Page images
PDF
EPUB

"PUBLIC EXAMINATION OF OFFICIAL RECORDS

"SEC. 6. The Attorney General shall retain in permanent form one copy of all registration statements and all statements concerning the distribution of political propaganda furnished under this Act, and the same shall be public records and open to public examination and inspection at such reasonable hours, under such regulations, as the Attorney General may prescribe, and copies of the same shall be furnished to every applicant at such reasonable fee as the Attorney General may prescribe. The Attorney General may withdraw from public examination the registration statement and other statements of any agent of a foreign principal whose activities have ceased to be of a character which requires registration under the provisions of this Act. "LIABILITY OF OFFICERS

"SEC. 7. Each officer, or person performing the functions of an officer, and each director, or person performing the functions of a director, of an agent of a foreign principal which is not an individual shall be under obligation to cause such agent to execute and file a registration statement and supplements thereto as and when such filing is required under sections 2 (a) and 2 (b) hereof and shall also be under obligation to cause such agent to comply with all the requirements of sections 4 (a), 4 (b), and 5 and all other requirements of this Act. In case of failure of any such agent of a foreign principal to comply with any of the requirements of this Act, each of its officers, or persons performing the functions of officers, and each of its directors, or persons performing the functions of directors, shall be subject to prosecution therefor.

"ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES

"SEC. 8. (a) Any person who

"(1) willfully violates any provision of this Act or any regulation thereunder, or

"(2) in any registration statement or supplement thereto or in any statement under section 4 (a) hereof concerning the distribution of political propaganda or in any other document filed with or furnished to the Attorney General under the provisions of this Act willfully makes a false statement of a material fact or willfully omits any material fact required to be stated therein or willfully omits a material fact or a copy of a material document necessary to make the statements therein and the copies of documents furnished therewith not misleading, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.

"(b) In any proceeding under this Act in which it is charged that a person is an agent of a foreign principal with respect to a foreign principal outside of the United States, proof of the specific identity of the foreign principal shall be permissible but not necessary.

"(c) Any alien who shall be convicted of a violation of, or a conspiracy to violate, any provision of this Act or any regulation there

sections 19 and 20 of the Immigration Act of 1917 (39 Stat. 889, 890), as amended.

"(d) The Postmaster General may declare to be nonmailable any communication or expression falling within clause (2) of section 1 (j) hereof in the form of prints or in any other form reasonably adapted to, or reasonably appearing to be intended for, dissemination or circulation among two or more persons, which is offered or caused to be offered for transmittal in the United States mails to any person or persons in any other American republic by any agent of a foreign principal, if the Postmaster General is informed in writing by the Secretary of State that the duly accredited diplomatic representative of such American republic has made written representation to the Department of State that the admission or circulation of such communication or expression in such American republic is prohibited by the laws thereof and has requested in writing that its transmittal thereto be stopped.

"APPLICABILITY OF ACT

"SEC. 9. This Act shall be applicable in the several States, the District of Columbia, the Territories, the Canal Zone, the insular possessions, including the Philippine Islands, and all other places now or hereafter subject to the civil or military jurisdiction of the United States.

"RULES AND REGULATIONS

"SEC. 10. The Attorney General may at any time make, prescribe, amend, and rescind such rules, regulations, and forms as he may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

"REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS

"SEC. 11. The Attorney General shall, from time to time, make a report to the Congress concerning the administration of this Act, including the nature, sources, and content of political propaganda

disseminated or distributed.

"SEPARABILITY OF PROVISIONS

"SEC. 12. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, and the application of such provisions to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.

"SEC. 13. This Act is in addition to and not in substitution for other existing statute.

"SHORT TITLE

any

"SEC. 14. This Act may be cited as the 'Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended"."

TRANSFER OF ADMINISTRATION

SEC. 2. Upon the effective date of this Act, all powers, duties, and functions of the Secretary of State under the Act of June 8, 1938

in the Attorney General, together with all property, books, records, and unexpended balances of appropriations used by or available to the Secretary of State for carrying out the functions devolving on him under the above-cited Act. All rules, regulations, and forms which have been issued by the Secretary of State pursuant to the provisions of said Act, and which are in effect, shall continue in effect until modified, superseded, revoked, or repealed.

EFFECTIVE DATE

SEO. 3. This Act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after the date of its approval, except that prior to such sixtieth day the Attorney General may make, prescribe, amend, and rescind such rules, regulations, and forms as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Approved, April 29, 1942.

[CHAPTER 295-2D SESSION]

[H. R. 139]

AN ACT

To permit appeals by the United States to the circuit courts of appeals in certain cases.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act approved March 2, 1907, entitled "An Act providing for writs of error in certain instances in criminal cases" (34 Stat. 1246; U. S. C., title 18, sec. 682), be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

"That an appeal may be taken by and on behalf of the United States from the district courts direct to the Supreme Court of the United States in all criminal cases in the following instances, to wit:

"From a decision or judgment quashing, setting aside, or sustaining a demurrer or plea in abatement to any indictment or information, or any count thereof, where such decision or judgment is based upon the invalidity or construction of the statute upon which the indictment or information is founded.

"From a decision arresting a judgment of conviction for insufficiency of the indictment or information, where such decision is based upon the invalidity or construction of the statute upon which the indictment or information is founded.

"From the decision or judgment sustaining a special plea in bar, when the defendant has not been put in jeopardy.

"An appeal may be taken by and on behalf of the United States from the district courts to a circuit court of appeals or the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, as the case may be, in all criminal cases, in the following instances, to wit:

"From a decision or judgment quashing, setting aside, or sustaining a demurrer or plea in abatement to any indictment or information, or any count thereof except where a direct appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States is provided by this Act.

"From a decision arresting a judgment of conviction except where a direct appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States is provided by this Act.

"The appeal in all such cases shall be taken within thirty days after the decision or judgment has been rendered and shall be diligently prosecuted.

"Pending the prosecution and determination of the appeal in the foregoing instances, the defendant shall be admitted to bail on his own recognizance: Provided, That if an appeal shall be taken pursuant to this Act to the Supreme Court of the United States which, in the opinion of that Court, should have been taken to a circuit court of appeals, or the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the Supreme Court of the United States shall remand the cause to the circuit court of appeals or the United States

(207)

Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, as the case may be, which shall then have jurisdiction to hear and determine the same as if the appeal had been taken to that court in the first instance; and if an appeal shall be taken pursuant to this section to any circuit court of appeals or to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which, in the opinion of such court, should have been taken directly to the Supreme Court of the United States, such court shall certify the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, which shall thereupon have jurisdiction to hear and determine the cause to the same extent as if an appeal had been taken directly to that Court.

"Rules of practice and procedure with respect to appeals authorized by this Act shall be prescribed by the Supreme Court of the United States in accordance with the provisions of the Act of June 29, 1940 (54 Stat. 688, U. S. C., title 18, sec. 687)."

SEC. 2. That section 128 of the Judicial Code, as amended (U. S. C., title 28, sec. 225), be, and the same is hereby, further amended by adding at the end thereof the following paragraph:

"(f) The circuit courts of appeals, including the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, are further empowered to review decisions and judgments of the district courts in criminal cases on appeals taken by the United States in cases where such appeals are permitted by law."

Approved, May 9, 1942.

« PreviousContinue »