Definitions. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States Title 1, Chap. 1. of America in Congress assembled, In determining the meaning of the Revised Statutes, or of any act or resolution of Congress passed subsequent to February twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, words importing the singular number may extend and be applied to several persons or things; words importing the plural number may include the singular; words importing the masculine gender may be applied to females; the words "insane person 66 " and lunatic" shall include every idiot, non-compos, lunatic, and insaue person; the word "person" may extend and be applied to partnerships and corporations, and the reference to any officer shall include any person authorized by law to perform the duties of such office, unless the context shows that such words were intended to be used in a more limited sense; and a requirement of an "oath" shall be deemed complied with by making affirmation in judicial form. 25 Feb., 1871. s. 2, v. 16. p. 431. 13 July, 1866, s. 44, v. 14, p. 163. 30 June, 1864, ss. 82, 126, v. 13, pp. 258, 287. 20 July, 1868, s. 104, v. 15, p. 166. SEC. 2. The word "county" includes a parish, or any other equiva- County. lent subdivision of a State or Territory of the United States. 13 July, 1866, s. 9, v. 14, pp. 98, 110. SEC. 3. The word "vessel" includes every description of water-craft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water. 18 July, 1866, s. 1, v. 14, p. 178. 29 June, 1870, s. 7, v. 16, p. 170. SEC. 4. The word "vehicle" includes every description of carriage or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on land. 18 July, 1866, s. 1, v. 14, p. 178. SEC. 5. The word "company" or "association," when used in reference to a corporation, shall be deemed to embrace the words "successors and assigns of such company or association," in like manner as if these last-named words, or words of similar import, were expressed. 25 July, 1866, s. 9, v. 14, p. 241. SEC. 6. In all cases where a seal is necessary by law to any commission, process, or other instrument provided for by the laws of Congress, it shall be lawful to affix the proper seal by making an impression therewith directly on the paper to which such seal is necessary; which shall be as valid as if made on wax or other adhesive substance. Vessel. Vehicle. Company, association. 12. Repeal not to revive former act. Seal. 13. Repeals not to affect liabilities, unless, &c. SEC. 7. The enacting clause of all acts of Congress hereafter enacted Title 1, Chap. 2. shall be in the following form: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assem bled.' Enacting clause. SEC. 8. The resolving clause of all joint resolutions shall be in the Resolving clause. following form: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled." No enacting SEC. 9. No enacting or resolving words shall be used in any section words after first of an act or resolution of Congress except in the first. section. Numbering and SEC. 10. Each section shall be numbered, and shall contain, as nearly frame of sections. as may be, a single proposition of enactment. Title of appropriation acts. Repe evive not to 25 Feb., 1871, s. 1, v. 16, p. 431. SEC. 11. The style and title of all acts making appropriations for the support of Government shall be as follows: "An act making appropriations (here insert the object) for the year ending June thirtieth (here insert the calendar year.) 26 Aug., 1842, s. 2, v. 5, p. 537. SEC. 12. Whenever an act is repealed, which repealed a former act, for mer such former act shall not thereby be revived, unless it shall be expressly so provided. Repeals not to affect liabilities unless, &c. Title 19. 25 Feb., 1871, s. 3, v. 16, p. 432. SEC. 13. The repeal of any statute shall not have the effect to release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or liability incurred under such statute, unless the repealing act shall so expressly provide, and such statute shall be treated as still remaining in force for the purpose of sustaining any proper action or prosecution for the enforcement of such penalty, forfeiture, or liability. Ibid, s. 4. SEC. 1777. The various officers of the United States, to whom, in virtue of their offices and for the uses thereof, copies of the United States Preservation of copies of Statutes Statutes at Large, published by Little, Brown and Company, have been at Large. or may be distributed at the public expense, by authority of law, shall preserve such copies, and deliver them to their successors respectively as a part of the property appertaining to the office. A printed copy of this section shall be inserted in each volume of the Statutes distributed to any such officers. Sec. 1043. Capital offenses. 1044. Offenses not capital. 1045. Fleeing from justice. 1046. Crimes under the revenue laws. Title 13, Chap. 19. Capital offenses. 8 Aug., 1846, s. 1, v. 9, p. 75. LIMITATIONS. Sec. 1047. Penalties and forfeitures under laws of the United States. 1048. Parties beyond reach of process during the rebellion. SEC. 1043. No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for trea son or other capital offense, willful murder excepted, unless the indict ment is found within three years next after such treason or capita offense is done or committed. 30 April, 1790, s. 32, v. 1, p. 119. Offenses not SEC. 1044. No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any capital. offense, not capital, except as provided in section one thousand and fortysix, unless the indictment is found, or the information is instituted within three years next after such offense shall have been committed; but this act shall not have the effect to authorize the prosecution, trial, or punishment for any offense. barred by the provisions of existing law. SEC. 1045. Nothing in the two preceding sections shall extend to any person fleeing from justice. SEC. 1046. No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any the revenue laws. crime arising under the revenue laws, or the slave-trade laws of the United States, unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within five years next after the committing of such crime. Penalties and forfeitures under laws of United States. 26 March, 1804, s. 3, v. 2, p. 290. SEC. 1047. No suit or prosecution for any penalty or forfeiture, pecuniary or otherwise, accruing under the laws of the United States, shall be maintained, except in cases where it is otherwise specially provided, unless the same is commenced within five years from the time when the penalty or forfeiture accrued: Provided, That the person of the offender, or the property liable for such penalty or forfeiture, shall, within the same period, be found within the United States; so that the proper process therefor may be instituted and served against such person or property. 28 Feb., 1839, s. 4, v. 5, p. 322, 20 April, 1818, s. 9, v. 3, p. 452. Parties beyond SEC. 1048. In all cases where, during the late rebellion, any person reach of process could not, by reason of resistance to the execution of the laws of the during the rebellUnited States, or of the interruption of the ordinary course of judicial ion. proceedings, be served with process for the commencement of any action, civil or criminal, which had accrued against him, the time during which such person was beyond the reach of legal process shall not be taken as any part of the time limited by law for the commencement of such action. 11 June, 1864, ch. 118, v. 13, p. 123. Title 74. What Revised SEC. 5595. The foregoing seventy-three titles embrace the statutes of the United States general and permanent in their nature, in force on the 1st day of December one thousand eight hundred and seventy-Statutes three, as revised and consolidated by commissioners appointed under brace. an act of Congress, and the same shall be designated and cited, as The Revised Statutes of the United States. vision. em SEC. 5596. All acts of Congress passed prior to said first day of De- Repeal of acts cember one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, any portion of embraced in rewhich is embraced in any section of said revision, are hereby repealed, and the section applicable thereto shall be in force in lieu thereof; all parts of such acts not contained in such revision, having been repealed or superseded by subsequent acts, or not being general and permanent in their nature: Provided, That the incorporation into said revision of any general and permanent provision, taken from an act making appropriations, or from an act containing other provisions of a private, local, or temporary character, shall not repeal, or in any way affect any appropriation, or any provision of a private, local, or temporary character, contained in any of said acts, but the same shall remain in force; and all acts of Congress passed prior to said last-named day no part of which are embraced in said revision, shall not be affected or changed by its enactment. SEC. 5597. The repeal of the several acts embraced in said revision, shall not affect any act done, or any right accruing or accrued, or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil cause before the said repeal, but all rights and liabilities under said acts shall continue, and may be enforced in the same manner, as if said repeal had not been made; nor shall said repeal, in any manner affect the right to any office, or change the term or tenure thereof. Accrued rights reserved. SEC. 5598. All offenses committed, and all penalties or forfeitures in- Prosecution s curred under any statute embraced in said revision prior to said repeal, and punish. may be prosecuted and punished in the same manner and with the same effect, as if said repeal had not been made. ments. Acts of limita tion. SEC. 5599 All acts of limitation, whether applicable to civil causes and proceedings, or to the prosecution of offenses, or for the recovery of penalties or forfeitures, embraced in said revision and covered by said repeal, shall not be affected thereby, but all suits, proceedings or prosecutions, whether civil or criminal, for causes arising, or acts done or committed prior to said repeal, may be commenced and prosecuted within the same time as if said repeal had not been made. SEC. 5600. The arrangement and classification of the several sections Arrangement of the revision have been made for the purpose of a more convenient and orderly arrangement of the same, and therefore no inference or presumption of a legislative construction is to be drawn by reason of the Title, under which any particular section is placed. and classification of sections. SEC. 5601. The enactment of the said revision is not to affect or repeal Acts passed any act of Congress passed since the 1st day of December, one thousand since December 1, 1873, not affect. eight hundred and seventy-three, and all acts passed since that date are ed. to have full effect as if passed after the enactment of this revision, and Title 5. Promulgation of laws. 20 June, 1874. so far as such acts vary from, or conflict with any provision contained in said revision, they are to have effect as subsequent statutes, and as repealing any portion of the revision inconsistent there with. 22 June, 1874. PRINTING AND PROMULGATION OF LAWS. SEC. 204. Whenever a bill, order, resolution or vote of the Senate and House of Representatives, having been approved by the President, or not having been returned by him with his objections, becomes a law or takes effect, it shall forthwith be received by the Secretary of State from the President; and whenever a bill, order, resolution, or vote is returned by the President with his objections, and, on being reconsidered, is agreed to be passed, and is approved by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress, and thereby becomes a law or takes effect, it shall be received by the Secrstary of State from the President of the Senate, or Speaker of the House of Representatives in whichsoever House it shall last have been so approved, and he shall carefully preserve the originals. 15 Sept, 1789, s. 2, v. 1, p. 68. 7 July, 1838, v. 5, p. 302. 28 Dec., 1874. ch. 9, v. 18, p. 294. That the Secretary of State is hereby charged with the duty of Preparation of causing to be prepared for printing, publication and distribution the Revised Statutes revised statutes of the United States enacted at this present session of for printing, &c. Congress; that he shall cause to be completed the head notes of the several titles and chapters and the marginal notes referring to the statutes from which each section was compiled and repealed by said revision; and references to the decisions of the courts of the United States explaining or expounding the same, and such decisions of State courts as he may deem expedient, with a full and complete index to the same. Certification And when the same shall be completed, the said Secretary shall duly by Secretary of State; printed certify the same under the seal of the Department of State, and when copies to be evi- printed and promulgated as hereinafter provided, the printed volumes shall be legal evidence of the laws and treaties therein contained, in Title of revis all the courts of the United States, and of the several States and Territories. dence. ion. Revision relat trict. 20 June, 1874, s. 2, v. 18, p. 113. 28 Dec., 1874, s. 1, v. 18, p. 283. That the revision of the statutes of a general and permanent nature, ing to the Dis- with the index thereto, shall be printed in one volume, and shall be entitled and labeled "Revised Statutes of the United States"; and the revision of the statutes relating to the District of Columbia; to post roads, and the public treaties in force on the first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, with a suitable index to each, shall be published in a separate volume, and entitled and labeled "Revised Statutes relating to District of Columbia and Post-Roads. Public Treaties." To be stereotyped, &c. Distribution and sale. 20 June, 1874, s. 3, v. 18, p. 113. That the Secretary of State shall cause the two volumes to be stereotyped and such number of each volume to be printed and substantially bound at the Government Printing Office as he may deem needful, for public distribution as hereinafter provided, and for sale by his office. Idem, s. 4. [The statutes of the United States are edited, printed, stereotyped and distributed, in accordance with law, under the direction of the Secretary of State. They are sold at the cost of the paper, press work and binding with ten per cent. added thereto, to any person applying for the same. Under section 8 of the act of Congress approved June 20, 1874, vol. 18, p. 113, the printed copies of the acts of Congress, as edited and printed and issued under the direction of the Secretary of State, are legal evidence of the laws and treaties therein contained, in all the courts of the United States and of the several States therein." The 6th section of the act of Congress approved June 20, 1874, provides for the distribution to the Navy Department, including those for the use of the officers of the Navy, of one hundred copies of the pamphlet edition of the acts and resolves of Congress at the close of each session; and the 7th section of the same act provides for distribution of the bound copies of the Statutes at Large for each Congress as follows: "To the Navy Department, including a copy for the library at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, a copy for the library of each navy-yard in the United States, a copy for the library of the Brooklyn Naval Lyceum, and a copy for the library of the Naval Institute at Charlestown, Mass., sixty-five copies." * # * Joint Resolution No. 22, approved May 22, 1878, v. 20, p. 251, provided for the distribution of the 2d edition of the Revised Statutes recently printed: To the "Navy Department, including three copies for the library of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, a copy for the library of each navy-yard in the United States, a copy for the Brooklyn Naval Lyceum, and a copy for the library of the Naval Institute at Charlestown, Mass., seventy copies.". Joint Resolution No. 44, approved June 7, 1880, V. 21, p. 308, provides for the publication, sale, and distribution of a "supplement to the Revised Statutes." This supplement is "to be taken to be prima facie evidence of the laws therein contained in all the courts of the United States and of the several States and Territories therein; but shall not preclude reference to, nor control, in case of any discrepancy, the effect of any original act as passed by Congress; Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to change or alter any existing law." The acts approved March 2, 1877, chap. 82, s. 4, v. 19, p. 268, and March 9, 1878, chap. 26, v. 20, p. 27, provide that after the 2d edition of the Revised Statutes is certified to under the seal of the Secretary of State and when printed and promulgated "shall be legal evidence of the laws therein contained, in all the courts of the United States, and of the several States and Territories, but shall not preclude reference to, nor control, in case of any discrepancy, the effect of any original act as passed by Congress since the first day of December, eighteen hundred and seventy-three."] NOTES.-Whenever a power is given by a statute everything necessary to the making of it effectual or requisite to attain the end is implied." (1 Kent's Com., 464.)-Quoted in Op. XV, p. 213. Where power is given by a statute to public officers in permissive language, as they may if deemed advisable" do a certain thing, the language used will be regarded as peremptory when the public interests or individual rights require that it should be.-Wallace, S. C., IV, p. 709. Where a statute imposes a particular duty on an executive officer and he has acted (performing the duty to his understanding of the statute) there is no appeal from his action to the President or to any other executive officer, unless such appeal is provided for by law.-Op. XVI, 317, Devens, May 2, 1879. When the intent and meaning of a statute is expressly declared by a provision therein, to carry out that intent all other parts of the act must yield. A proviso in an act "repugnant to the purview thereof is not void, but stands as the last expression of the legislative will."-Op. XV, p. 74. Quotes Farmers' Bank vs. Hale, 59, N. Y., 53. A general repealing clause, such as is often introduced at the close of enactments, may make the legislative intent clearer, but it is not necessary to give effect to the legislation otherwise expressed.-C. C., XX, 323. Fisher's case. A later statute, in the affirmative and general, does not take away a former act which is particular and special. Sundry cases cited.-Op. VI, p. 45, Cushing. An earlier law is never to be taken as repealed by a later, without words to that effect, unless they be so inconsistent that both cannot stand together.Op. IX, p. 48, Black. The earlier is never abrogated by the later unless the two are so flatly repugnant that they cannot possibly stand together. Any reasonable interpretation is to be adopted which may be necessary to prevent one from interfering with the other.-Idem, p. 122. No statute, however positive in terms, is to be construed as designed to interfere with existing rights of action or vested rights unless the intention that it should so operate is expressly declared or necessarily implied.-C. C., IX, p. 106, S. C., Wallace, XX, p. 179. A statute may not be repealed, yet its subject-matter may expire and the act become inoperative.-C. C., III, 152, Wallace, 62. In all statute law, the particular provision, especially whenever subsequent, restrains and modifies the general.-Op. IV, p. 182. In construing statutes aid may be derived from attention to the state of things as it appeared to the legislature when the statute was enacted.—S. C., Otto, 99, p. 48. The principle is well settled that statutes are to be construed as operative prospectively only, unless their language clearly and imperatively demands that retrospective effect shall be given them.-Op. XV, p. 222, 259. A retroactive effect, especially when it would be a violation of contracts, is not to be given to the words of a statute unless they are too express to admit of any other interpretation.-Op. IV, p. 141. No effect can be given by the judiciary to an act of Congress which seeks to declare retrospectively the legal effect to be given to other statutes.-C. C., VII, 109, Wallace, VIII, 330. Every law is presumed to be prospective in its operation unles the contrary clearly appears.-Op. XV, 183. |