Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 1.djvu/818



per court having cognizance thereof; which court shall cause fourteen days notice to be given of such seizure and libel, by causing the substance of such libel, with the order of the court thereon, setting forth the time and place appointed for trial, to be inserted in some newspaper published near the place of seizure, and also by posting up the same in the most public manner, for the space of fourteen days, at or near the place of trial; for which advertisement a sum not exceeding ten dollars shall be paid: And proclamation shall be made in such manner as the court shall direct; and if no person shall appear and claim any such ship or vessel, goods, wares or merchandise, and give bond to defend the prosecution thereof, and to respond the cost in case he shall not support his claim, the court shall proceed to hear and determine the cause according to law; and upon the prayer of any claimant to the court, that any ship or vessel, goods, wares or merchandise, so seized and prosecuted, or any part thereof, should be delivered to such claimant, it shall be lawful for the court to appoint three proper persons to appraise such ship or vessel, goods, wares or merchandise, who shall be sworn in open court for the faithful discharge of their duty; and such appraisement shall be made at the expense of the party on whose prayer it is granted; and on the return of such appraisement, if the claimant shall, with one or more sureties, to be approved of by the court, execute a bond in the usual form to the United States, for the payment of a sum equal to the sum at which the ship or vessel, goods, wares or merchandise, so prayed to be delivered, are appraised, and moreover produce a certificate from the collector of the district wherein such trial is had, and of the naval officer thereof, if any there be, that the duties on the goods, wares and merchandise, or tonnage duty on the ship or vessel, so claimed, have been paid or secured in like manner, as if the goods, wares or merchandise, ship or vessel had been legally entered, the court shall, by rule, order such ship or vessel, goods, wares or merchandise, to be delivered to the said claimant, and the said bond shall be lodged with the proper officer of the court, and if judgment shall pass in favour of the claimant, the court shall cause the said bond to be cancelled; but if judgment shall pass against the claimant, as to the whole, or any part of such ship or vessel, goods, wares or merchandise, and the claimant shall not within twenty days thereafter pay into the court, or to the proper officer thereof, the amount of the appraised value of such ship or vessel, goods, wares or merchandise so condemned, with the costs, judgment shall and may be granted upon the bond on motion in open court, without further delay. And when any prosecution shall be commenced, on account of the seizure of any ship or vessel, goods, wares or merchandise, and judgment shall be given for the claimant or claimants; if it shall appear to the court before whom such prosecution shall be tried, that there was a reasonable cause of seizure, the said court shall cause a proper certificate or entry to be made thereof, and in such case the claimant or claimants shall not be entitled to costs, nor shall the person who made the seizure, or the prosecutor, be liable to action, suit or judgment on account of such seizure and prosecution: Provided, that the ship or vessel, goods, wares or merchandise, be after judgment forthwith returned to such claimant or claimants, his, her, or their agent or agents: And provided, that no action or prosecution shall be maintained in any case under this act, unless the same shall have been commenced within three years next after the penalty or forfeiture was incurred.

. And be it further enacted, That all ships or vessels, goods, wares or merchandise, which shall be condemned by virtue of this act, and for which bond shall not have been given by the claimant or claimants, agreeably to the provisions for that purpose in the foregoing section, shall be sold by the marshal or other proper officer of the court in which condemnation shall be had, to the highest bidder, at public