Chapter LVI. to restore the Records of the United States Courts in the northern District of Illinois
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CHAP. LVI.— An Act to restore the Records of the United States Courts in the northern District of Illinois.March 18, 1872. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* ThatIn proceedings to restore certain lost records of courts in northern district of Illinois, notice to be served on whom, and proof thereof. in proceedings to restoreFORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 56–58. 1872.41 the1871, ch. 111.Vol. xvi. p. 474. records of the circuit and district courts of the northern district of Illinois, destroyed by tire on the ninth of October, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, under the act of March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, entitled “An act relating to records of the courts of the United States,” the notice required by said act may be served upon any nonresident of said district anywhere within the jurisdiction of the United States, or in any foreign country, the proof of the service of such notice, if made in a foreign country, to be certified by a minister or consul of the United States in such country, under his official seal.
Sec. 2. ThatCertified copies of certain lost official returns to be filed in court and have effect of originals.When judgments may be enforced. a certified copy of the official return of the district attorney, clerk of the circuit or district court, or the marshal of the northern district of Illinois, made in pursuance of law, and on file in the Department of Justice, relating to any cause in either of said courts to which the United States was a party, the record of which was destroyed in said fire, may be filed in the court to which it appertains, and shall have the same force and effect as if it were an original retnm made to said court; and in any case in which the names of the parties, and the date and amount of the judgment or decree shall appear from such returns, it shall be lawful for the court in which they are filed to issue the necessary process to enforce such decree or judgment in the same manner as if the original record was before said court.
Sec. 3. ThatDistrict attorney to take steps to restore the records, &c, of said courts under the direction of the judges. it shall be the duty of the district attorney for the northern district of Illinois to take such steps as may be necessary to restore the records and files of the circuit and district courts of said district which were destroyed by fire on the ninth of October, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, and in which the United States is interested, so far as the judges of said courts, respectively, shall deem it essential to the interests of the United States that said records and files be restored; and the judges of said courts, respectively, are authorized to direct such steps to be taken as, in their opinion, shall be deemed advizable to restore the judgment dockets and indices of said courts, and for that purpose, may direct the performance, by the clerks of said courts, and by the United States attorney for said district,District attorney and clerks to be compensated for services; of any duty incident thereto, and said clerks and said district attorney shall be allowed such compensation and disbursements for services rendered under this section (in cases where no compensation is now provided by law for such services) as may be allowed by the Attorney-General, and certified to be just and reasonable by the judge of the court in which said services are rendered, and the amount so allowed shall be paid out of the judiciary fund: *Provided, however,*allowance not to exceed, &c.
That the sum allowed the clerks of said courts shall not exceed the sum of twelve thousand dollars, and the entire compensation of the United States attorney for such services shall not exceed the sum of six thousand dollars. Approved, March 18, 1872.