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Dramatic com

unauthor

Penalty for violation.

granted under the laws of the United States to the author or proprietor Copyright of of any dramatic composition, designed or suited for public representation, positions shall shall be deemed and taken to confer upon the said author or proprietor, extend to prehis heirs or assigns, along with the sole right to print and publish the said vent ized performcomposition, the sole right also to act, perform, or represent the same, or ances thereof. cause it to be acted, performed, or represented, on any stage or public place during the whole period for which the copyright is obtained; and any manager, actor, or other person acting, performing, or representing the said composition, without or against the consent of the said author or proprietor, his heirs or assigns, shall be liable for damages to be sued for and recovered by action on the case or other equivalent remedy, with costs of suit in any court of the United States, such damages in all cases to be rated and assessed at such sum not less than one hundred dollars for the first, and fifty dollars for every subsequent performance, as to the court having cognizance thereof shall appear to be just: Provided, nevertheless, That nothing herein enacted shall impair any right to act, perform, or represent a dramatic composition as aforesaid, which right may have been acquired, or rights acquired shall in future be acquired by any manager, actor, or other person previous before copyright is taken out. to the securing of the copyright for the said composition, or to restrict in any way the right of such author to process in equity in any court of the United States for the better and further enforcement of his rights. APPROVED, August 18, 1856.

Proviso as to

CHAP. CLXX-An Act to amend an Act entitled "An Act requiring Foreign Regulations Aug. 18, 1856. of Commerce to be laid annually before Congress," approved August sixteenth, eighteen

hundred and forty-two, and for other Purposes.

Commercial

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in addition to the information comchanges and modifications in the commercial systems of other nations, municated by now required by said act, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State consuls, &c., to be reported to to lay before Congress annually, within sixty days after the commence- Congress. ment of each ordinary session, as a part of said report, all other commercial information communicated to the State Department by consular and diplomatic agents of this government abroad, or contained in the official publications of other governments, which he shall deem sufficiently important.

bound

to pro

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That to enable the Secretary of State to make said report, it is hereby declared to be the duty of consuls Consuls, &c., and commercial agents of the United States in foreign countries, to pro- cure such inforcure and transmit to the Department of State authentic commercial in- mation. formation respecting said countries, of such character, and in such manner and form, and at such times, as said department may, from time to time prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State in said annual report, to specify the names of any of said officers who may have been remiss in their duty enjoined by this act.

1856, ch. 127, § 22.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of State be Superintendent and is hereby authorized and required to appoint one clerk, who shall of Statistics. have charge of statistics in said department, and shall be called "Superintendent of Statistics," and shall receive a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, and shall be allowed as an assistant, one clerk of the third class, which clerk the Secretary of State is hereby authorized and required to appoint.

APPROVED, August 18, 1856.

Assistant.

CHAP. CLXXI.—An Act making an Appropriation for the Survey of the Southern Boun- Aug. 18, 1856. dary Line of Kansas Territory.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That to enable the President for

Appropriation

survey of

southern boun- of the United States to execute the act entitled "An act to authorize the dary of Kansas. President of the United States to cause the southern boundary line of 1856, ch. 59. Kansas Territory to be surveyed and marked," the sum of thirty-five thousand four hundred dollars is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury.

APPROVED, August 18, 1856.

Aug. 18, 1856. CHAP. CLXXII.-An Act to continue the Land Offices at Vincennes, Indiana, and to ascertain and adjust the Titles to certain Lands in the States of Indiana and Illinois, formerly included within the Vincennes Land District.

Commissioners

and Illinois.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United on certain land States of America in Congress assembled, That the register and receiver claims in Indiana of the land-offices at Vincennes, to be appointed, together with a fit and proper person learned in the law, and a citizen of Indiana, to be appointed by the President of the United States, are hereby constituted commissioners to ascertain and adjust the title of any claimant to any tract of land, or any part or subdivision thereof, granted by the resolution of Congress of the twenty-ninth of August, seventeen hundred and ninety-one, entitled "An act for granting lands to the inhabitants and settlers at Vincennes, and the Illinois country, in the territory northwest of the Ohio, and for confirming them in their possessions," and the several acts in aid of and supplementary thereto.

1791, ch. 27.

Claims to be filed in three months.

Proviso.

Notice to file claim.

Their powers.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That every such claimant to any tract of land so granted, or any part or subdivision thereof, shall, within three months after the publication of the notice herein provided for, file his claim in writing with the said register, in which he shall specifically set forth such facts as shall be required in the instructions of the Commissioner of the General Land-Office: Provided, That in any case in which good cause may be shown why the claim was not filed within the period stipulated, such claim may be presented and acted upon at any time before the expiration of the commission.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That such register, upon the receipt of such instructions, shall give notice in the several newspapers of general circulation within said district and in the vicinity of said lands, by publication, of his readiness to receive applications of claimants, to which notice shall be appended the instructions of the Commissioner and a copy of this act.

Meeting of SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That said commissioners shall meet commissioners. immediately after the time allowed for filing such claims, and shall hold their sessions at the town of Vincennes. They shall have power to issue subpoenas, and compel the attendance of witnesses, administer all necessary oaths, and to hear and decide, in a summary manner, all matters respecting such claims. Minutes of the proceedings, decisions, meetings, and adjournments of the board, shall be regularly entered in a book kept for that purpose.

ed.

What claims

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That every claimant to any tract of shall be confirm- land so granted, or any subdivision thereof, who can produce to such commissioner a regular chain of title from the original confirmee or donee to himself, or who can show to their satisfaction a continuous and connected possession in himself, and those under whom he claims, for a period of twenty years or more next preceding the filing of his claim, or can show such a claim or title as would, in the courts of Indiana, bar an action of ejectment, such claimant shall be confirmed in his title.

Transcript of decisions.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That said commissioners shall, in one year from the date of organizing said commission under this act, or sooner, if the cases on their docket are all disposed of, transmit to the Commissioner of the General Land-Office a transcript of their decisions in favor of claimants, which shall contain a fair statement of the evidence

on which each respective claim is founded; and also a transcript of their decisions against claimants, with a like statement of the evidence, and the reason of such rejection.

Patent to issue when the claim

is confirmed.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of the General Land-Office, upon the receipt of such transcript of their decisions, shall issue a patent to such claimant so confirmed in his title by the said commissioners; and where any such claims have been rejected, Revisal of rethe said Commissioner, upon application of the proper person, shall have jections. power to revise such decision of the said board, and may, if in his opinion the evidence warrants it, reverse such decision, and issue a patent therefor to such claimant: Provided, That this right to revise shall not extend to those claims rejected, where the same lands have been confirmed by the said board to some other claimant: And provided further, That the Patents to be patents so issued shall only be a relinquishment of the title of the United only a relinquishStates, and shall not be considered or construed into an abridgment of the ment of title. rights of third persons.

Provisoes.

mitted to commissioners.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That immediately after the passage Certain books, of this act, the Commissioner of the General Land-Office shall give &c. to be transdirections to the register and receiver of the land-offices at Indianapolis forthwith to transfer to the land-offices at Vincennes the books, documents, maps, plats, surveys, and all other papers and writings deposited in the land-offices at Indianapolis by the register and receiver of the land-offices at Vincennes, and which originally were deposited in the laud-offices at Vincennes, and were transferred from said offices to the land-offices at Indianapolis, under the provisions of the act "for abolishing land-offices under certain circumstances, and for other purposes," approved June the twelfth, eighteen hundred and forty; and the said land offices at Vincennes are hereby reëstablished and reorganized, as fully and effectually Vincennes re-esfor the transaction of business and the sales of the public lands within tablished. said Vincennes land district, as if said land-offices had not been abolished by the provisions of the act last aforesaid.

1840, ch. 36. Land-offices at

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner, appointed Pay of comunder this act by the President, shall receive as a full compensation for missioner. his services, a salary at the rate of three thousand dollars per annum, payable quarterly out of the treasury; and the register and receiver shall Pay of register receive such compensation for their services under this act as may be just and proper, in the discretion of the Commissioner of the General Land-Office.

and receiver.

Rules and reg

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of the General Land-Office, to prescribe such rules and ulations to be regulations as may be necessary to give full effect to the provisions of this

act.

APPROVED, August 18, 1856.

established.

RESOLUTIONS.

Feb. 27, 1856. [No. 1.] A Resolution for the Appointment of Regents to fill the Vacancies in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

Geo. E. Badger and C. C. Felton appointed regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the vacancies in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, of the class "other than members of Congress," occasioned by the resignation of Rufus Choate, and the death of John McPherson Berrien, be filled by the appointment of George E. Badger, of North Carolina, and Cornelius C. Felton, of Massachusetts.

APPROVED, February 27, 1856.

Feb. 27, 1856. [No. 2.] A Resolution to supply a Deficiency in the Appropriations for Printing for the second Session of the thirty-third Congress.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Appropriation for printing and States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the paper for 54th Treasury be and he is hereby authorized and required to apply so much Congress may be applied to that of as may be necessary of the appropriations for the printing and paper of the thirty-fourth Congress to the deficiencies for the same purposes, ordered at the second session of the thirty-third Congress. APPROVED, February 27, 1856.

the 33d.

March 13, 1856. [No. 3.] A Resolution providing for the final Adjustment of certain Cases of Appeal from Decisions made by the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-Office Department.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Mode of decid-States of America in Congress assembled, That in every case of account ing appeals from decision of First or claim not finally adjusted, upon which the present First Comptroller Comptroller of the Treasury, as Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-Office Departwhen he was ment may have decided, which may have been thereafter reëxamined by

auditor.

an auditor in said office on new testimony and decided by him on such testimony, and from whose decision an appeal has been taken to the present First Comptroller of the Treasury, it shall be the duty of the Second Comptroller of the Treasury and the Commissioner of Customs finally to adjust the same, and in case of disagreement between the said Second Comptroller and Commissioner of Customs, the decision of the AttorneyGeneral shall be as final as the decision of the First Comptroller would be, if he had acted under the eighth section of the Act of July second, 1836, ch. 270. eighteen hundred and thirty-six, concerning the organization of the Post-Office Department.

APPROVED, March 13, 1856.

April 5, 1856. [No. 4.] Joint Resolution for enlarging the Custom-House, Post-Office, and Court-House at Buffalo, New York.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Extension of States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the public buildings Treasury be and he is hereby authorized to extend the building now in

at Buffalo.

Provisoes.

process of construction at Buffalo, for a custom-house, post-office, courtrooms, &c. not exceeding twenty-five feet in length, and erect proper vaults therein, if in his discretion the public interest requires the same: Provided, That such extension can be completed at an expense not exceeding thirty-three thousand dollars, including ten per cent. for contin

gencies, which sum, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any money remaining in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated: And provided further, That no money shall be paid under this joint resolution until the Secretary of the Treasury shall contract for the completion of said building so extended, at a cost within the sum heretofore and hereby appropriated.

APPROVED, April 5, 1856.

[No. 5.] Joint Resolution relating to the Public Lands appertaining to the Springfield and April 23, 1856. Harper's Ferry Armories, and the North Carolina Arsenal.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War be and he is hereby authorized, to exchange and convey the unoccupied lands and appurtenances belonging to the United States, known as the Lower Water shops, at the Springfield Armory, in the State of Massachusetts, for such other lands contiguous to the lands attached to said Armory upon the hill at Springfield, as he may deem necessary and proper for the improvement and convenience of said Armory, or in his discretion to sell the said tract known as the lower workshops and appurtenances, and to invest the proceeds of the same, or such part thereof as may be required, in the purchase of such lots or lands contiguous to the said Armory on the hill, as he may deem suitable and proper. For this purpose, he is hereby authorized to convey the title of the United States to the lands and appurtenances hereby authorized to be sold and conveyed, and to receive from individuals or corporate proprietors, deeds and titles to the lands so exchanged, sold or purchased.

Exchange of lands at Springfield, Mass.

SEC. 2. And be it further resolved, That the Secretary of War be and Proceeds of sale he is hereby authorized to apply so much of the proceeds of the recent of land at Harsale of land and lots at Harper's Ferry, as he may deem advisable, to the per's Ferry may be applied to purchase of such other lots at that place, as he may deem necessary to the purchase other safety and convenience of the public buildings belonging to the United land. States, and that he apply the residue of the proceeds of said sales to the improvement of the property retained by the United States.

Sale of land at

Application of proceeds.

SEC. 3. And be it further resolved, That the Secretary of War be also authorized to make sale of such portion of the site of the United States Fayetteville. arsenal at Fayetteville, North Carolina, as in his judgment is not required for public purposes, and apply the proceeds of such sale, or so much as may be necessary, to the purchase of such additional land for the use of said arsenal, as he may deem necessary. He is for this purpose, authorized to convey the title of the United States for the lands which he may sell, to the purchaser, and to receive proper deeds and titles for the lands which may be purchased by him, as aforesaid. APPROVED, April 23, 1856.

[No. 7.] Joint Resolution for enlarging the Custom-House, Post-Office and Court-House, at

Cleveland, Ohio.

May 9, 1856.

at Cleveland.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treas- Extension of ury be and he is hereby authorized to cause the building provided by law public buildings to be constructed at Cleveland, in the State of Ohio, for a custom-house, post-office, and court-house, to be increased in length over the plan heretofore adopted for that purpose, not to exceed twenty-five feet, and to modify and enlarge said plan so as to adapt the same to such increased length, if, in the opinion of the Secretary, the public convenience shall require such modification: Provided, That such extension and modification can be accomplished at an expense not exceeding thirty thousand dollars, and a sum not exceeding ten per cent. on the said last-mentioned sum for superintendence and contingencies; which sums, or so much thereof as

Provisoes.

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