III. ACTS SUPPLEMENTARY TO ACT OF 1874.

(19 Stat. at Large, 1.)

AN ACT to extend the duration of the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the existence of the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims, created by the act entitled "An act for the creation of a court for the adjudication and disposition of certain moneys received into the Treasury under an award made by the tribunal of arbitration constituted by virtue of the first article of the treaty concluded at Washington the eighth of May, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-one, between the United States of America and the Queen of Great Britain," be, and the same is hereby, continued and extended to the twentysecond day of July next, with the same effect and no other as if said last named day had been named in said act for the termination of the powers of said court and said act is hereby continued in force during said period.

SEC. 2. That the powers of the clerk of said court are hereby extended for an additional period, not to exceed two months from and after the termination of the existence of the court, for the purpose of closing his accounts, depositing the records, documents, and all other papers in the possession of the court or its officers, in the office of the Secretary of State, as provided in said act; and all disbursements made by him during this period shall be under the direction of the Secretary of State.

Approved, December 24, 1875.

(19 Stat. at Large, 6.)

AN ACT to extend the time for claimants under section eleven, of chapter four hundred and fifty-nine, of the laws of the Forty-third Congress, to prove their claims.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be

the duty of the Court of Commissioners for the Alabama Claims to receive, examine and pass upon all claims that may be admissible under the provisions of chapter four hundred and fifty-nine of the laws of the Forty-third Congress which may be presented and filed within three months after this act shall take effect: Provided, That it shall appear by the claimant's petition and be proved to the satisfaction of the court, that by reason of his absence from the United States, or his ignorance of the time limited for the filing of a petition by such claimant or by reason of fraud, accident or mistake the claim of such claimant has not been previously presented to said court, within the time limited by said act; and such claim in cases where the claimant shall be absent from the United States at the time of presenting the petition, may be presented and verified in such manner as the court shall by rule have provided. Approved, March 6, 1876.

(19 Stat. at Large, 96.)

AN ACT to extend the duration of the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the existence of the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims, created by the act entitled "An act for the creation of a court for the adjudication and disposition of certain moneys received into the Treasury under an award made by the tribunal of arbitration constituted by virtue of the first article of the treaty concluded at Washington the eighth of May, anno Domini, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, between the United States of America and the Queen of Great Britain," be, and the same is hereby, continued and extended to the first day of January next, with the same effect and no other as if said last named day had been named in said act for the termination of the powers of said court, and said act is hereby continued in force during said period.

SEC. 2. That the powers of the clerk of said court are hereby extended for an additional period, not to exceed two months from and after the termination of the existence of the court, for the purpose of closing his accounts, depositing the records, documents, and

all other papers in the possession of the court or its officers in the office of the Secretary of State, as provided in said act; and all disbursements made by him during this period shall be under the direction of the Secretary of State. Approved, July 22, 1876.

IV. RULES

OF THE

COURT OF COMMISSIONERS OF ALABAMA CLAIMS.

I. The clerk of the court is directed to file of record all claims. which may be transmitted to him, and to enter the same on the docket in the order of time in which they may be received.

Claims transmitted by mail may be addressed to "John Davis, Esq., clerk of the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims, Washington, D. C."

II. All claims must be verified by the affidavit of the claimant, and filed in this court within six months from the 22d day of July, 1874.

III. Every claim shall be stated in a petition addressed to the court, and signed by the claimant or his attorney.

The petition shall set forth

1st. The title of the case, with the full Christian names and surnames of all the claimants, the places and times of their birth, and the places of their residence between the 13th day of April, 1861, and the 9th day of April, 1865, both inclusive.

If any of the claimants be naturalized citizens, an authenticated certificate of their naturalization shall be appended to the petition, and the petition shall also state whether the claimants, or any of them, have been naturalized in any other country than the United States; and, if not so naturalized, whether any and what steps have been taken toward being so naturalized.

2d. A plain and concise statement of the facts and circumstances, giving place and date, free from argument, and stating all assignments and transfers, whether in whole or in part.

3d. The prayer, in which the claimant shall state distinctly the amount of the actual loss or damage for which he asks judgment, and the date from which he claims interest thereon.

The claimant shall also give the post-office address of himself and of his attorney; and may append to his petition, as exhibits, the instruments or documents to which it refers, but shall not insert the same in the body of the petition. Immediately upon the filing of any petition, fifty copies of the same and the accompanying documents shall be printed in octavo form, under the direction of the clerk, for the use of the court and counsel.

IV. Parties having a common interest, growing out of the destruction of the same vessel or its cargo, may unite in one petition for the recovery of their respective claims, which may be heard together, but separate judgments shall be rendered in the case of each claimant.

V. Any person of good moral character admitted to practice as attorney or counsel in the supreme court of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, or in any of the Federal courts, on filing with the clerk a written statement of the date and place of such admission, with his name and post-office address in full, may, on motion, be admitted to practice in this court.

VI. It shall not be necessary for the United States to deny specially, in writing, the validity of any claim; but a general denial of every claim shall be entered of record by the clerk as of course, and thereby every material allegation shall be considered as put in issue by the United States.

Objections as to the law of the case may be raised by the United States at any stage of the proceedings by demurrer, stating the grounds of such objections with reasonable certainty.

VII. Testimony to be used in this court may be taken before a commissioner empowered by any circuit or district court of the United States to take testimony, on a rule entered of record in this

court for that purpose by either party in any pending case, provided twenty days' notice be given to the adverse party; but nothing herein contained shall prevent the taking of testimony before any other person, with the leave of this court, nor prevent counsel from accepting, by agreement in writing, a shorter notice than twenty days.

VIII. It shall be the duty of the counsel of the claimant, at least ten days before the day of hearing, to file with the clerk of the court fifty copies of a brief (printed in octavo form) of the argument in behalf of the claimant.

IX. Claims supported by printed or written testimony shall be first heard in the order in which they stand on the docket, unless otherwise specifically ordered by the court; and afterward those claims shall be heard in support of which the claimant ray desire to introduce oral testimony.

X. In cases where the amount claimed exceeds the sum of one thousand dollars, the claimant shall be at the expense of printing his own brief and testimony. In cases not exceeding that amount, the printing shall be done, under the direction of the clerk of the court, at the expense of the United States.

XI. The time to be occupied in the oral arguments of counsel shall be regulated by the rule in force in the Supreme Court of the United States.

XII. Whenever any deposition or document shall have been filed in any case before this court, either party to any other case may use such testimony on the hearing thereof; Provided, That the party so desiring to use such testimony in a case in which the same was not originally taken shall file a notice in the case in which such testimony is sought to be used five days before the hearing thereof of his intention so to do, specifying therein particularly the deposi tions or documents sought to be used and the case or cases in which the same were originally taken.