(ACT of September 24th, 1789.) terrogatories, if he think fit, be first made out and served on the adverse party, or his attorney, as either may be nearest, if either is within one hundred miles of the place of such caption, allowing time for their attendance after notified, not less than at the rate of one day, Sundays exclusive, for every twenty miles travel. And in causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction or other cases of seizure, when a libel shall be filed, in which an adverse party is not named, and depositions of persons, circumstanced as aforesaid, shall be taken before a claim be put in, the like notification, as aforesaid, shall be given to the person having the agency or possession of the property libelled at the time of the capture or seizure of the same, if known to the libellant. And every person deposing as aforesaid, shall be carefully examined and cautioned and sworn or affirmed to testify the whole truth, and shall subscribe the testimony by him or her given, after the same shall be reduced to writing, which shall be done only by the magistrate taking the deposition, or by the deponent in his presence. And the depositions so taken shall be retained by such magistrate, until he deliver the same with his own hand into the court for which they are taken, or shall, together with a certificate of the reasons as aforesaid, of their being taken, and of the notice, if any given, to the adverse party, be by him, the said magistrate, sealed up and directed to such court, and remain under his seal until opened in court. And any person may be compelled to appear and depose as aforesaid, in the same manner as to appear and testify in court. And in the trial of any cause of admiralty or maritime jurisdiction in a district court, the decree in which may be appealed from, if either party shall suggest to and satisfy the court, that probably it will not be in his power to produce the witnesses, there testifying, before the circuit court, should an appeal be had, and shall move that their testimony be taken down in writing, it shall be so done by the clerk of the court. And if an appeal be had, such testimony may be used on the trial of the same; if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court, which shall try the appeal, that the witnesses are then dead, or gone out of the United States, or to a greater distance than as aforesaid, from the place where the court is sitting; or that, by reason of age, sickness, bodily infirmity, or imprisonment, they are unable to travel and appear at court, but not otherwise. And unless the same shall be made to appear on the trial of any cause, with respect to witnesses whose depositions may have been taken therein, such depositions shall not be admitted or used in the cause. Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to prevent any court of the United States from granting a dedimus potestatem, to take depositions according to common usage, when it may be necessary to prevent a failure or delay of justice; which power they shall severally possess; nor to extend to depositions taken in perpetuam rei memoriam, which, if they relate to matters that may be cognizable in any court of the United (ACT of September 24th, 1789.) States, a circuit court, on application thereto made as a court of equity, may, according to the usages in chancery, direct to be taken. 28. SEC. XXXI. Where any suit shall be depending in any court of the United States, and either of the parties shall die before final judgment, the executor or administrator of such deceased party, who was plaintiff, petitioner, or defendant, in case the cause of action doth by law survive, shall have full power to prosecute or defend any such suit, or action, until final judgment; and the defendant or defendants are hereby obliged to answer thereto accordingly; and the court before whom such cause may be depending, is hereby empowered and directed to hear and determine the same, and to render judgment for or against the executor or administrator, as the case may require. And if such executor or administrator, having been duly served with a scire facias, from the office of the clerk of the court where such suit is depending, twenty days beforehand, shall neglect or refuse to become a party to the suit, the court may render judgment against the estate of the deceased party, in the same manner as if the executor or administrator had voluntarily made himself a party to the suit: And the executor or administrator, who shall become a party as aforesaid, shall, upon motion to the court where the suit is depending, be entitled to a continuance of the same until the next term of the said court. And if there be two or more plaintiffs, or defendants, and one or more of them shall die, if the cause of action shall survive to the surviving plaintiff or plaintiffs, or against the surviving defendant or defendants, the writ or action shall not be thereby abated; but such death being suggested upon the record, the action shall proceed at the suit of the surviving plaintiff or plaintiffs, against the surviving defendant or defendants. 29. SEC. XXXII. No summons, writ, declaration, return, process, judgment, or other proceedings in civil causes, in any of the courts of the United States, shall be abated, arrested, quashed, or reversed, for any defect or want of form, but the said courts, respectively, shall proceed and give judgment according as the right of the cause, and matter in law, shall appear unto them, without regarding any imperfections, defects, or want of form in such writ, declaration, or other pleading, return, process, judgment, or course of proceeding whatsoever, except those only in cases of demurrer, which the party demurring shall specially set down and express together, with his demurrer as the cause thereof. And the said courts, respectively, shall and may, by virtue of this act, from time to time, amend all and every such imperfections, defects, and wants of form, other than those only which the party demurring shall express as aforesaid; and may, at any time, permit either of the parties to amend any defect in the process or pleadings, upon such conditions as the said courts, respectively, shall, in their discretion, and by their rules, prescribe. [Infra, 46.] SEC. XXXIII. [Of Arrests, Bail, and Imprisonment, see Bail, 1. ante page 78.] (ACT of June 23d, 1790.) 30. SEC. XXXIV. The laws of the several states, except where the constitution, treaties, or statutes, of the United States, shall otherwise require or provide, shall be regarded as rules of decision in trials at common law, in the courts of the United States, in cases where they apply. SEC. 35. [See Attorney 1, ante page 75.] Act of June 4, 1790. 2 Bioren, 108. 31. SEC. I. The act, entitled "An act to establish the judicial courts of the United States," shall have the like force and effect within the state of North Carolina, as elsewhere within the United States. SEC. II. The said state shall be one district, to be called North Carolina district; and there shall be a district court therein, to consist of one judge, who shall reside in the district, and be called a district judge, and shall hold annually four sessions: [the times for holding the district courts prescribed, see Infra, 68, &c.] 32. SEC. IV. There shall be allowed to the judge of the said district, the yearly compensation of fifteen hundred dollars, to commence from his appointment, and to be paid at the treasury of the United States in quarterly payments. Act of June 23, 1790. 2 Bioren, 110. 33. SEC. I. The act, entitled " An act to establish the judicial courts of the United States," shall have the like force and effect within the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, as elsewhere within the United States. SEC. II. The said state shall be one district, to be called Rhode Island district: and there shall be a district court therein, to consist of one judge, who shall reside in the district, and be called a district judge, and shall hold, annually, four sessions; the first to commence on the first Monday in August next, and the other three sessions, progressively, on the like Monday of every third calendar month afterwards. The stated district court shall be held, alternately, at the towns of Newport and Providence, beginning at the first. SEC. III. The said district shall be, and the same is hereby annexed to the eastern circuit: And there shall be held, annually, in the said district, two circuit courts; [times prescribed, Infra, 81.] except when any of the days shall happen on a Sunday, and then the session shall commence on the day following. And the sessions of the said circuit courts shall be held, alternately, at the said towns of Newport and Providence, beginning at the last. 34. SEC. IV. There shall be allowed to the judge of the said district, the yearly compensation of eight hundred dollars, to commence from his appointment, and to be paid at the treasury of the United States, in quarterly payments. [Infra, 53.] Act of March 2, 1791. 2 Bioren, 201. 35. SEC. 1. From and after the third day of March next, all the laws of the United States, which are not locally inapplicable, ought to have, and shall have, the same force and effect within the state of Vermont, as elsewhere within the United States. And to the end that the act, entitled "An act to establish the judicial courts of the United States," may be duly administered within the said state of Vermont, SEC. 11. The said state shall be one district, to be denominated Vermont district; and there shall be a district court therein, to consist of one judge, who shall reside within the said district; and be called a district judge, [times altered, infra, 65, 76.] The district court shall be held, alternately, at the towns of Rutland and Windsor, beginning at the first. 36. SEC. IV. There shall be allowed to the judge of the said district court, the yearly compensation of eight hundred dollars, to commence from the time of his appointment, and to be paid, quarter yearly, at the treasury of the United States. АСТ ACT of May 8, 1792. 2 Bioren, 299. An act for regulating processes in the courts of the United States, &c. 37. SEC. I. All writs and processes issuing from the supreme or a circuit court, shall bear teste of the chief justice of the supreme court, (or, if that office shall be vacant,) of the associate justice next in precedence; and all writs and processes issuing from a district court, shall bear teste of the judge of such court, (or, if that office shall be vacant,) of the clerk thereof, which said writs and processes shall be under the seal of the court from whence they issue, and signed by the clerk thereof. The seals shall be provided at the expense of the United States. SEC. II. The forms of writs, executions, and other process, except their style, and the forms and modes of proceeding in suits, in those of common law, shall be the same as are now used in the said courts, respectively, in pursuance of the act, entitled "An act to regulate processes in the courts of the United States;" in those of equity, and in those of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, according to the principles, rules, and usages, which belong to courts of equity and to courts of admiralty, respectively, as contradistinguished from courts of common law; except so far as may have been provided for by the act to establish the judicial courts of the United States; subject, however, to such alterations and additions as the said courts, 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 rule, to prescribe to any circuit or district court concerning the same: Provided, That on judgments in any of the cases aforesaid, where different kinds of executions are issuable in succession, a (ACT of May 8th, 1792.) capias ad satisfaciendum being one, the plaintiff shall have his election to take out a capias ad satisfaciendum in the first in stance. SEC. III. [Repealed and supplied, infra, 57, &c.] 38. SEC. IV. The marshal shall have the custody of all vessels and goods seized by any officer of the revenue, and shall be allowed such compensation therefor as the court may judge reasonable: And there shall be paid to the marshal the amount of the expense for fuel, candles, and other reasonable contingencies, that may accrue in holding the courts within his district, and providing the books necessary to record the proceedings thereof; and such amount, as also the compensations aforesaid to the grand and petit jurors, to the witnesses summoned on the part of the United States, to the clerk of the supreme court for his attendance, to the clerks of the district and circuit courts for their travelling and attendance, to the attorney of the district for travelling to court, to the marshal for his attendance at court, for summoning grand and petit jurors, and witnesses, in behalf of any prisoner to be tried for a capital offence, for the maintenance of prisoners confined in goal for any criminal offence, and for the commitment or discharge of such prisoner, and, also, the legal fees of the clerk, attorney, and marshal, in criminal prosecutions, shall be included in the account of the marshal; and the same having been examined, and certified by the court, or one of the judges of it, in which the service shall have been rendered, shall be passed in the usual manner at, and the amount thereof paid out of, the treasury of the United States, to the marshal, and by him shall be paid over to the persons entitled to the same; and the marshal shall be allowed two and an half per cent. on the amount by him so paid over, to be charged in his future account. 39. SEC. v. In every prosecution for any fine or forfeiture incurred under any statutes of the United States, if judgment is rendered against the defendant, he shall be subject to the payment of costs. And on every conviction for any other offence not capital, the court may, in their discretion, award that the defendant shall pay the costs of prosecution. And if any informer or plaintiff, on a penal statute, to whose benefit the penalty, or any part thereof, if recovered, is directed by law to accrue, shall discontinue his suit or prosecution, or shall be nonsuit in the same, or if, upon trial, a verdict shall pass for the defendant, the court shall award to the defendant his costs, unless such informer or plaintiff be an officer of the United States, specially authorized to commence such prosecution; and the court before whom the action or information shall be tried, shall, at the trial, in open court, certify upon record, that there was reasonable cause for commencing the same, in which case no costs shall be adjudged to the defendant. 40. SEC. VI. The fees and compensations to the several officers and persons, hereinbefore mentioned, other than those which are |