Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/282



recover double costs; and in actions, suits, or informations, to be brought where any seizure shall be made pursuant to this act, or any other act relative to internal duties, if the property be claimed by any person, in every such case the onus probandi shall be upon such claimant: but the onus probandi shall lie on the claimant only when probable cause is shown for such prosecution, to be judged of by the court before whom the prosecution is had.

. And be it further enacted, That all penalties accruing by any breach of this act, or any act relative to internal duties shall be sued for and recovered, with costs of suit, in the name of the United States of America, or of the collector, in any court competent to try the same, and the trial of any fact which may be put in issue, shall be within the judicial district in which any such penalty shall have accrued, or seizure been made; and the collector within whose district the seizure shall be made, or forfeiture incurred, is hereby enjoined to cause suits for the same to be commenced without delay, and prosecuted to effect; and is, moreover, authorized to receive from the court before whom such trial is had, or from the proper officer thereof, the sum or sums so recovered, after deducting all proper charges to be allowed by the said court, and on receipt thereof, the said collector shall pay and distribute the same, without delay, according to law, and transmit quarter-yearly to the commissioner of the revenue, an account of all moneys by him received for fines, penalties, and forfeitures, during such quarter. And all goods, wares, and merchandise, or other objects, which shall become forfeited in virtue of this act, or of any act relative to internal duties, shall be seized and prosecuted for as aforesaid, before the proper court, which court shall cause fourteen days’ notice to be given of such seizure, setting forth the articles seized, with the time and place appointed for trial, to be inserted in some newspaper published near the place of seizure, if any such there be, 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 if no person shall appear and claim such articles, and give bond to defend the prosecution thereof, and to respond the costs, 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, that any articles, so seized and prosecuted, or any part thereof, should be delivered to him, it shall be lawful for the court to appoint three proper persons to appraise such articles, who shall be sword 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 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 articles, so prayed to be delivered, are appraised, which bond shall be lodged with the proper officer of the court, the said court shall order the said articles to be delivered to the said claimant, and if judgment shall pass in favour of the claimant, the said bond shall be cancelled: but if judgment shall pass against the claimant, as to the whole, or any part of such articles, 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 articles so condemned, with the costs, judgment shall and may be granted upon the bond without further delay. And where any prosecution shall be commenced on account of the seizure of any such goods, wares, and merchandise or other objects, and judgment shall be given for the claimant, if it shall appear to the court before whom such prosecution shall be tried, that there was reasonable cause of seizure, the said court shall cause a proper certificate or entry to be made thereof, and in such case the claimant shall not be entitled