Chapter XLVII. *to facilitate the Collection of certain Debts due the United States.* Feb. 23, 1865. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Unite d States of America in Congress assembled,* That in all cases where debts THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS
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Chap. XLVII.— An Act *to facilitate the Collection of certain Debts due the United States.* Feb. 23, 1865. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Unite d States of America in Congress assembled,* That in all cases where debts THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 47. 1865. 433are due from postmasters, mail-contractors, or other officers, agents, or When warrant of attachment may issue Against property of debtors to Post-Office Department.employees of the Post-Office Department, who are in default or delin-quency, a warrant of attachment may issue against all property, real and personal, possessions, and rights legal, equitable, and contingent, belonging to such officer and his sureties, or either of them, in the following cases:
First. When any such officer, agent, or employee, and his sureties, or Those in rebellion. 1862, ch. 195. Vol. xii. p. 589. Vol. xii. p. 1266.either of them, has, within the meaning of the act of July seventeen, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, chapter one hundred and ninety-five, and the proclamation of the President in pursuance thereof, dated the twenty-fifth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, participated in, aided, abetted, or countenanced any rebellion against the United States.
Second. When such officer, agent, or employee, and his sureties, or Non-residents, &c.either of them, is a non-resident of the district where such officer was appointed, or has departed from such district for the purpose of residing permanently out of such district, or of defrauding the United States, or of avoiding the service of civil process. Third. When such officer or his sureties, or either of them, has conveyed Conveyance, &c., of property with intent to defraud.away or is about to convey away his property, or any part thereof, or has removed or is about to remove his property, or any part thereof, from the district wherein the same is situated, with intent to defraud the United States.
And where such removal has taken place, certified copies Removal of property.of the warrant may be sent to the marshal of any other district into which such property may have been removed, under which certified copies it shall be lawful for such marshal to seize such property and convey it to some convenient point within the jurisdiction of the court from which the warrant originally issued. Alias warrants may issue upon due application, Alias warrants.and the validity of the warrant first issued shall continue until the return day thereof.
Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That application for such warrant Application for warrant, how made.may be made by any district attorney or assistant district attorney, or any other person authorized by the Postmaster-General, before any judge, or, in his absence, before any clerk of any court of the United States having original jurisdiction of the cause of action. Such application shall be made upon an affidavit of the applicant, or some other credible person, stating the existence of either of the grounds of attachment enumerated in the first section of this act, and upon production of legal evidence of the debt.
Upon such application, and upon due order of any judge of the Issuing and execution of warrant.court, or in the absence of any judge without such order, the clerk shall issue a warrant for the attachment of all the property of any kind belonging to the party or parties specified in the affidavit, which warrant shall be executed with all possible despatch by the marshal, who shall take the property attached, if personal, into his custody, and hold the same subject to all interlocutory or final orders of the court.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* That the party or parties whose Ownership of property attached, how determined.property is attached may, at any time within twenty days before the return day of the warrant, on giving to the district attorney notice of his intention, file a plea in abatement, traversing the allegations of the affidavit, or denying the ownership of the property attached in the defendants, or either of them, in which case the court may, upon application of either party, order an immediate trial by jury of the issues raised by the affidavit and plea.
But the parties may, by consent, waive a trial by jury, in Trial by jury or by the court. Other remedies not impaired.which case the court shall decide the issues raised by the affidavit and plea. Any party claiming ownership of the property attached and a specific return of the same shall be confined to the remedy afforded by this act, but his right to an action of trespass or other action for damages shall not be impaired hereby. Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted,* That when the property attached Proceeds of sale of attached property to be invested, &c.shall be sold on any interlocutory order of the court, or when it shall be producing any revenue, the money arising from such sale or revenue shall 434 THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Ch. 47, 48. 1865.Accretions.be invested in securities of the United States, under the order of the court, and all accretions shall be held subject to the order of the court. Publication of attachment to be made. Sec. 5. *And be it further enacted,* That immediately upon the execution of the warrant of attachment the marshal shall cause due publication of such attachment to be made, in the case of absconding debtors or adhe rents of the rebellion, for two months, and in case of non-residents for four months.
Such publication shall be made in some newspaper or newspa pers within the district where the property attached is situated, and the details of such publication sh al l be regulated i n each case by the order under which the warrant is issued. After publication, persons indebted to, or having property of defendants, with knowledge, to account therefor. Sec. 6. *And be it further enacted,* That after the first publication of such notice of attachment in all the newspapers required by this or any subsequent act, every person indebted to the defendants, or either of them, and having knowledge of such notice, whose property is liable to attach ment, and every person having possession of any property belonging to such defendants, or either of them, and having knowledge as aforesaid, shall account and answer for the amount Sales, &c., void.of such debt and for the value of such property, and any disposal or attempt to dispose of any such prop erty to the injury of the United States shall be illegal and void.
When the person or persons so indebted to or having possession of the property of such defendants, or either of them, shall be known to the district attorney Personal notice.or the marshal, it shall be the duty of such officer to see that personal notice of such attachment is served upon such persons, as in cases of garnishees; but the want of such notice shall not invalidate the attachment. Discharge of warrant of attachment. Sec. 7. *And be it further enacted,* That upon application of the party whose property has been attached, the court or any judge thereof may discharge the warrant of attachment as to the property of the applicant:
Bond to be given.*Provided,* That such applicant shall enter into and execute to the United Suites a good and sufficient penal bond in double the amount of the value of the property attached, conditioned for the return of said property, or to answer any judgment which may be rendered by the court in the prem ises, which bond shall be approved by the court or any judge thereof. Fees, costs, and expenses. Sec. 8. *And be it further enacted,* That the fees, costs, and expenses of issuing and serving the warrants of attachment authorized by this act shall be regulated as for as possible by the existing laws of the United States and the rules of court made in pursuance thereof.
In the case of preliminary trials as to the validity of the attachment or the right of property, clerks’ and marshals’ fees shall be the same as in ordinary eases, and the docket fee of the district attorney shall be ten dollars. This act not to interfere, &c. Sec. 9. *And be it further enacted,* That this act shall not be construed so as to limit or abridge in any manner such rights of the United States as have accrued or been allowed in any district under the former practice of the United States courts or the adoption of state laws by said courts.
Approved, February 23, 1865.