paper, writing, written instrument, book, or other document, shall be produced to such commissioner or commissioners, he or they shall, at the cost of the party requiring the same, cause to be made a fair and correct copy thereof, or of so much thereof as shall be required by either of the parties: Provided, that no witness shall be deemed guilty of contempt for disobeying any subpœna directed to him by virtue of this act, unless his fees for going to, returning from, and one day's attendance at the place of examination, shall be paid or tendered to him at the time of the service of the subpoena.

COMMISSIONERS TO ACT AS MAGISTRATES, &c. An act further supplementary to an act entitled, "An act to establish the judicial courts of the United States," passed the twenty-fourth of September, seventeen hundred and eighty-nine.

Passed August 23, 1842.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the commissioners who now are, or hereafter may be, appointed by the circuit courts of the United States to take acknowledgments of bail and affidavits, and also to take depositions of witnesses in civil causes, shall and may exercise all the powers that any justice of the peace, or other magistrate, of any of the United States may now exercise in respect to offenders for any crime or offence against the United States, by arresting, imprisoning, or bailing the same, under and by virtue of the thirty-third section of the act of the twenty-fourth of September, Anno Domini seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled, "An act to establish the judicial courts of the United States;" and who shall and may exercise all the powers that any judge or justice of the peace may exercise under and in virtue of the sixth section of the act passed the twentieth of July, Anno Domini seventeen hundred and ninety, entitled An act for the government and regulation of seamen in the merchant service,"

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That in all hearings before any justice or judge of the United States, or any commissioner appointed as aforesaid, under and in virtue of the said thirty-third section of the act entitled, “ An act to establish the judicial courts of the United States," it shall be lawful for such justice, judge, or commissioner, where the crime or offence is charged to have been committed on the high seas or elsewhere within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, in his discretion, to require a recognizance of any witness produced in behalf of the accused, with such surety or sureties as he may judge necessary, as well as in behalf of the United States, for their appearing and giving testimony, at the trial of the cause, whose testimony, in his opinion, is important for the purposes of justice at the trial of the cause, and is in danger of being otherwise lost;

and such witnesses shall be entitled to receive from the United States the usual compensation allowed to Government witnesses for their detention and attendance, if they shall appear and be ready to give testimony at the trial.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the district courts of the United States shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts of all crimes and offences against the United States, the punishment of which is not capital. And in such of the districts where the business of the court may require it to be done for the purposes of justice, and to prevent undue expenses and delays in the trial of criminal causes, the said district courts shall hold monthly adjournments of the regular terms thereof for the trial and hearing of such causes.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That, in lieu of the punishment now prescribed by the sixteenth section of the act of Congress, entitled, “ An act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States," passed on the thirtieth day of April, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and ninety, for the offences in the said section mentioned, the punishment of the offender, upon conviction thereof, shall be by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both, according to the nature and aggravation of the offence.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the district courts as courts of admiralty, and the circuit courts as courts of equity, shall be deemed always open for the purpose of filing libels, bills, petitions, answers, pleas, and other pleadings, for issuing and returning mesne and final process and commissions, and for making and directing all interlocutory motions, orders, rules, and other proceedings whatever, preparatory to the hearing of all causes pending therein upon their merits. And it shall be competent for any judge of the court, upon reasonable notice to the parties, in the clerk's office or at chambers, and in vacation as well as in term, to make and direct, and award, all such process, commissions and interlocutory orders, rules, and other proceedings, whenever the same are not grantable of course according to the rules and practice of the court.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the Supreme Court shall have full power and authority, from time to time, to prescribe, and regulate, and alter, the forms of writs and other process to be used and issued in the district and circuit courts of the United States, and the forms and modes of framing and filing libels, bills, answers, and other proceedings and pleadings, in suits at common law or in admiralty and in equity pending in the said courts, and also the forms and modes of taking and obtaining evidence, and of obtaining discovery, and generally the forms and modes of proceeding to obtain relief, and the forms and modes of drawing up, entering, and enrolling decrees, and the forms and modes of proceeding before trustees appointed by the court, and generally to regulate the whole practice of the said courts, so as to prevent delays, and to promote brevity and succinctness in all pleadings and proceedings therein, and to abolish all unnecessary costs and expenses in any suit therein.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of further diminishing the costs and expenses in suits and proceedings in the said courts, the Supreme Court shall have full power and authority, from time to time, to make and prescribe regulations to the said district and circuit courts, as to the taxation and payment of costs in all suits and proceedings therein; and to make and prescribe a table of the various items of costs which shall be taxable and allowed in all suits, to the parties, their attorneys, solicitors, and proctors, to the clerk of the court, to the marshal of the district, and his deputies, and other officers serving process, to witnesses, and to all other persons whose services are usually taxable in bills of costs. And the items so stated in the said table, and none others, shall be taxable or allowed in bills of costs; and they shall be fixed as low as they reasonably can be, with a due regard to the nature of the duties and services which shall be performed by the various officers and persons aforesaid, and shall in no case exceed the costs and expenses now authorized, where the same are provided for by existing laws.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That on all judgments in civil cases, hereafter recovered in the circuit or district courts of the United States, interest shall be allowed, and may be levied by the marshal, under process of execution issued thereon, in all cases where, by the law of the State in which such circuit or district court shall be held, interest may be levied under process of execution on judgments recovered in the courts of such State, to be calculated from the date of the judgment, and at such rate per annum, as is allowed by law, on judgments recovered in the courts of such State.

SUMMONS FOR WAGES.

An act for the government and regulation of Seamen in the merchants

service.

Passed July 20, 1790.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That every seaman or mariner shall be entitled to demand and receive from the master or commander of the ship or vessel to which they belong, one third part of the wages which shall be due to him at every port where such ship or vessel shall unlade and deliver her cargo before the voyage be ended, unless the contrary be expressly stipulated in the contract; and as soon as the voyage is ended, and the cargo or ballast be fully discharged at the last port of delivery, every seaman or mariner shall be entitled to the wages which shall be then due according to his contract; and if such wages shall not be paid within ten days after such discharge, or if any dispute shall arise between the master and seamen or mariners touching the said wages, it shall be lawful for the judge of the district where the said ship or vessel shall be, or in case his residence be

more than three miles from the place, or of his absence from the place of his residence, then, for any judge or justice of the peace, to summon the mas ter of such ship or vessel to appear before him, to show cause why process should not issue against such ship or vessel, her tackle, furniture, and apparel, according to the course of admiralty courts, to answer for the said wages : and if the master shall neglect to appear, or appearing, shall not show that the wages are paid, or otherwise satisfied or forfeited, and if the matter in dispute shall not be forthwith settled, in such case the judge or justice shall certify to the clerk of the court of the district, that there is sufficient cause of complaint whereon to found admiralty process, and thereupon the clerk of such court shall issue process against the said ship or vessel, and the suit shall be proceeded on in the said court, and final judgment be given according to the course of admiralty courts in such cases used; and in such suit all the seamen or mariners (having cause of complaint of the like kind against the same ship or vessel) shall be joined as complainants; and it shall be incumbent on the master or commander to produce the contract and log-book, if required, to ascertain any matters in dispute; otherwise the complainants shall be permitted to state the contents thereof, and the proof of the contrary shall lie on the master or commander; but nothing herein contained shall prevent any seaman or mariner from having or maintaining any action at common law for the recovery of his wages, or from immediate process out of any court having admiralty jurisdiction, wherever any ship or vessel may be found, in case she shall have left the port of delivery where her voyage ended, before payment of the wages, or in case she shall be about to proceed to sea before the end of the ten days next after the delivery of her cargo or ballast.

PRACTICAL

FORMS.

THE following precedents, with a very few exceptions, have been selected from the accumulated papers of twenty years of my own practice. Names and dates are often changed, and the merely formal parts are reduced to a uniformity which did not exist in the original papers, but which was desirable in a body of precedents. In many instances, also, I have changed the phraseology, with a view to greater brevity and clearness. Subject to these remarks, they are the precedents of actual practice, prepared by myself and others.

In the first instance, the forms and proceedings in a suit in Admiralty will be given in consecutive chronological order, from the commencement of the suit to its final termination; and then, such other forms will be added as shall seem to be necessary.

Forms of proceedings in a suit in rem, against a ship and cargo, for salvage, with a suit against the same ship for a forfeiture, for being brought into a prohibited port:

No. 1.-LIBEL BY THE OWNER AND MASTER OF THE SAVING VESSEL, FOR THEMSELVES AND OTHERS, AGAINST THE SAVED VESSEL AND CARGO, FOR SALVAGE.

DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK:

In Admiralty.To the Honorable Samuel R. Betts, Judge of the District Court of the United States in and for the Southern District of New York:

The libel of Peter Harmony, owner of the American brig Merced of New York, and of Eliphalet Kingsbury, master of the said brig, for themselves and all others entitled, against the ship Waterloo, her tackle, apparel and furniture, and cargo, and against all persons intervening for their interest therein, in a cause of salvage, civil and maritime, alleges as follows:

First. That on the twenty-seventh day of August last past, the said Eliphalet Kingsbury being on a voyage, in the said brig Merced, from Havana, in the Island of Cuba, to Cadiz, in Spain, discovered a ship dismasted and apparently deserted, whereupon he hauled up for and boarded her; that he found the said ship which proved to be the British ship Waterloo, of Lon