Chapter XXIV. *supplemental to and amendatory of an Act entitled “An Act to prescribe the Mode of obtaining Evidence in Cases of contested Elections,” approved February nineteen, eighteen hundred and fifty-one*
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CHAP. XXIV.— An Act *supplemental to and amendatory of an Act entitled “An Act to prescribe the Mode of obtaining Evidence in Cases of contested Elections,” approved February nineteen, eighteen hundred and fifty-one*. Jan. 10, 1873.1851, ch. 11.Vol. ix. p. 568. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, In contested election cases testimony to be taken within ninety days, and in what order. That in all contested election cases the time allowed for taking testimony shall be ninety days, and the testimony shall be taken in the following order:
The contestant shall take testimony during the first forty days; the returned member during the succeeding forty days; and the contestant may take testimony in rebuttal only during the remaining ten days of said period. Such testimony in Notice, and places.rebuttal may be taken on five days’ notice. Testimony may be taken at two or more places at the same time. Sec. 2. Depositions may be taken, before whom;Depositions of witnesses residing outside of the district and beyond the reach of a subpoena may be taken before any officer authorized by law to take testimony in contested election cases in the district in which the witness to be examined may reside.
Sec. 3. notice to the opposite party to slate what and how to be served.That the party desiring to take a deposition or depositions under the provisions of this act, or of the act to which this is an amendment, shall give the opposite party notice, in writing, of the time and place, when and where, the same will be taken, as well as of the name of the witness or witnesses to be examined, and of the name of an officer before whom the same will be taken. The notice shall be personally served upon the opposite party, or upon any agent or attorney of his authorized by him to take testimony or cross-examine witnesses in the matter of such contest, if, by the use of reasonable diligence, such personal service can be made; but if, by the use of such diligence, personal service cannot be made, the service may be made by leaving a duplicate of the notice at the usual place of abode of the opposite party.
The notice shall be served so as to allow the opposite party sufficient time by the usual route of travel to attend, and one day for preparation, exclusive of Sundays Adjournments of taking testimony.Notice, &c., to be attached to deposition.Party notified may select an officer to officiate with the one named in the notice.Proceedings in such cases.Parties may consent in writing to take depositions without notice;or before certain officers.and the day of service. And the taking of the testimony may, if so stated in the notice, be adjourned from day to day.
The notice, with the proof or acknowledgment of the service thereof, shall be attached to the depositions when completed. The party notified as aforesaid, his agent or attorney, may, if he see fit, select an officer (having authority to take depositions in such cases) to officiate, with the officer named in the notice, in the taking of the depositions; and if both such officers attend, the deposition shall be taken before them both, sitting together, and be certified by them both.
But it only one of such officers attend, the depositions may be taken before and certified by him alone. It shall be competent for the parties, their agents, or attorneys authorized to act in the premises, by consent in writing, to take depositions without notice; and it shall also be competent for them, by such written consent, to take depositions (whether upon or without notice) before any officer or officers authorized to take depositions in common law, or civil actions, or in chancery, by either the laws of the United States or of the State it) which the same may be taken, and to waive proof of the official character of such officer or officers.
Any The written consent to be returned with the deposition.written consent given as aforesaid shall be returned with the depositions; and every such officer so chosen by the parties, their agents or attorneys, and officiating, shall have all the powers in the premises that are conferred by the act to which this is an amendment upon the officers named therein. At the taking of any deposition under this act, or the act to which this isFORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 25, 32, 33. 1873.409 an amendment, either party may appear and act in person, or by agent or attorney.Parties may appear personally or by attorney.
Sec. 4. All officers taking testimony to be used in a contested electionOfficers taking testimony to send the same when completed, by mail, under seal, to the clerk of the House of Representatives, with indorsement. case, whether by deposition or otherwise, shall, when the taking of the same is completed, and without unnecessary delay, certify the same, and carefully seal and immediately forward the same by mail addressed to the clerk of the House of Representatives of the United Slates, Washington, D.
C.; and shall also endorse upon the envelope containing such deposition or testimony the name of the case in which it is taken, together with the name of the party in whose behalf it is taken, and shall subscribe such endorsement. Upon the written request of either party the clerk of theDepositions, how to be opened, &c.Copies. House of Representatives shall open any deposition at any time after he shall have received the same, and he may furnish either party with a copy thereof.
Approved, January 10, 1873.