T. D. 12264.

R. S., 938.

18 Stats., vol. 3, 190, § 22.

R. S., 4608.

R. S., 3083.

T. D. 11774.

R. S.,3074, 3075.

T. D. 9799.

rect a summary sale thereof pending the suit, but no delivery shall be made before payment of duties.

ART. 1499. In any case, whether the merchandise be ultimately decreed forfeited or not, the legal duties must be paid and retained in the Treasury. Where dutiable merchandise under seizure is neither delivered to the claimant nor sold, but remains in actual custody until the event of the suit, the legal duties must also be collected and retained in the Treasury. In case of delivery on bond, the court will require the collector's certificate of the payment of duties before making the order of release, and in no case will collectors release property under seizure except on a deposit of the duties due thereon, and in case of sale the duties will be ordered paid from the proceeds. When the merchandise is subject to additional duties for any cause such additional duties must be also paid.

ART. 1500. Prosecutions and suits for penalties or forfeitures, pecuniary or otherwise, must be commenced within three years from the time when the penalty or forfeiture accrued, provided that the period of any absence from the United States of the person and any concealment of the property may be deducted from this limitation.

ART. 1501. Before commencing proceedings for the recovery of penalties incurred by the wearing of sheathknives by seamen in the merchant service, district attorneys will consult the Secretary of the Treasury.

ART. 1502. Collectors will give immediate information to the Solicitor of the Treasury of all seizures made for the enforcement of any forfeiture.

ART. 1503. In order to ascertain the value of property under seizure, the collector will cause an appraisement to be made by two United States appraisers, if there be such at the port; otherwise, by two competent and disinterested citizens of the United States, to be selected by the collector or other principal officer of the customs for the purpose, residing at or near the place of seizure, who shall each receive from the collector for such services one dollar and a half, and no more, for every day necessarily employed in such service. The value to be found for this purpose is the home market value, which is determined by adding the duty to the foreign dutiable value. If the dutiable value has not been already ascertained, it will be the duty of the appraisers, at the same time, to certify also the foreign market value in coin, as a basis for the assessment of duties.

ART. 1504. A careful and complete record must be kept, in a book provided for the purpose, of all seizures made in each district, with the particulars above mentioned; and a connected history of each case must be preserved by entries therein of all proceedings taken, with their dates, and memoranda of all important facts.

§ 2. SUMMARY SALE OF GOODS UNDER SEIZURE.

ART. 1505. In all cases of seizure of property not exceeding $500 in value, duty paid, subject to forfeiture under the customs or navigation laws, the collector shall cause a particular description of the same to be prepared in duplicate, and due appraisement to be made thereof. ART. 1506. Both the duplicate lists and the appraisement must be properly attested by such collector and by the persons making the appraisement, and one of the duplicates filed at the custom-house.

R. S., 3074.

ART. 1507. If the amount of such appraisal shall not R.S.,3075. exceed the sum of $500, such collector shall publish a notice once a week, for three successive weeks, in some newspaper of the county or place where such seizure shall have been made, if any be published in such county; but if not, then such notice shall be published in some newspaper of the county in which the principal customs office of the district shall be situated; and if no newspaper be published in that county, then notices shall be posted in proper and conspicuous public places, describing the articles seized, stating the time, cause, and place of seizure, and requiring any person claiming such articles, or any or either of them, to appear and file with such collector his claim to the same within twenty days from the date of the first publication or posting of such notice.

ART. 1508. Any person claiming the property so seized R.S., 3076. or any part thereof may, within the time specified, file with the collector a claim stating his or her interest in the article seized and deposit with such collector or other officer acting as such a bond in the penal sum of $250, with two sureties, to be approved by such collector, conditioned that in case of condemnation of the articles so claimed the obligors shall pay all the costs of the proceedings to obtain such condemnation.

The collector shall thereupon transmit the claim, with the duplicate list and description of the articles seized and claimed, to the United States district attorney for the district, who shall proceed for a condemnation of the property in the mode prescribed by law.

R. S.. 3077; T. D. 11750.

T. D. 9965.

T. D. 13523.

R. S., 3078.

R. S., 3080.

ART. 1509. If no such claim shall be filed nor bond given within the time specified, such collector shall give not less than fifteen days' notice of sale of the property so seized, by publication in the manner before mentioned; and at the time and place specified in such notice he shall sell at public auction the property so seized; but may adjourn such sale from time to time for a period not exceeding thirty days in all. A delivery on sale of merchandise under seizure is made under the virtual condition of duty paid." Seizures are not proper subjects of reappraisement, except as specified in article 1525.

66

ART. 1510. There is no prohibition against selling cigars, snuff, tobacco, or cigarettes when they bring more than enough to pay the internal-revenue tax, notwithstanding they may not bring enough to pay the import duties.

ART. 1511. Any person claiming to be interested in the property thus sold may, within three months after such sale, apply to the Secretary of the Treasury for a remission of the forfeiture and a restoration of the proceeds, which may be granted upon satisfactory proof that the applicant, at the time of such seizure and sale, was in such circumstances as prevented him from having any knowledge thereof and that the forfeiture was incurred without willful negligence or any intention of fraud on his part.

ART 1512. If, on making the appraisement of property under seizure, not exceeding $500 in value, the appraisers shall be of opinion that it is liable to speedy deterioration, or that the expense of its keeping will largely reduce the net proceeds of the sale, and shall, on the request of the collector, certify such belief on oath, and no claimant having appeared, the notice, by advertisement, of such seizure and intended sale may be limited, in the discretion of the collector, to any period not less than one week. The proceeds of sale in such case shall be deposited to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, subject to the payment of such claims as shall be presented within three months from the day of sale and allowed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

ART. 1513. The bond required of the party filing due claim to seized merchandise shall be in the prescribed form (Cat. No. 682a).

ART. 1514. Upon this bond will be indorsed a list or schedule, which must, in every case, be signed by the

claimant in the presence of the witnesses of the bond, and attested by them, substantially as follows:

FORM No. 206.

List or schedule containing a particular description of goods, wares, or merchandise seized, on a claim to which the within bond is given, to wit:

ART. 1515. Collectors will deposit the net proceeds of R. S.,3077,3080. all sales of merchandise sold as aforesaid, when no claim is interposed nor bond given, after deducting the expenses of appraisement and sale, to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, and forward a certificate of deposit to the Secretary of the Treasury, and a statement in each case of the gross proceeds of sale and expense of proceedings, stating particularly the seizure on account of which the proceeds were received, and distinguishing cases where the property has been sold as perishable, must be forwarded to the Auditor for the Treasury Department.

§ 3. MITIGATION OR REMISSION OF FINES, PENALTIES, AND

FORFEITURES-REMOVAL OF DISABILITIES,

R. S., 5292; acts June 22, 1874, § 17; Jan. 22, 1875

'Mar. 3, 1875;

ART. 1516. Any person who shall have incurred or who shall be charged with having incurred any fine, penalty, forfeiture, or disability, or who shall be interested in any Feb. 27, 1877. vessel or merchandise subject to seizure and forfeiture under any revenue law of the United States, or law concerning the registering and recording of vessels and for regulating the same, or concerning vessels employed in the coasting trade and fisheries, where the appraised value is not less than $1,000, may prefer his petition to the judge of the district in which such fine, penalty, forfeiture, or disability is alleged to have accrued, setting forth the circumstances of the case and praying that the same may be mitigated or remitted.

R. S., 5292; act

June 22, 1874; SS

ART. 1517. It is made the duty of such judge, upon the presentation of such petition, when the case, in his judg- 17, 18. ment requires it, after causing reasonable notice to be given to any person or persons claiming mitigation or remission of such fine, penalty, or forfeiture, and to the United States attorney for the district, of the time and place of

2 Gallatin, 515.

R. S., 5292; 18 Stat., vol. 3, 186.

Act June 26, 1884, sec. 26.

1897, sec. 32.

hearing, to inquire in a summary manner into the circumstances of the case, and cause to be stated and annexed to the petition the facts which shall appear upon such inquiry, and direct their transmission to the Secretary of the Treasury, together with a certified copy of the evidence, who may thereupon mitigate or remit such fine, penalty, or forfeiture, or remove such disability in whole or in part, if in his opinion the same shall have been incurred without willful negligence or any intention of fraud, and may direct the prosecution, if any shall have been instituted, to be discontinued, upon such conditions as he may deem reasonable and just.

ART. 1518. The report of the judge must exhibit the facts proven before him by competent as well as credible testimony on the summary examination. Upon such judicial report only the Secretary of the Treasury can exercise the power of mitigation or remission.

It should also set forth distinctly, by title and section, the law under which the fine, forfeiture, or disability accrues, in order that the Secretary's jurisdiction may be ascertained and his action be such as to effectually dispose of the case.

ART. 1519. The notice to the collector and district attorney, and their attendance at the summary examination, or their absence, must be distinctly noted on the proceedings transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury. It is the duty of the collector, whom the law requires to be served with due notice of the petition, to give such evidence as he may be able to the court at the summary examination.

ART. 1520. The petition of the party seeking relief should set forth particularly and truly the circumstances under which the fine, penalty, forfeiture, or disability was incurred, or alleged to have been incurred, and a distinct averment, also, that he has not been guilty of willful negligence or any intention of fraud.

ART. 1521. The Secretary of the Treasury has authority to remit or mitigate fines, penalties, or forfeitures, exAct July 24, cept forfeitures under section 32, act of July 24, 1897, and to remove disabilities, before or after judgment or decree, and until the money is actually covered into the Treasury.

T. D. 21270.

R. S., 5293 and 5294.

1874, secs. 17 and

ART. 1522. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized Act June 22, to ascertain the facts upon all applications for remission 18. act March 2 of fines, penalties, and forfeitures under the revenue laws and laws relating to vessels, except where the applicant

1896.