For issuing any warrant under the tenth article of the treaty of August ninth, eighteen hundred and forty-two, between the United States and the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, against any parties charged with any crime or offense set forth in said articles, two dollars.

For issuing any warrant under the provision of the convention for the surrender of criminals between the United States and the King of the French, concluded at Washington November ninth, eighteen hundred and forty-three, two dollars.

For hearing and deciding upon the case of any person charged with any crime or offense and arrested under the provisions of said treaty or of said convention, five dollars a day for the time necessarily employed.

Such commissioners shall keep a complete record of all proceedings before them in criminal cases in a well bound book, which record book shall be delivered to and be preserved by the clerk of the supreme court of the District of Columbia on the death, resignation, removal, or expiration of the term of the commissioner, for which record the commissioner shall receive no compensation.

SEC. 1114. WITNESS FEES.-For each day's attendance in court or before any officer pursuant to law, one dollar and twenty-five cents; and when a witness is subpoenaed in more than one cause between the same parties at the same term only one per diem compensation shall be allowed for attendance; and for traveling, at the rate of five cents per mile, coming and returning to and from the witness's place of abode, when summoned from without the District to testify in the courts of the District.

No officer of the United States courts shall be entitled to witness fees for attending before a court or commissioner where he is officiating. SEC. 1115. JUROR'S FEES. -For actual attendance at court, two dollars a day during such attendance.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE.

FRAUDS, STATUTE OF.

SEC. 1116. ESTATES CREATED BY PAROL.-Every estate in lands, tenements, or hereditaments for a greater term than one year attempted to be created by parol, or otherwise than by deed as provided in subchapter one of chapter sixteen, shall be an estate by sufferance.

SEC. 1117. ACTIONS TO CHARGE EXECUTORS, AND SO FORTH.-No action shall be brought whereby to charge any executor or administrator upon any special promise to answer damages out of his own estate, or whereby to charge the defendant upon any special promise to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another person, or to charge any person upon any agreement made upon consideration of marriage, or upon any contract or sale of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any interest in or concerning them, or upon any agreement that is not to be performed within the space of one year from the making thereof, unless the agreement upon which such action shall be brought, or some memorandum or note thereof, shall be in writing, which need not state the consideration, and signed by the party to be charged therewith or some other person thereunto by him lawfully authorized.

SEC. 1118. DECLARATIONS OF TRUST.-All declarations or creations of trust or confidence of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments shall be manifested and proved by some writing signed by the party who is by law enabled to declare such trust or by his last will in writing, or else they shall be utterly void and of none effect.

All grants and assignments of any trust or confidence shall likewise be in writing, signed by the party granting or assigning the same or

by such last will or devise, or else shall likewise be utterly void and of none effect.

by implica

Where any conveyance shall be made of any lands or tenements by which a trust or confidence shall or may arise or result by the impli- tion, etc. cation or construction of law, or be transferred or extinguished by an act or operation of law, then and in every such case such trust or confidence shall be of the like force and effect as the same would have been if this statute had not been made.

SEC. 1119. SALE OF GOODS.-No contract for the sale of any goods, wares, and merchandise for the price of fifty dollars or upward shall be allowed to be good except the buyer shall accept part of the goods so sold and actually receive the same or give something in earnest to bind the bargain or in part payment, or that some note or memorandum in writing of the said bargain be made and signed by the parties to be charged by such a contract or their agent thereunto lawfully authorized. CHAPTER THIRTY.

FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCES AND ASSIGNMENTS.

SEC. 1120. INTENT TO DEFRAUD CREDITORS.-Every conveyance or assignment, in writing or otherwise, of any estate or interest in lands or rents and profits issuing from the same, or in goods or things in action, and every charge upon the same, and every bond or other evidence of debt given, or judgment or decree suffered, with the intent to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors or other persons having just claims or demands of their lawful suits, damages, or demands, shall be void as against the persons so hindered, delayed, or defrauded:

Sale of goods.

Fraudulent conveyances and assignments.

Intent to de

fraud creditors.

Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to affect or impair -notice. the title of a purchaser for a valuable consideration, unless it shall appear that such purchaser had previous notice of the fraudulent intent of his immediate grantor, or of the fraud rendering void the title of such grantor:

Provided further, That the question of fraudulent intent shall be deemed a question of fact and not of law.

Intent; deemed a question of fact. -to defraud

SEC. 1121. INTENT TO DEFRAUD PURCHASERS.-Every conveyance of any estate or interest in land or the rents and profits thereof, and every purchasers. charge upon the same, made or created with the intent to defraud prior or subsequent purchasers for a valuable consideration of the same lands, rents, or profits, shall, as against such purchasers, be void; but no such conveyance or charge shall be deemed fraudulent in favor of a subsequent purchaser who shall have actual or legal notice thereof at the time of his purchase, unless it appear that the grantee in such conveyance, or the person to be benefited by such charge, was privy to the fraud intended.

Executors, etc.,

SEC. 1122. EXECUTORS, AND SO FORTH, MAY SUE TO VACATE FRAUDULENT DEED. —Any executor, administrator, receiver, assignee, or other may sue to vacate trustee of an estate, or of the property and effects of an insolvent fraudulent deed. estate, corporation, association, partnership, or individual, may, for the benefit of creditors and others interested in the estate or property so held in trust, disaffirm, treat as void, and resist all acts done, transfers and agreements made in fraud of the rights of any creditor, including themselves and others interested in any estate or property held by or of right belonging to any such trustee or estate; and every person who in fraud of the rights of creditors and others shall have received, taken, or in any manner interfered with the estate, property, or effects of any deceased person or insolvent corporation, association, partnership, or individual shall be liable, in the proper action, to the executors, administrators, receivers, or other trustees of such estate or property for the same, or the value of any property or effects so received or taken, and for all damages caused by such acts to any such

trust estate.

Guardian and ward.

Father and

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE.

GUARDIAN AND WARD.

SEC. 1123. NATURAL GUARDIANS.- The father and mother shall be mother the natu- the natural guardians of the person of their minor children. If either ral guardians. dies or is incapable of acting, the natural guardianship of the person shall devolve upon the other:

-death of one.

-of one be

erty.

Provided, however, That in case of the death of either parent from queathing prop-.whom said children shall inherit or take by devise or bequest, such parent may by deed or last will and testament appoint a guardian of the property of the children, subject to the approval of the proper court of the District of Columbia:

Where parents unfit, etc.

Testamentary

guardians.

Appointment by

court.

When guardianship ceases.

When guardian of estate is appointed by court.

Who to be pre

And provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be held to limit or affect the power of a court of equity to appoint some other person guardian of such children when it shall be made to appear to said court that the welfare of said children requires it.

SEC. 1124. TESTAMENTARY GUARDIANS.-Every father or mother, whether of full age or not, when the other parent does not survive, may, by last will and testament, appoint a guardian of the person to have the care, custody, and tuition of his or her infant child, not being a married female; and if the person so appointed shall refuse the trust, said court may appoint another person in his place.

SEC. 1125. APPOINTMENT BY COURT.-If any infant shall have neither natural nor testamentary guardian, a guardian of the person may be appointed by the probate court in its own discretion or on the application of any next friend of such infant.

SEC. 1126. WHEN GUARDIANSHIP CEASES.-The natural guardianship or the appointive guardianship of the person aforesaid shall cease, in the case of a male infant when he is twenty-one years of age, and in the case of a female infant when she is eighteen years of age or marries.

SEC. 1127. WHEN GUARDIAN OF ESTATE IS APPOINTED BY COURT. Subject to the provisions of the preceding sections of this chapter, whenever land shall descend or be devised to any infant under twentyone years of age, or such infant shall be entitled to a distributive share of the personal estate of an intestate, or to a legacy or bequest under a last will, or shall acquire any real or personal property by gift or purchase, the said court may appoint a guardian of said infant's estate; and if there shall be a guardian of the person of such infant the guardian of the estate so appointed may be the same or a different person. The said appointment may be made at any time after the probate of the will or the grant of administration where the infant is entitled as devisee, legatee, or next of kin.

SEC. 1128. PREFERENCES -Whenever it shall be necessary for the ferred as guardian. court to appoint a guardian of the infant's estate, as aforesaid, the father, if living, or, if he be dead, then the mother, if living, or, if the infant be a married female her husband, shall have the preference over other persons, unless the infant be over fourteen years of age, as hereinafter directed:

-must be a suitable person.

Husband or parent enjoined.

Provided, That in the judgment of the court the parent or husband so entitled shall be a suitable person to have the management of the infant's estate.

SEC. 1129. HUSBAND OR PARENT ENJOINED.-On the application of any friend of an infant entitled to real or personal estate, or in the exercise of its own discretion, the court may enjoin any parent or husband or testamentary guardian of such infant from interfering with said infant's estate without being appointed and giving bond as guardian of such estate.

Consent of in

SEC. 1130. CONSENT OF INFANT.-When it shall be necessary to appoint a guardian, either of the person or the estate, of an infant, fant to selection of guardian. the infant shall, if practicable, be brought before the court, and, if over the age of fourteen years, shall be entitled to select and nominate his or her guardian; and if a guardian shall have been appointed before the infant has attained the age of fourteen years, the said infant, upon arriving at said age, may select a new guardian, notwithstanding the appointment before made:

approval by

Provided, however, That the court shall, in all cases, approve the character and competency of the guardian selected by the infant, and court, etc. such guardian shall be under the same obligations and discharge the same duties as if selected by the court; and whenever, after a guardian of the estate has been previously appointed, the infant shall select a new guardian upon arriving at the age of fourteen years, and said new selection is approved by the court, and the person so selected is duly appointed and qualified, the guardian previously appointed shall settle his final account and turn over his ward's estate to the newly appointed guardian.

SEC. 1131. BOND OF GUARDIAN. Every guardian appointed by the court, except corporations authorized to act as guardians, before enter- ian. ing upon or taking possession of or interfering with the estate of the infant, shall execute a bond to the United States in such penalty and with such surety or sureties as the court shall approve, to be recorded and to be liable to be put in suit for the use of any person interested, with the following condition:

"The condition of the above obligation is such that if the above bounden as guardian to shall faithfully account to the court, as required by law, for the management of the property and estate of the infant under his care, and shall also deliver up said property agreeably to the order of the court or the directions of law, and shall in all respects perform the duty of guardian to the said according to law, then the above obligation shall cease; it shall otherwise remain in full force and virtue.”

same

SEC. 1132. ONE BOND FOR SEVERAL WARDS.-Where the same person is guardian to any number of persons entitled to shares of the estate the court may accept one bond instead of separate bonds for each ward, and said bond shall be liable to be put in suit for the use of all or either of the wards as fully as separate bonds might be.

Bond of guard

-condition.

One bond for

several wards.

Possession to

SEC. 1133. POSSESSION TO GUARDIAN.-On the execution of his bond, as required as aforesaid, the guardian shall be entitled to an order of guardian. the court directing the real and personal estate of the ward to be delivered into his possession, and all legacies and distributive shares to which the ward may be entitled to be paid or delivered to him whenever they shall be properly payable or distributable according to law.

SEC. 1134. INVENTORY.-Every guardian, within three months after the execution and approval of his bond, shall return to the court, under oath, an inventory of the real and personal estate of his ward and of the probable annual income thereof, and the court may direct the said estate to be appraised and the annual income thereof to be ascertained by two competent persons, to be appointed by the court, who shall report their appraisement and finding under oath.

SEC. 1135. ACCOUNTS.-It shall be the duty of the guardian to manage the estate for the best interests of the ward, and once in each year, or oftener if required, he shall settle an account of his trust, under oath. He shall account for all profit and increase of his ward's estate and the annual value thereof, and shall be allowed credit for taxes, repairs, improvements, expenses, and commissions not exceeding ten per centum of the principal of the personal estate and on the annual income of the estate, and shall not be answerable for any loss or

Inventory.

Accounts.

Sale of realty.

Allowances.

Surety.

Final account.

Husband as guardian.

Nonresident in

fant.

decrease sustained without his fault; and the court shall determine the amounts to be annually expended in the maintenance and education of the infant, regard being had to his future condition and prospects in life; and the court, if it shall deem it advantageous to the ward, may allow the guardian to exceed the income of the estate and to make use of the principal and sell the same or part thereof, under its order, as hereinbefore provided in subchapter three of chapter one; but no guardian shall sell any property of his ward without an order of the court previously had therefor.

SEC. 1136. SALE OF REALTY.-Whenever any guardian shall think that the interests of his ward will be promoted by a sale of his real estate for the purpose of reinvesting the proceeds in other property or securities, he may make application therefor to the court, and such proceedings shall be had thereupon as directed in subchapter three of chapter one, aforesaid.

SEC. 1137. ALLOWANCES.-Any allowance which may be made to a guardian for the clothing, support, maintenance, education, or other expenses incurred for the ward or his estate, before said guardian shall have given bond or been appointed, shall have the same effect and operation in law as if the same had been made subsequently to the appointment of said guardian and his giving bond.

SEC. 1138. SURETY.-If any surety of a guardian, setting forth by petition that he apprehends himself to be in danger of suffering by said suretyship, shall pray to be relieved, the court, after service of a summons on the guardian to answer the petition, may order him to give counter security for the indemnity of the original surety, or to deliver the ward's estate into the hands of the surety or of some other person; in either of which cases the person into whose hands the ward's estate shall be delivered shall be required to give sufficient security for the proper management and application of the same, and such further order may be passed for the relief of the petitioner as may seem just.

SEC. 1139. FINAL ACCOUNT.-On the arrival of any ward at the age of twenty-one years the guardian shall exhibit a final account of his trust to the court, and shall deliver up, agreeably to the court's order, to the ward all the property of said ward in his hands, including bonds and other securities, and on his failure so to do his bond may be put in suit in the name of the United States for the use of the party interested, and he may be attached, as herein elsewhere provided.

SEC. 1140. HUSBAND AS GUARDIAN.-Whenever any female infant, to whom a guardian of her estate has been appointed, shall marry she may select her husband as the guardian of her said estate, with the approval of the court, and after he is duly appointed and qualified by giving bond, as is required in other cases, the powers of the guardian previously appointed shall cease, and he shall settle his final account and turn over his ward's estate to her husband, agreeably to the order and directions of the court.

SEC. 1141. NONRESIDENT INFANT.-Whenever any infant or lunatic residing without the District, but within the United States, is entitled to property in the District or to maintain any action therein, a general guardian of his estate, appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction in the State or Territory where said infant or lunatic resides, may apply to the court, by petition, for ancillary letters of guardianship. -petition for Said petition must be under oath and be accompanied with duly certiancillary letters of fied copies of the record and proceedings, showing the appointment of guardianship, etc. said guardian, and that he has given a sufficient bond to account for

all property and money that may come into his hands by virtue of the authority hereby conferred. The court may thereupon issue to said guardian ancillary letters of guardianship, without bond and without citation, or may cite such persons as it may think proper, to show cause why the said application should be refused.