Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 31.djvu/1241

 FIFTY-SIXTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. CHS. 853, 854. 1901. 1189 situated, but not burned. Thatthe value of each building so condemned and burned shall be determined by the Secretary from the petitions and evidence filed before said commission by the owners or occupiers thereof, by order of said commission, and now on file in the Interior Department, or such other evidence as the claimants may file, and after such investigation as he may think proper. Sec. 5. That a sum of money sufficient to pay for such investigation ;i;}§{',§,§,f,§°‘ "**l“°S and the claims so ascertained and fixed by the Secretary of the Interior ` be, and is hereby, appropriated, out of any .money in the Treasury not otherwise appro(priated; and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and irected to pay to such person or persons, claimants, their executors, administrators, the sum or sums of money equal to the values so as aforesaid found by him. ‘ SEc. 6. That the Secretary of the Interior is required to report to -'°P°"~ Congress the results of his action under the foregoing sections. Approved, March 3, 1901. CHAP. 854.-An Act To establish a code of law for the District of Columbia. Merch 3· lim- Be it enacted by the Senate and }I0use of Representattces 0 f the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following is hereby 1Q,§§§§°g{’f,‘;Ql“§;{’aig enacted and declared to be a code of law for the District of Columbia, lished. to go into eifect and operation from and after the first day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and two. C
 * 2. And be étfurtber enacted, That in the interpretation and construc- t. Rules Of i¤¢¤r1~r·i=¢+>»

tion of said code the following rules shall be observed, namely: wi" First. Words importing the singular number shall be held to include the plural, and vice versa, except where such construction would be unreasonable., Second. W01’dS importing the masculine gender shall be held to include all genders, except where such construction would be absurd or unreasonable. Third, The word "person" shall be held to apply to partnerships and corporations, unless such construction would be unreasonable, and the reference to any officer shall include any person authorized by law to perform the duties of his office, unless the context shows that such words were intended to be used in a more limited sense. Fourth. Wherever the word "executor" is used it shall include "administrator," and vice versa, unless such application of the term would be unreasonable. ~ Fifth. Wherever an oath is required an affirmation in judicial form, if made by a person conscientiously scrupulous `about takingan, oath, shall be deemed a sufficient compliance. ··ic · Sixth. The words "insane person" and " lunatic " shall include every idiot, non compos, lunatic, and insane person. · CHAPTER ONE. LAVVS REMAINING IN FORCE. SECTION 1. The common law, all British statutes in force in Mary- forigws remaining i¤ land on the twenty-seventh day of February, eighteen hundred‘and ` one, the principles of equity and admiralty, all general acts·of Congress not locally inapplicable in the District of Columbia, and all acts of Congress by their terms applicable to the District of Columbia and to other places under the jurisdiction of the United States, in force at the dat.e of the passage of this act shall remain in force except in so far as the same are inconsistent with, or are replaced by, some pro- Vision of this code.