Chapter 930. to provide for protecting the interests of the United States in the Potomac River Flats, in the District of Columbia
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CHAP. 930.— An Act to provide for protecting the interests of the United States in the Potomac River Flats, in the District of Columbia.August 5, 1886. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Potomac River Flats, D. C. That it shall be the duty of the Attorney General of the United States to institute, as soon as may be, in the supreme court of the District of Columbia, a suit against all personsSuit to be brought to establish title, etc., in land affected by the improvement. and corporations who may have or pretend to have any right, title, claim, or interest in any part of the land or water in the District of Columbia within the limits of the city of Washington, or exterior to said limits and in front thereof toward the channel of the Potomac River, and composing any part of the land or water affected by the improvements of the Potomac River or its flats in charge of the Secretary of War, for the purpose of establishing and making clear the right of the United States thereto.
Sec. 2. That the suit mentioned in the preceding section shall be inWho to be parties defendant; service of process. the nature of a bill in equity, and there shall be made parties defendant thereto all persons and corporations known to set up or assert any claim or right to or in the land or water in said first section mentioned, and against all other persons and corporations who may claim to have any such right, title, or interest. On the filing of said bill process shall issue and be served, according to the ordinary course of said court, upon all persons and corporations within the jurisdiction of said court; and public notice shall be given, by advertisement in two newspapers published in the city of Washington, for three weeks successively, of the pendency of said suit, and citing all persons and corporations interested in the subject-matter of said suit, or in the land or water in this act 336 FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS.
Sess. I. Chs. 930, 931. 1886. mentioned, to appear, at a day named in such notice, to said court, to answer the said bill and set forth and maintain any right, title, interest, or claim that any person or corporation may have in the premises; and the court may order such further notice as it shall think fit to any party in interest. Sec. 3. That the said cause shall then proceed with all practicableEffect, of decree.Interests ad verse to the United States to be valued and reported to Congress. expedition to a final determination by said court of all rights drawn in question therein; and the said court shall have full power and jurisdiction by its decree to determine every question of right, title, interest, or claim arising in the premises, and to vacate, annul, set aside, or confirm any claim of any character arising or set forth in the premises; and its decree shall be final and conclusive upon all persons and corporations parties to the suit, or who shall fail, after public notice as hereinbefore in this act provided, to appear in said court and litigate his, her, or its claim, and they shall be deemed forever barred from setting up or maintaining any right, title, interest, or claim in the premises.
Sec. 4. That if, on the final hearing of said cause, the said supreme court of the District of Columbia shall be of opinion that there exists any right, title, or interest in the land or water in this act mentioned in any person or corporation adverse to the complete and paramount right of the United States,the said court shall forthwith and in a summary way proceed to ascertain the value of any such right, title, interest, or claim, exclusive of the value of any improvement to the property covered by such right, title, or interest made by or under the authority of the United States, and report thereof shall be made to Congress.
Sec. 5. That from the final decree of the supreme court of the DistrictAppeal to Supreme Court of the United States. of Columbia, and every part thereof, in the premises, an appeal shall be allowed to the United States, and to any other party in the cause complaining of such decree, to the Supreme Court of the United States, which last-mentioned court shall have full power and jurisdiction to hear, try, and determine the said matter, and every part thereof, Cause to be advanced.*Proviso*.Payments.and to make final decree in the premises; and the said cause shall, on motion of the Attorney-General of the United States, be advanced to the earliest practicable hearing: *Provided*, That no payment under any such judgment shall be made unless hereafter authorized by Congress.
Sec. 6. That until the final decision of the matters hereinbefore in thisNo money to be spent on property in dispute until final decision. act mentioned shall have been had, no moneys appropriated for the improvement of the Potomac River within the District of Columbia, the establishment of harbor-lines in the District of Columbia, and the raising of the flats therein shall be expended otherwise than upon property in respect of which there is no claim adverse to the title of the United States or for the improvement of navigation in the said river.
Approved, August 5, 1886.