Chapter 195. re-establishing the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims, and for the distribution of the unappropriated moneys of the Geneva award
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CHAP. 195.— An Act re-establishing the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims, and for the distribution of the unappropriated moneys of the Geneva award.June 5, 1882. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,[18 Stat., 245](/us/stat/18/245).Re-establishment of Court of Commisioners of Alabama Claims, etc.Judges. That the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims created by chapter four hundred and fifty-nine of the laws of the Forty-third Congress is hereby re established, in the manner and with the obligations, duties, and powers imposed and conferred by said chapter, except as changed or modified by this act.
Sec. 2.— That the number of judges for said court, to be nominated and appointed in the mode directed by section two of said chapter, shall Compensation.be three, each to receive the compensation provided by section font of said chapter. The presiding justice shall be designated and vacancies filled as therein provided. The agreement of two of the judges shall be necessary to decide any question arising before said court; and said court shall be allowed the necessary actual expenses provided for in said Clerk.Reporter.Compensation.Marshal for District of Columbia to serve process, etc.To convene in Washington, D.
C.Term of existence of court.Claims burred if not filed within six months.section four. A clerk and reporter shall be appointed and counsel for the United States designated as provided in sections four and five of said chapter, each to receive the compensation therein provided; and the marshal of the United States for the District of Columbia, or his deputies, shall perform the duties prescribed in section six of said chapter. Sec. 3.— That the judges of the court hereby reestablished shall convene and organize, in the city of Washington, as soon as practicable after their appointment; and the court so organized shall exist two years; and all claims provable under this act shall be verified by or in behalf of the claimant and filed with the clerk of said court within six months from its organization, or they shall be held to be waived and barred.
Sec. 4.— That the practice and proceedings established and directed[18 Stat., 245](/us/stat/18/245). by said chapter four hundred and fifty-nine shall be followed and bad in regard to all claims provable under this act; and it shall be the duty of the said court hereby re established, in the mode and subject to ail the conditions, limitations, and provisions of said chapter four hundred and fifty-nine, except as changed and modified by this act, to receive and Claims:examine the claims mentioned in section five of this act and to enter judgments for the amount allowed therefor in two classes.
Sec. 5.— That the first class shall be for claims directly resulting fromFirst class. damage done on the high seas by Confederate cruisers during the late rebellion, including vessels and cargoes attacked on the high seas, although the loss or damage occurred within four miles of the shore, excluding claims which have been proved pursuant to section eleven of Second class.said chapter four hundred and fifty-nine. The second class shall be for claims for the payment of premiums for war risks, whether paid to corporations, agents, or individuals, utter the sailing of any Confederate cruiser.
Sec. 6.— That in examining claims in either class it shall be the dutyActual losses only allowed. of the court to deduct any sum received by any claimant as an indemnity, dividend, set-off, or otherwise, so that the actual loss of such claimant only shall be allowed. Sec. 7.— That the judgments rendered by said court under this actJudgments, how paid.[17 Stat., 866](/us/stat/17/866). shall be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury out of the sum of money paid to the United States pursuant to article seven of the treaty of Washington, and accruing therefrom, not appropriated to claims proved under the provisions of said chapter four hundred and fifty-nine, or any act extending the time for the filing of claims thereunder.
Sec. 8.— That judgments entered in the first class shall be paid beforeJudgments in first class to have priority in payment. judgments of the second class are paid. If the sum of money so unappropriated shall be insufficient to pay the judgments of the first class, they shall be paid according to the proportions which they severally bear to the whole amount of such unappropriated sum. If such sum shall be sufficient to pay the judgments of the first class and not suffi- 99cient to pay the judgments of the second class, the latter judgments shall be paid according to the proportions which they severally bear to the residue of such unappropriated sum after the judgments entered in the first class are paid.
Sec. 9.— That the said court, after all its judgments and decisionsList of judgments and decisions, etc., to be transmitted to Secretary of State.Certified copy to the Secretary of Treasury. have been rendered, shall transmit to the Secretary of State a list of such judgments and decisions, stating the class and amount, with interest at four per centum from the time the loss accrued to the thirty-first of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, a certified copy of which shall be by him transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall thereafter, as soon as may be, and upon such notice and in such manner as he shall prescribe, pay the said judgments out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated: *Provided, however*, That such*Provisos*. payments shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the preceding sections: *And provided further*, That the whole amount paid out shall not exceed the amount remaining of the Geneva award and interest, as it was when actually covered into the Treasury.
And so much money as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section is hereby appropriated out of any moneys not otherwise appropriated Sec. 10.— That all moneys necessary for the payment of the salariesAppropriation for payment of salaries, and for expenses. of the judges and officers authorized by section two of this act, and for the lawful expenses of the said court hereby re established, are hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated; all of which shall be reimbursed out of the said unappropriated moneys before any of the judgments rendered under this act shall be paid.
And after the reimbursement of all the expenses authorized bySurplus. this act, and the payment of all the judgments rendered thereunder, if there shall remain any part of the said money, the same shall be and remain a fund from which Congress may hereafter authorize payment of other claims thereon. Approved, June 5, 1882.