1829. the principles, rules, and usages, which belong to courts of admiralty, since 29th Sept. as contradistinguished from courts of common law, except so far as may have been otherwise provided for by acts of Congress; subject, however, to such alterations and additions, as the said courts of the United States respectively shall, in their discretion, deem expedient, or to such regulations as the Supreme Court of the United States shall think proper, from time to time, by rules, to prescribe to any circuit or district court concerning the same. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, in any one of the United States, where judgments are a lien upon the property of the defendant, and where, by the laws of such state, defendants are entitled in the courts thereof, to an imparlance of one term or more, defendants, in actions in the courts of the United States, holden in such state, shall be entitled to an imparlance of one term. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That writs of execution and other final process issued on judgments and decrees, rendered in any of the courts of the United States, and the proceedings thereupon shall be the same, except their style, in each state, respectively, as are now used in the courts of such state, saving to the courts of the United States in those states, in which there are not courts of equity, with the ordinary equity jurisdiction, the power of prescribing the mode of executing their decrees in equity by rules of court: Provided, however, That it shall be in the power of the courts, if they see fit in their discretion, by rules of court, so far to alter final process in said courts as to conform the same to any change which may be adopted by the legislatures of the respective states for the state courts. Subject, howsuch ever, to alterations, &c. Where judg ments are a lien upon the property of the defendant. When writs of execution and other final process issued on judgments, &c., rendered in any of the United States, &c. of the courts Proviso. court as the first attachment. Query, If the plaintiff must, in all cases under that act, sign and make oath to his petition to be admitted to defend against the first attachment, or if he is abroad, it may be done by his agent. Lodge v. Lodge, 5 Mason's C. C. R. 407. Pennsylvania. Levy and condemnation, under an execution, keep a judgment alive, and preserve the lien without a scire facias. United States v. The Mechanics' Bank, Gilpin's D. C. R. 54. Where there is a scire facias to revive a judgment, the defendant cannot avail himself of matters of defence which occurred previous to the original judgment. United States v. Thompson, Gilpin's D. C. R. 622. Laws which relate to practice, process, or modes of proceeding before or after judgment, are exceptions to the 34th section of the judiciary act of 1789, as Congress have legislated on the subject. The Supreme Court of the United States have established the distinction to be this: State laws, which furnish the court a rule for forming a judgment, are binding on the federal courts, not laws for carrying that judgment into execution; that is governed by the acts of Congress, and the rules of practice adopted in pursuance thereto. Thompson v. Phillips, Baldwin's C. C. Ř. 274. The act of the legislature of Ohio, of February, 1820, relative to proceedings against parties to promissory notes, by which all the parties to a note might be proceeded against in one suit, was a very wise and benevolent law, and its salutary effects produced its immediate adoption into the practice of the courts of the United States, and the suits have, in many instances, been prosecuted under it. Fullerton v. The Bank of the United States, 1 Peters, 604. Although the act of the legislature of Ohio, regulating the mode of proceeding in actions on promissory notes, was passed after the making of the note upon which this action was brought, yet the circuit court of the United States for the district of Ohio, having incorporated the action under that statute, with all its incidents, into its course of practice, and having full power by law to adopt it, there does not appear any legal objection to its doing so, in the prosecution of the system under which it has always acted. Yeaton v. Lenox, 8 Peters, 123. The process act of 1828 expressly adopts the mesne process, and modes of proceeding in suits at common law, then existing in the highest state court, under the state laws; which of course included all the regulations of the state laws as to bail, and exemptions of the party from arrest and imprisonment. In regard, also, to writs of execution, and other final process, and the proceedings thereupon;" it adopts an equally comprehensive language, and declares they shall be the same as were then used in the courts of the state. Beers v. Haughton, 9 Peters, 329. The circuit court of each district, sit within and for that district, and are bounded by its local limits. Whatever may be the extent of the jurisdiction of the circuit court over the subject matter of suits, in respect to persons and property, it can only be exercised within the limits of the district. Congress might have authorized civil process from any circuit court to have run into any state of the Union. It has not done so. It has not, in terms, authorized any civil process to run into any other district; with the single exception of subpoenas to witnesses within a limited distance. In regard to final process, there are two cases, and only two, in which writs of execution can now by law be served in any other district than that in which the judgment was rendered; one in favour of private persons in another district of the same state; and the other in favour of the United States, in any part of the United States. Toland v. Sprague, 12 Peters, 300. VOL. IV.-36 2A2 Nothing in this act to be construed to ex tend to any court, &c. STATUTE I. May 23, 1828. Secretary of the Treasury empowered to provide for building lighthouses, &c. At Dice's Head. point. On Nayat point, &c. Beacon light on Spindle Rock. Two light SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to extend to any court of the United States now established, or which may hereafter be established, in the state of Louisiana. (a) APPROVED, May 19, 1828. CHAP. LXIX.-An Act to authorize the building of lighthouses, 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 Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, empowered to provide, by contract, for building lighthouses and light vessels, and erecting beacons, and placing buoys, on the following sites and shoals, to wit: In the state of Maine, a lighthouse at Dice's Head. In the state of Massachusetts, a lighthouse on Nobsque point; one on the Point of Flats, at the entrance of Edgartown harbour; a lighthouse on Dumpling rock, south of the mouth of Aponeganset river. In the state of Rhode Island, a lighthouse on Nayat point; and two pyramids or spindles, to wit: one on a reef of rocks, under water, opposite to Pawtuxet, and one on a reef of rocks, opposite the Punham Rock, in the northern part of Narraganset bay. In the state of Connecticut, a beacon light on or near the Spindle Rock, at the mouth of Black Rock harbour. In the state of New York, two small lighthouses, to wit: one on the houses north of flats, two miles north of Kinder Hook, upper landing, called the Drowned Kinder Hook, Lands, and one on the point of the island on the west side of the channel, opposite the lower landing. A lighthouse at a proper site, at or near Portland, on Lake Erie. &c. Two light houses on Little Watt's Island, &c. Lighthouse on Smith's point. Light vessel to be substituted, &c. Beacon lighthouse on Pamptico Sound, &c. Lighthouse in Mobile bay, &c. Two lighthouses, one at Otter creek point, &c. Lighthouse, St. John's river. Sums appropriated to be paid from the treasury. Lighthouse on Dice's Head. Lighthouse on Nobsque Rock, &c. Lighthouse, Dumpling rock. In the state of Maryland, two lighthouses; one on Little Watt's Island, at the south-eastern extremity of Tangier Sound; and the other on Clay Island, at the northernmost extremity of the same sound; and a beacon light, or a small lighthouse on Point Lookout, in the Chesapeake bay. In the state of Virginia, a lighthouse on Smith's point, at the mouth of the Potomac, in the Chesapeake bay. In the state of North Carolina, a light vessel, to be substituted for the lighthouse heretofore directed to be built at the Point of Marsh, at the mouth of Neuse river. A beacon light, or small lighthouse, at a proper site on Pamptico point; and one at the south entrance of Roanoake marshes. In the state of Alabama, a lighthouse at or near Choctaw point, in Mobile bay; and an iron spindle on Sand island, on the outer bar of Mobile bay. In the territory of Michigan, two lighthouses; one at Otter creek point, at the head of Lake Erie, and the other on the Island of Bois Blanc, near Michilimacinac. In the territory of Florida, a lighthouse at the mouth of St. John's river. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the following sums of money be appropriated and paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this act into effect, viz: For building a lighthouse on Dice's Head, five thousand dollars. For the lighthouse on Nobsque point, three thousand dollars; and for the pier and lighthouse at the entrance of Edgartown harbour, five thousand five hundred dollars. For a lighthouse on Dumpling rock, four thousand dollars. (a) See an act to regulate the mode of practice in the courts of the United States in Louisiana, May 26, 1824, ch. 181, and notes to that act. Lighthouse on For a lighthouse on Nayat point, three thousand five hundred dollars; and for two pyramids or spindles, in Narraganset bay, two thousand dol- Nayat point. lars. For a beacon-light on or near Spindle rock, at the mouth of Black Rock harbour, six thousand two hundred dollars. For two small lighthouses in Hudson river, eight thousand dollars. For a lighthouse at or near Portland, on Lake Erie, five thousand dollars; one thousand dollars for removing obstructions in order to make the light of the lighthouse at the mouth of Genessee river, on Lake Ontario, visible at a distance. Beacon-light on or near Spindle rock. Two lighthouses in Hudson river. Lighthouse near Portland. A tower, &c., For erecting a tower and placing a bell thereon with machinery, near the lighthouse on Pool's Island, Chesapeake bay, two thousand eight hun- near the light dred dollars. For the lighthouse on Little Watt's island, six thousand five hundred dollars; and for that on Clay island, six thousand five hundred dollars; and for a beacon-light, or small lighthouse, on Point Look Out, four thousand five hundred dollars. For the lighthouse on Smith's point, seven thousand five hundred dollars. For a beacon-light or lighthouse on Pamptico point, five thousand dollars; and for one at the entrance of Roanoke Marshes, five thousand dollars; for a light vessel, to be placed at or near the point of Marsh Shoal, at or near the mouth of Neuse river, six thousand five hundred dollars; this sum to be in addition to the sum already appropriated for building a lighthouse at the point of Marsh, at the mouth of the said river, for which lighthouse the light vessel is substituted. For a lighthouse at Otter Creek point, five thousand dollars. For one at St. John's river, six thousand five hundred dollars; and for one on Choctaw point, six thousand five dollars. For placing four buoys in Hudson river, on the following sites: One on a reef of rocks opposite Van Wee's point; one on a reef of rocks north of Constitution point; one on a reef of rocks, the south point of Conner's Hook island; and one on a wreck of a vessel sunk in Haverstraw bay; three hundred dollars. For placing two buoys near the channel, to the eastward of the Pea Patch, in the river Delaware, viz: one on the north-east point of the Pea Patch; and one on a small shoal in the passage, four hundred dollars. For spindles or monuments, and buoys, to render the navigation of Kennebec bay and river safe, fifteen hundred dollars. For placing a buoy on Killpond bar, in Buzzard's bay, sixty dollars. For placing twenty buoys, at proper sites, in the river Teche, in the state of Louisiana, two thousand six hundred dollars. For an iron spindle on Sand Island, on the bar of Mobile bay, six hundred dollars. For five buoys, in the channel, between Key West and the islands to the westward of it and the main, leading from the Gulf Stream to the bay of Mexico, seven hundred dollars. For two buoys at the mouth of St. John's river, territory of Florida, one hundred and sixty dollars. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said secretary be empower ed as aforesaid, and that the following sums be appropriated and paid as aforesaid, for the purposes hereafter designated, viz: To build a lighthouse, at a proper site, near St. Mark's harbour, in Florida, the sum of six thousand dollars. To build a lighthouse on a ledge of rocks, called the Whale's Back, in the harbour of Portsmouth, in the state of New Hampshire, eight thousand dollars, in addition to the former appropriation for that object. house on Pool's Lighthouse near the mouth of Duck creek. Salaries of the respective keepers of lighthouses. Proviso. Appropriation. STATUTE I. May 23, 1828. Act of May 8, 1822, ch. 129. 3, 1823, ch. 29. The three claims to land West Florida, contained in the reports of the commissioners, To build a lighthouse near the mouth of Duck creek, adjoining Delaware bay, the sum of four thousand dollars. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the passage of this act, the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered to regulate and fix the salaries of the respective keepers of lighthouses, in such manner as he shall deem just and proper: Provided, The whole sum allowed shall not exceed an average of four hundred dollars to each keeper. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the sum of five thousand two hundred dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, in addition to the sums heretofore appropriated, to pay the salaries to the several keepers of the lighthouses within the United States; to be applied under the direc tion of the Secretary of the Treasury, in conformity to the authority in him vested by the third section of this act. APPROVED, May 23, 1828. CHAP. LXX. An Act supplementary to the several acts providing for the settlement and confirmation of private land claims in Florida. (a) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Act of March States of America, in Congress assembled, That the three claims to land in the district of West Florida, contained in the reports of the commissioners, and numbered four, [4] eight, [8] and ten, [10] excluding from in the district of the latter the land contained in certificate, and in the plats A. and Č., and the claims contained in the reports of the commissioners of East Florida, and in the reports of the receiver and register, acting as such, made in pursuance of the several acts of Congress providing for the settlement of private land claims in Florida, and recommended for confirmation by said commissioners, and by the register and receiver, be, and the same are hereby, confirmed to the extent of the quantity contained in one league square, to be located by the claimants, or their agents, within the limits of such claims or surveys filed, as aforesaid, before the said commissioners, or receiver and register, which location shall be made within the bounds of the original grant, in quantities of not less than one section, and to be bounded by sectional lines. numbered 4, 8, and 10, excluding from the latter the land con tained in certificate, and in the plats A. and C., &c., confirmed. No more than the quantity of acres contained in a league square shall be confirmed within the bounds of any one grant, &c. All the deci sions made by rida, as commissioners under act of Feb. 8, 1827, ch. 9, recom mended for confirmation, confirmed. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That no more than the quantity of acres contained in a league square, shall be confirmed within the bounds of any one grant and no confirmation shall be effectual until all the parties in interest, under the original grant, shall file with the register and receiver of the district where the grant may be situated, a full and final release of all claim to the residue contained in the grant: and where there shall be any minors incapable of acting within said territory of Florida, a relinquishment by the legal guardian shall be sufficient; and thereafter the excess in said grants, respectively, shall be liable to be sold as other public lands of the United States. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the decisions made by the register and receiver of the district of East Florida, acting ex officio, as commissioners, in pursuance of an act of Congress, approved the eighth of February, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, authorizing them to ascertain and decide claims and titles to lands in the district aforesaid, and those recommended for confirmation under the quantity of three thousand five hundred acres, contained in the reports, abstracts, and opinions, of the said register and receiver, transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, according to law, and referred by him to Congress, on the twenty-ninth January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty (a) See notes of the decisions of the Supreme Court upon claims and titles to land in the territory of Florida, vol. iii. 709. eight, be, and the same are hereby, confirmed. The confirmations SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the proper accounting officers of the treasury be, and they are hereby, authorized to adjust and pay the accounts of the register and receiver, acting as commissioners, their contingent expenses, and the receiver the compensation heretofore allowed for bringing their reports to Washington, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. Claims not decided and SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all claims to land within the territory of Florida, embraced by the treaty between Spain and the United States of the twenty-second of February, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, which shall not be decided and finally settled under the foregoing provisions of this act, containing a greater quantity of land than the commissioners were authorized to decide, and above the amount confirmed by this act and which have not been reported, as antedated or forged by said commissioners, or register and receiver acting as such, shall be received and adjudicated, by the judge of the superior court of the district within which the land lies, upon the petition of the claimant, according to the forms, rules, regulations, conditions, restrictions, and limitations prescribed to the district judge, and claimants in the state of Missouri, by act of Congress, approved May twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and twenty-four, entitled "An act enabling the claimants to lands within the limits of the state of Missouri, and territory of Arkansas, to 26, 1824, ch. institute proceedings to try the validity of their claims:" Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize said judges to take cognisance of any claim annulled by the said treaty, or the decree ratifying the same by the king of Spain, nor any claim not presented to the commissioners or register and receiver, in conformity to the several acts of Congress, providing for the settlement of private land claims in Florida. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the claimants to lands, as aforesaid, to take an appeal, as directed in the act aforesaid, from the decision of the judge of the district, to the Supreme Court of the United States, within four months after the decision shall be pronounced; and the said judges shall each be entitled to receive the extra compensation given to the district judge of Missouri, for the performance of the duties required by this act, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That so much of the said act, the provisions of which, so far as they are applicable, and are not altered by this act, are hereby extended to the territory of Florida, as subjects the claimants to the payment of costs in any case where the decision may be in favour of their claims, be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and Act of May 173. Proviso. Claimant may appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States within four the decision shall be pro months after nounced, &c. Costs. |