Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 1.djvu/745

   to stamp any foreign bill of exchange, draft or order, for the payment of money in any foreign country, after the same shall be written or drawn. And if any person or persons, from or after the said thirty-first day of March, shall presume to write or draw, or cause to be written or drawn any such foreign bill, draft or order, or any duplicate or triplicate thereof, before the vellum, parchment or paper on which the same shall be drawn, shall be duly stamped, or shall sell, loan, endorse or remit any such foreign bill, draft or order, unless every duplicate, triplicate, and other bill of the same tenor and date, which shall be drawn, or intended to be drawn, shall be first duly stamped; then, and in every such case, the person or persons so offending, shall, for each offence, forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, according to the nature and aggravation of the offence.

. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons, at any time after the said thirty-first day of March next, shall knowingly and fraudulently write or engross, or cause to be written or engrossed, the whole or any part of any bond, bill, instrument, or other writing whatsoever, in respect whereof any duty is payable by the acts of Congress, or any of them, on the whole or any part of any piece of vellum, parchment or paper whereon there shall have been before written any other bond, bill, instrument, or other writing, in respect whereof any duty was payable by the said acts, or either of them, before such vellum, parchment or paper shall have been again marked or stamped, according to the said acts; or shall fraudulently erase or scrape out, or cause to be erased or scraped out, the name or names of any person or persons, or any sum, date or other thing written in such bond, bill, instrument or writing, or fraudulently cut, tear or get off, any mark or stamp from any piece of vellum, parchment or paper, or part thereof, with intent to use such stamp or mark for any writing or thing, in respect whereof any duty shall be payable by virtue of the said acts, or either of them, that then, so often, and in every such ease, every person, so offending, shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of two hundred dollars, and costs of suit.

. And be it further enacted, That if any writings, matters and things, in respect whereof any of the said duties shall be payable, and which shall be engrossed or written, after the said thirty-first day of March next, shall be written at a distance from the stamps or marks which shall, in pursuance of the said acts, or any of them, be placed on the vellum, parchment or paper, whereupon the same shall be written or engrossed, with intent fraudulently to evade the duties imposed by the said acts, or any of them, the person who shall write or engross, or cause to be written or engrossed any such writing, matter or thing, contrary to the tenor and true meaning hereof, shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred dollars, and full costs of suit.

. And be it further enacted, That the duties imposed by this act, shall be levied and collected in the same manner, and by the same persons, and under the same regulations, fines, penalties and forfeitures which are provided in and by the acts of Congress now in force, respecting the duties on stamped vellum, parchment and paper. And the said fines, penalties and forfeitures shall be sued for, and recovered in the same manner and to the same uses, as are provided in the said acts.

. And be it further enacted, That no duties shall be levied or collected upon any bonds required in any case by the laws of the United States, or of any state, upon legal process, or in any judicial proceeding, or for the faithful performance of any trust or duty; any thing in the above recited act to the contrary notwithstanding.

. And be it further enacted, That the supervisors shall severally be allowed upon all stamp duties, and upon all fines accruing thereupon, which shall be collected and accounted for by them respectively, the