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AN ACT supplemental to an act entitled "An act to annex a part of the State of New Jersey to the collection district of New York, and to appoint an assistant collector to reside at Jersey City," approved February 21, 1863.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the assistant collector appointed under the act entitled "An act to annex a part of the State of New Jersey to the collection district of New York, and to appoint an assistant collector to reside at Jersey City," approved February twenty-one, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be, and he hereby is, authorized to enrol and license, according to the laws of the United States, all vessels engaged in the coasting trade and fisheries, owned in whole or in part by residents of the counties of Hudson and Bergen, in the State of New Jersey; and all such enrolments and licenses shall be as valid and effectual as if the same had been effected in any other port of the United States; and the said assistant collector, in the enrolment and licensing of vessels, shall be subject to the laws of the United States, and liable to all the penalties and responsibilities imposed upon collectors in like cases.

Approved February 25, 1865.

AN ACT to authorize the corporation of Georgetown to levy certain taxes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the corporation of Georgetown be, and they are hereby, authorized and empowered to levy and collect, in the same manner in which other taxes are levied and collected in said town, an annual tax, not to exceed, in any year, fifteen-hundredths of one per centum of the assessed value of the taxable property of said town, to be applied to the payment of the interest and the extinction of the principal of the debt recently contracted by said corporation in filling its quota under the several drafts for troops made during the present war.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said corporation are hereby further authorized and empowered to levy and collect, in manner aforesaid, a sum sufficient to pay the said town's proportion of the direct tax imposed on the District of Columbia by the act of Congress approved August fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and the cost and expenses of collecting the same. Approved February 25, 1865.

AN ACT authorizing and requiring the opening of Sixth street west.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the corporate authorities of the city of Washington be, and they are hereby, authorized and required to open Sixth street west, from the canal to Maine avenue, under the direction of the Commissioner of Public Buildings, in accordance with the plan approved in May, eighteen hundred and twenty-two, by James Monroe, then President of the United States: Provided, however, That Sixth street, through the public grounds known as Armory square, shall not be opened until after the removal of the army hospital from such public ground, or until the consent of the Surgeon General of the United States army shall be first had and obtained. Approved February 25, 1865.

AN ACT in reference to prosecutions for libel in the District of Columbia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all prosecutions or indictments for libel instituted, or which may hereafter be instituted, in the District of Columbia, the truth thereof may be given in evidence under the general issue as a justification of the alleged libel; and if it appear that the matter charged as libellous was true, and was written or published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the defendant shall be acquitted.

Approved February 25, 1865.

AN ACT for changing the time for holding the circuit courts in the district of Virginia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the circuit courts in the district of Virginia, heretofore holden at Richmond, shall be held at Norfolk, on the first Monday in May and on the fourth Monday in November in each year; and all proceedings and process in or issuing out of the said court which are or may be made returnable to any other times or places appointed for holding the same than those above specified shall be deemed legally returnable on the days and at the place above specified, and not otherwise; and all suits and other proceedings in said court which stand continued to any other time or place than those above specified shall be deemed continued to the place and time prescribed by this act, and no other.

Approved February 25, 1865,

AN ACT providing for a district and a circuit court of the United States for the district of Nevada, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Nevada shall hereafter constitute one judicial district, and be called the district of Nevada. And for said district a district judge, a marshal, and a district attorney of the United States shall be appointed.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said district of Nevada shall be attached to and constitute a part of the tenth circuit. And a term of the circuit court of the United States for the said district shall be held in the city of Carson, in the State of Nevada, on the first Monday of March, and on the first Monday of August, and on the first Monday of December of each year. And a term of the district court of the United States for the said district shall be held at the said city of Carson on the first Monday of February, and on the first Monday of May, and on the first Monday of October of each year.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the district court of the United States for the district of Nevada, and the judge thereof, shall possess the same powers and jurisdiction possessed by the other district courts and district judges of the United States, and shall be governed by the same laws and regulations.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the circuit court of the United States for the said district of Nevada, and the judge thereof, shall possess the same powers and jurisdiction in said district which are vested in said court and said judge in the other districts of the tenth circuit.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the district judge appointed for the district of Nevada shall receive as his compensation the sum of thirty-five hun

dred dollars a year, payable in four equal instalments, on the first days of January, April, July, and October, of each year.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the marshal and district attorney of the United States for said district of Nevada, and also for the district of Oregon, shall severally be entitled to charge and receive for the services they may perform double the fees and compensation allowed by the act entitled "An act to regulate the fees and costs to be allowed clerks, marshals, and attorneys of the circuit and district courts of the United States, and for other purposes," approved February twenty-six, eighteen hundred and fifty-three: Provided, That the aggregate compensation allowed said officers shall not exceed the amount provided for such officers by said act.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the third, fourth, and fifth sections of the act of February nineteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, entitled "An act amendatory of, and supplementary to, an act to provide circuit courts for the districts of California and Oregon, and for other purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall be applicable to the appointment of special sessions of the circuit courts in the districts of Nevada, and to the appointment of clerks and deputy clerks of the circuit courts of the districts of Nevada and Oregon. And that the clerk of the circuit court in the districts of Nevada, Oregon, and California shall be also clerk of the district court in said districts, and shall receive for like services the same fees and compensation which are allowed by law to the clerks of the circuit and district courts of the United States for California: Provided, That the clerk in each of said districts shall be allowed by the Secretary of the Interior to retain of the fees and emoluments received by him as clerk of both courts, over and above the necessary expenses of his offices and necessary clerk-hire included, to be audited and allowed by the proper accounting officers of the treasury, only such sum per annum as is now allowed by law to the clerk of one of said courts, and shall pay the remainder into the public treasury, under oath, in the manner and under the regulations now prescribed by law.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That all cases of appeal or writ of error heretofore prosecuted and now pending in the Supreme Court of the United States, upon any record from the supreme court of the Territory of Nevada, may be heard and determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, and the mandate of execution or of further proceedings shall be directed by the Supreme Court of the United States to the district court of the United States for the district of Nevada, or to the supreme court of the State of Nevada, as the nature of said appeal or writ of error may require, and each of these courts shall be the successor of the supreme court of Nevada Territory as to all such cases, with full power to hear and determine the same, and to award mesne or final process thereon. And from all judgments and decrees of the supreme court of the Territory of Nevada, prior to its admission into the Union as a State, the parties to said judgments and decrees shall have the same right to prosecute appeals and writs of error to the federal courts as they would have had under the laws of the United States if this act had been passed simultaneously with the act admitting said State into the Union: Provided, That said appeals shall be prosecuted and said writs of error sued out at any time before the first day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-six.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That no possessory action between individuals, in any of the courts of the United States, for the recovery of any mining title, or for damages to any such title, shall be affected by the fact that the paramount title to the land on which such mines are is in the United States, but each case shall be adjudged by the law of possession.

Approved February 27, 1865.

AN ACT to revive certain provisions of the act entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports and tonnage," approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifteen, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first sentence of the second section of the act entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports and tonnage," approved March three, eighteen hundred and fifteen, to wit, "That it shall be lawful for any collector, naval officer, surveyor or inspector of the customs, as well in any adjoining district as that to which he belongs, to stop, search, and examine any carriage or vehicle of any kind whatsoever, and to stop any person travelling on foot or beast of burden on which he shall suspect there are goods, wares, or merchandise which are subject to duty, or which shall have been introduced into the United States in any manner contrary to law; and if such officer shall stop any goods, wares, or merchandise on any such carriage, vehicle, person travelling on foot or beast of burden, which he shall have probable cause to believe are subject to duty or have been unlawfully introduced into the United States, he shall seize and secure the same for trial," be, and the same is hereby, revived and re-enacted; and every such beast of burden, carriage, or vehicle, together with the teams or other motive power, and all the appurtenances used in conveying such goods, wares, or merchandise, shall be subject to seizure and forfeiture in like manner as is by law now provided in regard to such goods, wares, or merchandise; and all fines, penalties, and forfeitures recovered under this act, or in consequence of such seizures, shall be disposed of as is provided in other cases by the ninety-first section of the act entitled "An act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage," approved March second, seventeen hundred and ninety-nine; and the last proviso of said ninety-first section is hereby repealed.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the power and authority given to collectors, naval officers, and surveyors by the sixty-eighth section of the said last-mentioned act be, and the same are hereby, extended to inspectors of the customs, and any officer or other person entitled to or interested in a part or share of any fine, penalty, or forfeiture incurred under this or any other law of the United States may be examined as a witness in any of the proceedings for the recovery of such fine, penalty, or forfeiture by either of the parties thereto, and such examination shall not deprive such witness of his or her share or interest in such fine, penalty, or forfeiture.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That in case any store, warehouse, or other building shall be upon or near the boundary line between the United States and any foreign country, and there is reason to believe that dutiable goods are deposited or have been placed therein, or carried through or into the same without payment of duties, and in violation of law, and the collector, deputy collector, naval officer, or surveyor of customs, shall make oath before any magistrate competent to administer the same, that he has reason to believe, and does believe, that such offence has been therein committed, such officer shall have the right to search such building, and the premises belonging thereto; and if any such goods shall be found therein, the same, together with such building, shall be seized, forfeited, and disposed of according to law, and the said building shall be forthwith taken down or removed. And any person or persons who shall have received or deposited in such building or carried through the same any goods, as aforesaid, or shall have aided therein, in violation of law, shall, upon due conviction before any court of competent jurisdiction, be punished by fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding two years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the first section of the act of April second, eighteen hundred and forty-four, entitled "An act directing the disposition of certain unclaimed goods, wares, or merchandise, seized for being illegally imported into the United States," be so amended that in place of the word " one," wherever the same may be found in said section, the word "five” shall be inserted.

Approved February 28, 1865.

AN ACT making appropriations for the construction, preservation, and repairs of certain fortifications and other works of defence for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-six.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and they are hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the construction, preservation, and repairs of certain fortifications and other works of defence for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-six:

For Fort Wayne, near Detroit, Michigan, seventy-five thousand dollars. For repairs of Fort Niagara, near Youngstown, New York, twenty-five thousand dollars.

For Fort Ontario, Oswego, New York, fifty thousand dollars.

For Fort Montgomery, at outlet of Lake Champlain, New York, fifty thousand dollars.

For Fort Knox, at narrows of Penobscot river, Maine, seventy-five thousand dollars.

For Fort Popham, Kennebec river, Maine, seventy-five thousand dollars. For Fort Preble, Portland, Maine, seventy-five thousand dollars.

For Fort Scammel, Portland, Maine, fifty thousand dollars.

For Fort Georges, on Hog Island ledge, Portland, Maine, seventy-five thousand dollars.

For Fort Constitution, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, twenty-five thousand dollars.

For Fort McClary, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, fifty thousand dollars.
For Fort Winthrop, Boston, Massachusetts, ten thousand dollars.
For Fort Independence, Boston, Massachusetts, five thousand.

For Fort Warren, Boston, Massachusetts, ten thousand dollars.

For sea-wall of Great Brewster's island, Boston harbor, Massachusetts, twenty thousand dollars.

For repair of sea-walls on Deer and on Lovell's islands, Boston harbor, Massachusetts, three thousand dollars.

For permanent forts at New Bedford harbor, Massachusetts, fifty thousand

dollars.

For Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island, fifty thousand dollars.

For Fort Hale, New Haven, Connecticut, fifty thousand dollars.

For Fort Schuyler, East river, New York, twenty-five thousand dollars.

For fort at Willet's Point, opposite Fort Schuyler, New York, fifty thousand dollars.

For repairs of Fort Hamilton, New York, twenty-five thousand dollars.

For fort on site of Fort Tompkins, Staten Island, New York, fifty thousand dollars.

For fort at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, fifty thousand dollars.

For repairs of Fort Mifflin, near Philadelphia, twenty thousand dollars.

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