Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 40 Part 1.djvu/243

 , and deputy marshals of the United States, and every other person duly authorized for the purpose by the President, may seize and detain any articles or munitions of war about to be exported or shipped from, or taken out of the United States, in violation of law, and the vessels or vehicles containing the same, and retain possession thereof until released or disposed of as hereinafter directed. If upon due inquiry as hereinafter provided, the property seized shall appear to have been about to be so unlawfully exported, shipped from, or taken out of the United States, the same shall be forfeited to the United States.

. It shall be the duty of the person making any seizure under this title to a ply, with due diligence, to the judge of the district court of the Unite States, or to the judge of the United States district court of the Canal Zone, or to the judge of a court of first instance in the Philippine Islands, having jurisdiction over the place within which the seizure is made, for a warrant to justify the further detention of the property so seized, which warrant shall be granted only on oath or affirmation showing that there is known or probable cause to believe that the property seized is being or is intended to be exported or shipped from or taken out of the United States in violation of law; and if the judge refuses to issue the warrant, or application therefor is not made by the person making the seizure within a reasonable time, not exceeding ten days after the seizure, the property shall forthwith be restored to the owner or person from whom seized. If the judge is satisfied that the seizure was justified under the provisions of this title and issues his warrant accordingly, then the property shall be detained by the person seizing it until the President, who is hereby expressly authorized so to do, orders it to be restored to the owner or claimant, or until it is discharged in due course of law on petition of the claimant, or on trial of condemnation proceedings, as hereinafter provided.

. The owner or claimant of any property seized under, this title may, at any time before condemnation proceedings have been instituted, as hereinafter provided, file his petition for its restoration in the district court of the United States, or the district court of the Canal Zone, or the court of first instance in the Philippine Islands, having jurisdiction over the place in which the seizure was made, whereupon the court shall advance the cause for hearing and determination with all possible dispatch, and, after causing notice to be given to the United States attorney for the district and to the person making the seizure, shall proceed to hear and decide whether the roperty seized shall be restored to the petitioner or forfeited to the United States.

. Whenever the person making any seizure under this title applies for and obtains a warrant for the detention of the property, and (a) upon the hearing and determination of the petition of the owner or claimant restoration is denied, or (b) the owner or claimant fails to file a petition for restoration within thirty days after the seizure, the United States attorney for the district wherein it was seized, upon direction of the Attorney General, shall institute libel proceedings in the United States district court or the district court of the Canal Zone or the court of first instance of the Philippine Islands having jurisdiction over the place wherein the seizure was made, against the property for condemnation; and if, after trial and hearing of the issues involved, the property is condemned, it shall be disposed of by sale, and the proceeds thereof, less the legal costs and charges, paid into the Treasury.

. The proceedings in such summary trials upon the petition of the owner or claimant of the property seized, as well as in the libel cases herein provided for, shall conform, as near as may be, to the proceedings in admiralty, except that either party may demand trial by jury of any issue of fact joined in such libel cases, and all such