubt. Doyle v. Wisconsin (1876), 94 U. S. 50.

Rearrangement in general.-The mere collocation or rearrangement of previous statutes in new revisions adopted on the same date will not operate to change the law and thereby defeat the will of Congress. Page v. Burnstine (1880), 102 U. S. 664, 669.

Classification under chapters in title.The rule forbidding inferences from the classification of a subject under a title in the Revised Statutes does not apply to its classification under a chapter in a title. Reid v. U. S. (1883), 18 Ct. Cl. 625.

Separation of parts of section.--Intention to alter scope of existing law can not be imputed to Congress because in the Revised Statutes it placed in two separate sections portions of what was a single section of the original act. Anderson v. Pacific Coast S. S. Co. (1912), 225 U. S. 187. The separation in the Revised Statutes of the United States of the several parts of a section of an existing statute accord

ing to an arrangement adopted for purposes of convenience only did not work any change in their purpose or meaning, in the absence of some substantial change in phraseology. Buck Stove & Range Co. e. Vickers (1912), 226 U. S. 205.

Separation of parts of act.-The separa tion of the provisions of an act into different sections of the Revised Statutes in no way affects their construction. Taylor U. S. (C. C. 1891), 45 Fed. 531, 539, re versed (1893), 147 U. S. 695.

Changes in phraseology.-This section has a very narrow effect, and clearly does not extend to cases of change of phraseology. as it is expressly limited to matters of arrangement and classification. King . McLean Asylum of the Massachusetts General Hospital (1894), 64 Fed. 331, 344.

In the construction of the Revised Statutes, an intention to change the existing laws, which the revision purports to re enact or codify, is not to be presumed from trifling changes of phraseology. In re Long Island N. S. P. & F. Transp. Co. (D. C. 1881), 5 Fed. 599, 626.

1909. Same; publication.-That the Secretary of State is hereby charged with the duty of causing to be prepared for printing, publication, and distribution the Revised Statutes of the United States enacted at this present session of Congress; that he shall cause to be completed the headnotes of the several titles and chapters and the marginal notes referring to the statutes from which each section was compiled and repealed by said revision; and references to the de cisions of the courts of the United States explaining or expounding the same. and such decisions of State courts as he may deem expedient, with a full and complete index to the same. And when the same shall be completed, the said Secretary shall duly certify the same under the seal of the United States, Sec. 2, act of June 20, 1874 (18 Stat. 113).