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Vessels at sea

or on the lakes

Iron rods or

steam vessel employed on either of the lakes mentioned in the last section, or on the sea, to provide, as a part of the necessary furniture, a suc- aforesaid to cartion-hose and fire-engine and hose suitable to be worked on said boat in ry suction-hose, case of fire, and carry the same upon each and every voyage, in good fire-engine, &c. order; and that iron rods or chains shall be employed and used in the chains to be navigating of all steamboats, instead of wheel or tiller ropes; and for a used instead of failure to do which, they, and each of them, shall forfeit and pay the sum of three hundred dollars.

SEC. 10. That it shall be the duty of the master and owner of every steamboat, running between sunset and sunrise, to carry one or more signal lights, that may be seen by other boats navigating the same waters, under the penalty of two hundred dollars.

wheel or tiller

ropes.
Penalty.
Signal lights.
1849, ch. 105, § 5.
1864, ch. 69.

How all penal

SEC. 11. That the penalties imposed by this act may be sued for and ties shall be rerecovered in the name of the United States, in the district or circuit court covered. of such district or circuit where the offence shall have been committed, or forfeiture incurred, or in which the owner or master of said vessel may reside, one half to the use of the informer, and the other to the use of the United States; or the said penalty may be prosecuted for by indictment in either of the said courts.

Punishment.

SEC. 12. That every captain, engineer, pilot, or other person employed, Life or lives on board of any steamboat or vessel propelled in whole or in part by tion, &c. manlost by inattensteam, by whose misconduct, negligence, or inattention to his or their re- slaughter. spective duties, the life or lives of any person or persons on board said ves- 1864, ch. 249, § 6. sel may be destroyed, shall be deemed guilty of manslaughter, and, upon conviction thereof before any circuit court in the United States, shall be sentenced to confinement at hard labor for a period not more than ten years. SEC. 13. That in all suits and actions against proprietors of steam- sufficient eviboats, for injuries arising to person or property from the bursting of the dence to charge boiler of any steamboat, or the collapse of a flue, or other injurious escape the defendant, of steam, the fact of such bursting, collapse, or injurious escape of steam, bursting of a in case of the shall be taken as full prima facie evidence, sufficient to charge the defend- boiler, &c. ant or those in his employment, with negligence, until he shall show that no negligence has been committed by him or those in his employment.

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CHAP. XXXV. - An Act to abolish Imprisonment for Debt in certain Cases.

Be it enacted, &c. That no person shall be imprisoned for debt in any State, on process issuing out of a court of the United States, where by the laws of such State, imprisonment for debt has been abolished; and where by the laws of a State, imprisonment for debt shall be allowed, under certain conditions and restrictions, the same conditions and restrictions shall be applicable to the process issuing out of the courts of the United States; and the same proceedings shall be had therein, as are adopted in the courts of such State.

What shall be

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CHAP. XXXVI. — An Act in Amendment of the Acts respecting the Judicial System of Stat. at Large, the United States. Vol. V. p. 321.

The court

Be it enacted, &c. That where, in any suit at law or in equity, commenced in any court of the United States, there shall be several defend- may entertain jurisdiction, ants, any one or more of whom shall not be inhabitants of or found within when only part the district where the suit is brought or shall not voluntarily appear of the defendthereto, it shall be lawful for the court to entertain jurisdiction, and pro- are found in the ceed to the trial and adjudication of such suit, between the parties who State or district. may be properly before it; but the judgment or decree rendered therein But judgment shall not conclude or prejudice other parties, not regularly served with

ants reside or

or decree not to

prejudice parties not served with process.

Pecuniary penalties and

forfeitures may be sued for in State courts.

Limitation of

cutions.

process, or not voluntarily appearing to answer; and the non-joinder of parties who are not so inhabitants, or found within the district, shall constitute no matter of abatement, or other objection to said suit.

SEC. 3. That all pecuniary penalties and forfeitures accruing under the laws of the United States may be sued for and recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction in the State or district where such penalties or forfeitures have accrued, or in which the offender or offenders may be found. SEC. 4. That no suit or prosecution shall be maintained, for any pensuits and prose- alty or forfeiture, pecuniary or otherwise, accruing under the laws of the United States, unless the same suit or prosecution shall be commenced within five years from the time when the penalty or forfeiture accrued ; Provided, The person of the offender or the property liable for such penalty or forfeiture shall, within the same period, be found within the United States; so that the proper process may be instituted and served against such person or property therefor.

Whipping and pillory abolished.

Penalties for

SEC. 5. That the punishment of whipping and the punishment of standing in the pillory, so far as they now are provided for by the laws of the United States, be, and the same are hereby, abolished.

SEC. 6. That, in all cases of recognizances in criminal causes taken forfeitures of re- for, or in, or returnable to, the courts of the United States, which shall be cognizance, &c. may be remitted. forfeited by a breach of the condition thereof, the said court for or in which the same shall be so taken, or to which the same shall be returnable, shall have authority in their discretion to remit the whole or a part of the penalty, whenever it shall appear to the court that there has been no wilful default of the parties, and that a trial can notwithstanding be had in the cause, and that public justice does not otherwise require the same penalty to be exacted or enforced.

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Stat. at Large, CHAP. LXXXII. An Act making Appropriations for the Civil and Diplomatic Vol. V. p. 339. Expenses of Government for the Year eighteen hundred and thirty-nine.

Money paid to collectors, &c. for unascertained duties,

&c.

§ 16.

SEC. 2. That from and after the passage of this act, all money paid to any collector of the customs, or to any person acting as such, for unascertained duties or for duties paid under protest against the rate or amount of duties charged, shall be placed to the credit of the treasurer of the 1864, ch. 171, United States, kept and disposed of as all other money paid for duties is required by law, or by regulation of the Treasury Department, to be placed to the credit of said treasurer, kept and disposed of; and shall not be held by the said collector, or person acting as such, to await any ascertainment of duties, or the result of any litigation in relation to the rate or amount of duty legally chargeable and collectable in any case where money is so paid; but whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury, that in any case of unascertained duties or duties paid under protest more money has been paid to the collector or person acting as such than the law requires should have been paid, it shall be his duty to draw his warrant upon the treasurer in favor of the person or persons entitled to the over-payment, directing the said treasurer to refund the same out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

See act of 26 Feb. 1845, ch. 22.

No person, whose salary,

&c. shall receive

SEC. 3. That no officer in any branch of the public service, or any other person whose salaries, or whose pay or emoluments is or are fixed any extra allow by law and regulations, shall receive any extra allowance or compensaance, unless au- tion in any form whatever for the disbursement of public money, or the thorized by law. performance of any other service, unless the said extra allowance or compensation be authorized by law; nor shall any executive officer, other than the heads of departments, apply more than thirty dollars, annually, out of the contingent fund under his control, to pay for newspapers, pamphlets, periodicals, or other books or prints not necessary for the business of his office.

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Stat. at Large,

CHAP. VI. — An Act to cancel the Bonds given to secure Duties upon Vessels and their
Cargoes, employed in the Whale Fishery, and to make Registers, lawful Papers for such Vol. V. p. 370.
Vessels.

Be it enacted, &c. That all vessels which have cleared, or hereafter may Registers sufficlear, with registers for the purpose of engaging in the whale fishery, cient papers for shall be deemed to have lawful and sufficient papers for such voyages, in the whale vessels engaged securing the privileges and rights of registered vessels, and the privileges fishery. and exemptions of vessels enrolled and licensed for the fisheries; and all vessels which have been enrolled and licensed for like voyages shall have the same privileges and measure of protection as if they had sailed with registers if such voyages are completed or until they are completed.

Provisions of

the 1st section

SEC. 2. That all the provisions of the first section of the act entitled "An act supplementary to the act concerning consuls and vice-consuls, of the act of 28th and for the further protection of American seamen," passed on the twen- Feb. 1803, ch. ty-eighth day of February, anno Domini eighteen hundred and three, shall 9, extended. hereafter apply and be in full force as to vessels engaged in the whale fishery in the same manner and to the same extent as the same is now in force and applies to vessels bound on a foreign voyage.

SEC. 3. That all forfeitures, fees, duties and charges of every description required of the crews of such vessels, or assessed upon the vessels or cargoes, being the produce of such fishery, because of a supposed insufficiency of a register to exempt them from such claims, are hereby remitted; and all bonds given for such cause are hereby cancelled, and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby required to refund all such moneys as have been, or which may be, paid into the treasury, to the rightful claimants, out of the revenues in his hands.

No. 228.- MAY 27, 1840.

Forfeitures re

mitted.

CHAP. XXVII. - -An Act authorizing Sippican and Mattapoisett, within the Township Stat. at Large, of Rochester, in the State of Massachusetts, to be known hereafter as Ports under those Vol. V. p. 381. Names.

Be it enacted, &c. That Sippican and Mattapoisett, harbors within the township of Rochester, in the State of Massachusetts, be hereafter respectively known as ports under those names within the collection district of New Bedford; and that the respective inhabitants thereof be authorized to describe as the law requires their vessels as belonging to the respective places instead of Rochester.

No. 229.JULY 20, 1840.

Sippican and Mattapoisett to be known as ports, &c.

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First. The duplicate list of the crew of any vessel bound on a foreign ing consuls, vol. 1, 254, 690; vol. voyage, made out pursuant to the act of February twenty-eighth, eighteen 2, 203. hundred and three, shall be a fair copy in one uniform handwriting, without erasure or interlineation.

Duplicate list of crew to be a fair copy, &c. Owners to ob

Second. It shall be the duty of the owners of every such vessel to obtain from the collector of the customs of the district from which the tain a true and certified copy of clearance is made, a true and certified copy of the shipping articles, con- the shipping artaining the names of the crew, which shall be written in a uniform hand, ticles, &c. without erasures or interlineations.

Third. These documents which shall be deemed to contain all the con- These to be ditions of contract with the crew as to their service, pay, voyage, and all produced to the other things, shall be produced by the master, and laid before any consul, when.

consul, &c.;

Interlineations,

&c.

Consuls, &c. to make an entry of mariners shipped in a foreign port.

Consuls, &c. to examine certain complaints of mariners.

Proviso.

Shipments of seamen contrary to acts of Congress, void.

Consuls, &c. to reclaim deserters, &c.

Consul, &c. on complaint that a vessel is

in an unsuitable condition to go to sea, shall appoint persons to make an examination, &c.

or other commercial agent of the United States, whenever he may deem their contents necessary to enable him to discharge the duties imposed upon him by law toward any mariner applying to him for his aid or as

sistance.

Fourth. All interlineations, erasures, or writing in a hand different from that in which such duplicates were originally made, shall be deemed fraudulent alterations, working no change in such papers, unless satisfactorily explained in a manner consistent with innocent purposes and the provisions of law which guard the rights of mariners.*

Eighth. Whenever any master shall ship a mariner in a foreign port, he shall forthwith take the list of his crew and the duplicate of the shipping articles to the consul, or person who discharges the duties of the office at that port, who shall make the proper entries thereon, setting forth the contract, and describing the person of the mariner; and thereupon the bond originally given for the return of the men shall embrace each person so shipped.

Ninth. When any mariner shall complain that the voyage is continued contrary to his agreement, or that he has fulfilled his contract, the consul, or other commercial agent peforming like duties, may examine into the same by an inspection of the articles of agreement; and if on the face of them he finds the complaint to be well founded, he shall discharge the mariner, if he desires it, and require of the master an advance, beyond the lawful claims of such mariner, of three months' wages, as provided in the act of February twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and three; and in case the lawful claims of such mariner are not paid upon his discharge, the arrears shall from that time bear an interest of twenty per centum: Provided, however, If the consul or other commercial agent shall be satisfied the contract has expired, or the voyage been protracted by circumstances beyond the control of the master, and without any design on his part to violate the articles of shipment, then he may, if he deems it just, discharge the mariner without exacting the three months' additional

pay.

Tenth. All shipments of seamen, made contrary to the provisions of this and other acts of Congress, shall be void; and any seamen so shipped may leave the service at any time, and demand the highest rate of wages paid to any seaman shipped for the voyage, or the sum agreed to be given him at his shipment.

Eleventh. It shall be the duty of consuls and commercial agents to reclaim deserters and discountenance insubordination by every means within their power; and where the local authorities can be usefully employed for that purpose, to lend their aid and use their exertions to that end in the most effectual manner.

Twelfth. If the first officer, or any officer, and a majority of the crew of any vessel shall make complaint in writing that she is in an unsuitable condition to go to sea, because she is leaky, or insufficiently supplied with sails, rigging, anchors, or any other equipment, or that the crew is insufficient to man her, or that her provisions, stores, and supplies are not, or have not been, during the voyage, sufficient and wholesome, thereupon, in any of these or like cases, the consul or commercial agent who may discharge 1850, ch. 27, § 6. any duties of a consul shall appoint two disinterested, competent practical men, acquainted with maritime affairs, to examine into the causes of complaint, who shall in their report state what defects and deficiencies, if any, they find to be well founded, as well as what, in their judgment, ought to be done to put the vessel in order for the continuance of her voyage.

Power and duty of the inspectors.

Thirteenth. The inspectors so appointed shall have full power to examine the vessel and whatever is aboard of her, so far as is pertinent to

*Paragraphs 5, 6, and 7, repealed Aug. 18, 1856, ch. 227, § 33.

Duty of the consul, &c.

Inspectors to

the vessel was

their inquiry, and also to hear and receive any other proofs which the ends of justice may require, and if, upon a view of the whole proceedings, the consul, or other commercial agent shall be satisfied therewith, he may approve the whole or any part of the report, and shall certify such approval, and if he dissents, shall also certify his reasons for so dissenting. Fourteenth. The inspectors in their report shall also state whether, in their opinion, the vessel was sent to sea unsuitably provided in any im- state whether portant or essential particular, by neglect or design, or through mistake sent to sea unor accident, and in case it was by neglect or design, and the consul or suitably proother commercial agent approves of such finding, he shall discharge such vided, &c. of the crew as require it, each of whom shall be entitled to three months' pay in addition to his wages to the time of discharge; but, if in the opinion of the inspectors the defects or deficiencies found to exist have been the result of mistake or accident, and could not, in the exercise of ordinary care, have been known and provided against before the sailing of the vessel, and the master shall, in a reasonable time, remove or remedy the causes of complaint, then the crew shall remain and discharge their duty; otherwise they shall, upon their request, be discharged, and receive each one month's wages in addition to the pay up to the time of discharge.

Fifteenth. The master shall pay all such reasonable charges in the premises as shall be officially certified to him under the hand of the consul or other commercial agent, but in case the inspectors report that the complaint is without any good and sufficient cause, the master may retain from the wages of the complainants, in proportion to the pay of each, the amount of such charges, with such reasonable damages for detention on that account as the consul or other commercial agent directing the inquiry may officially certify.

Duty of the

consul, &c.

Charges, how to be paid, &c.

Crews of ves

sels to have the

Sixteenth. The crew of any vessel shall have the fullest liberty to lay their complaints before the consul or commercial agent in any foreign fullest liberty to port, and shall in no respect be restrained or hindered therein by the mas- lay their comter or any officer, unless some sufficient and valid objection exist against plaints before the consul, &c. their landing; in which case, if any mariner desire to see the consul or commercial agent, it shall be the duty of the master to acquaint him with it forthwith; stating the reason why the mariner is not permitted to land, and that he is desired to come on board; whereupon it shall be the duty of such consul or commercial agent to repair on board and inquire into the causes of the complaint, and to proceed thereon as this act directs.

Apprehended

Seventeenth. In all cases where deserters are apprehended, the consul or commercial agent shall inquire into the facts; and, if satisfied that the deserters. desertion was caused by unusual or cruel treatment, the mariner shall be discharged, and receive, in addition to his wages to the time of the discharge, three months' pay; and the officer discharging him shall enter upon the crew-list and shipping articles the cause of discharge, and the particulars in which the cruelty or unusual treatment consisted, and subscribe his name thereto officially.

Eighteenth. If any consul or commercial agent shall neglect or omit to perform, seasonably, the duties hereby imposed upon him, or shall be guilty of any malversation or abuse of power, he shall be liable to any injured person for all damage occasioned thereby; and for all malversation and corrupt conduct in office, he shall be liable to indictment, and, on conviction by any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be fined not less than one nor more than ten thousand dollars, and be imprisoned not less than one nor more than five years.

Consuls, &c. for neglect of the duties hereby imposed, &c.

sels, for viola

Nineteenth. If any master of a vessel shall proceed on a foreign voy- Masters of vesage without the documents herein required, or refuse to produce them tions of this act, when required, or to perform the duties imposed by this act, or shall vio- &c. late the provisions thereof, he shall be liable to each and every individual injured thereby, in damages, and shall, in addition thereto, be liable to pay a fine of one hundred dollars for each and every offence, to be recov

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