Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 32 Part 1.djvu/713

 FIFTY -SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 1362. 1902. 647 courts in the Indian Territory, under the said Act of June 10, 1896, should have been confined to a review of the action of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, u(pon the papers and evidence submitted to such commission, and shoul not have extended to a trial de novo of the question of citizenship; and it being desirable to finally deter- n §il{_{¤ °¤¤l¤,*g Mr mine these questions, the two nations, jointly, or either of said nations siiixis. cj' com emacting separately and making the other a party defendant, may, within 90 days after this a reement becomes effective, by a bill in equity filed in the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court hereinafter named, seek "”*· P- °“· the annulment and vacation of all such decisions by said courts. Ten per- u;’§§j§,'““8' l" °*°*‘ sons so admitted to citizensh§p or enrollment by said courts, with notice i to one but not to both of said nations, shall be made defendants to said suit as representatives of the entire class of persons similarly situated, the number of such persons being too numerous to require all of them to be made individual parties to the suit; but any person so situated may, upon his application, be made a party defendant to the suit. Notice of the institution of said suit shall be personally served upon Notice-. the chief executive of the defendant nation, if either nation be made a party defendant as aforesaid, and u on each of said ten representa— ‘ tive defendants, and shall also be publiished for a period of four weeks in at least two weekly newspapers having general circulation in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. Such notice shall set forth the nature and prayer of the bill, with the time for answering the same, which shall not be less than thirty days after the last publication. Said suit shall be determined at the earliest practicable time, shall be confined to a final determination of the questions of law here named, and shall be without prejudice to the determination of any charge or claim that the admission of such persons to citizens ip or enrollment by said United States courts in the Indian Territory was wrongfully obtained as provided in the next section. In the event said citizenship judgments or decisions are annulled or vacated in the test suit hereinbefore authorized, because of either or both of the irregularities claimed and insisted upon by said nations as aforesaid, then the files, papers and proceedings in any citizenship case in which the judgment or decision is so annulled or vacated, shall, upon written application therefor, made within ninety days thereafter by any party thereto, who is thus deprived of a favorab e judgment upon his claimed citizenship, be transferred and certified to said citizenship court by the court aving custody and control of such files, papers and proceedings, and, upon the filing in such citizenship court of the files, papers and proceedings in any such citizenship case, accompanied by ue proof that notice in writing of the transfer and certification thereof has been given to the chief executive omcer of each of said nations, said citizenship case shall be docketed in said citizenship court, and such further roceedings shall be had therein in that court as ou ht to have been had) in the court to which the same was taken on appealqfrom the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, and as if no judgment or decision had been rendered therein. 32. Said citizenship court shall also have appellate jurisdiction over ££¤·1i¤¤¤¤- all judgments of the courts in Indian Territory rendered under said ’°‘?°°‘ Act of Congress of June tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, admitting persons to citizenshi or to enrollment as citizens in either of said nations. The right ofp a peal may be exercised by the said APW1- natzons jointly or b eidier of them acting separately at any time within six months afier this agreement is finally ratified. ln the exercise of such appellate jurisdiction said citizenship court shall be authorized to consider. review, and revise all such jud ments, both as to findings of fact and conclusions of law, and may. wherever in its judgment substantial justice will thereby be subserved, permit either party to any such appeal to take and present such further evidence as may