"Term of existence of court. Records, etc., to be delivered to court. Authority of judges to admin such further evidence as may be required and as it shall think reasonable and just, and shall thereupon proceed to determine and award upon each of said claims according to the provisions of this act. SECTION 8. That the judges of the court created by this act shall convene in the city of Washington as soon as conveniently may be after their appointment; and the said court shall exist for one year from the date of its first convening and organizing; and should it be found impracticable to complete the work of the said court before the expiration of the said one year, the President may, by proclamation, extend the time of the duration thereof to a period not more than six months beyond the expiration of the said one year; and in such case all the provisions of this act shall be taken and held to be the same as though the continuance of the said court had been originally fixed by this act at the limit to which it may be thus extended. SECTION 9. That all records, documents, or other papers which now or hereafter, during the continuance of the court, may come into the possession of the Department of State, in relation to such claims and which shall be found necessary to the examination and adjudication of the same, shall, upon the order or requisition of said court, be delivered to the court for that purpose, and to be given such weight as evidence as the court shall think just. SECTION 10. That each of the said judges shall have ister oaths, etc. authority to administer oaths and affirmations, and to take the depositions of claimants, parties, and witnesses, in all matters pertaining to the presentation or examination of said claims; and if any person shall knowingly and willfully swear or affirm falsely in such examination or deposition to any matter or fact material to the investigation of the claim touching which such person is examined, or if any person, whether claimant or witness, shall so swear or affirm falsely to the contents of any memorial, petition, affidavit, deposition, or other paper containing any matter or fact material in the examination of any claim pending before or to be presented before said court, or shall, in giving testimony, or in swearing or affirming to any deposition, affidavit, or other paper before any officer authorized to administer oaths or to take such testimony, so swear or affirm falsely to any matter or thing material in the examination of any claim pending or to be presented before said court, every such person so swearing or affirming falsely as aforesaid shall be deemed guilty of perjury, the same as if such false oath or affirmation had been taken in a judicial proceeding in any of the courts of the United States, and shall be liable to indictment and trial in the district or circuit court of the United States for the district in which such perjury shall have been committed, or in the proper courts of the United States for the Territory or District of Columbia in which such perjury shall have been com mitted, and shall, upon conviction, suffer such punishment as is provided by the laws of the United States for that offense. be received and SECTION 11. That it shall be the duty of said court to What claims to receive and examine all claims admissible under this act examined. that may be presented to it, directly resulting from damage caused by the so-called insurgent cruisers Alabama, Florida, and their tenders, and also all claims admissible under this act directly resulting from damage caused by the so-called insurgent cruiser Shenandoah after her departure from Melbourne on the eighteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and to decide upon the amount and validity of such claims, in conformity with the provisions hereinafter contained, and according to the principles of law and the merits of the several cases. All claims shall be verified by oath of the claimant, and filed in said court within six months next after the organization thereof, as provided in section. eight of this act; and no claim shall be received, docketed, or considered that shall have not been so filed within the time aforesaid; but every such unrepresented claim shall be deemed and held to be finally and conclusively waived and barred. not to lowed. claims be ad ог al nity was received Allowance for difference. SECTION 12. That no claim shall be admissible or al- What lowed by said court for any loss or damage for or in re- missible spect to which the party injured, his assignees or legal representatives, shall have received compensation or indemnity from any insurance company, insurer, or otherwise; but if such compensation or indemnity so received Where indem. shall not have been equal to the loss or damage so actually from insurance, suffered, allowance may be made for the difference. And in no case shall any claim be admitted or allowed for or in respect to unearned freights, gross freights, prospective Unearned profits, freights, gains, or advantages, or for wages of officers or seamen for a longer time than one year next after the breaking up of a voyage by the acts aforesaid. And no claim shall be admissible or allowed by said court by or in behalf of any insurance company or insurer, either in its or his own right, or as assignee, or otherwise, in the right of a person or party insured as aforesaid, unless such claimant shall show, to the satisfaction of said court that during the late rebellion the sum of its or his losses, in respect to its or his war risks, exceeded the sum of its or his premiums or other gains upon or in respect to such war risks; and in case of any such allowance, the same shall not be greater than such excess of loss. And no claim shall be admissible or allowed by said court arising in favor of any insurance company not lawfully existing at the time of the loss under the laws of some one of the United States. And no claim shall be admissible or allowed by said court arising in favor of any person not entitled, at the time of his loss, to the protection of the United States in the premises, Interest judgments. upon nor arising in favor of any person who did not at all times during the late rebellion bear true allegiance to the United States. SECTION 13. That in estimating the compensation to claimants, interest shall be allowed, at the rate of four per centum per annum upon the amount of actual loss or damage which shall be ascertained in each case to have been sustained, from such date as the court shall, in each case, decide that the loss was sustained by the claimant: Not to be in- Provided, however, That the amount of such interest shall cluded in judgment. not be included in or added to the amount for which judgment may be rendered on said claim; but in each case a report of the amount of such interest, certified under the seal of the court, shall accompany the report of the judgment on the claim to the Secretary of State. Judgments and decisions to be re Secretary of the SECTION 14. That the said court shall report to the ported to the Secretary of State a list of the several judgments and decisions made by it, a certified copy of which shall, upon the conclusion of the business of the said court, 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, together with interest at the rate of four per centum per annum on the amount of such judgments from the date certified, unto the persons, respectively, in whose favor the same shall have been made, or to their respective legal representatives, in full satisfaction and discharge of said judgments: Provided, That if the sum of all the judgments rendered by the said court, together with interest, shall exceed the amount received into the Treasury of the United States as proceeds of the sum to be paid by Great Britain, by virtue of the said decision and award, then the Secretary of the Treasury shall distribute, in ratable proportions, among the parties in whose favor judgments shall have been rendered, or to their legal representatives, such moneys as have been received into the Treasury, according to the proportions which their respective judgments shall bear to the whole amount rePayments to ceived into the Treasury as aforesaid, which payments faction and dis- shall be in full satisfaction and discharge of such claims and judgments. be in full satis charge. of what money paid, etc. SECTION 15. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and required to pay the said respecJudgments, out tive judgments of said court, out of any such money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated; and for that purpose he is hereby authorized when necessary to issue and sell at public sale, after ten days' notice of the time and place of sale, at not less than par in ccin, a sufficient amount of coupon or registered bonds of the United States, in such form as he may prescribe, of denominations of fifty dollars, or some multiple of that sum, redeemable in coin of the present standard value, at the pleasure of the United States after ten years from the date of their issue, and bearing interest payable quarterly in such coin at the rate of five per centum per annum; and upon the payment, from time to time, of the said respective judgments of said court as before provided, the bonds of the United States mentioned in the act approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventythree, entitled "An act for the creation of a court for the adjudication and disposition of certain moneys received into the Treasury under an award made by the tribunal of arbitration constituted by virtue of the first article of the treaty concluded at Washington the eighth of May, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-one, between the United States of America and the Queen of Great Britain," shall be canceled and extinguished to the amount of such payments; and when all such payments shall have been made, any such bonds remaining shall Balance rebe also canceled and extinguished; and after the pay-payment ment of the said judgments, and the re-imbursement of Judgments to the expenses as herein provided, if there shall remain any part of the said money, the same shall be and remain a fund from which Congress may hereafter authorize the payment of other claims thereon. And the moneys necessary for the payment of the salaries of the judges and other officers authorized by this act, and of the expenses of the said court as hereinbefore mentioned, are hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. maining after of constitute a fund. Records to be deposited with State. SECTION 16. That as soon as the business of said court shall be executed and completed, the records, documents, Secretary and all other papers in the possession of the court, or its officers, shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State. of What papers port of claims, SECTION 17. In ascertaining the amount of such losses, wat pad in the memorials, affidavits, depositions, and any other evidence in suppapers in the several cases of losses claimed respectively, etc now filed in the State Department, or official copies thereof, may be read in evidence: Provided, That no affidavit. shall be read except where it appears to the satisfaction of the tribunal that the affiant cannot be produced before it as a witness or his testimony taken by a commission upon interrogatories; and in the hearing of the cause, any party claiming shall produce all books, papers, letters, and documents that may be called for by a general description thereof by any opposing party, or satisfactorily account for their loss or non-production, or suffer such judgment as is prescribed in section 15 of the act entitled "An act to establish the judicial courts of the United States," approved September twenty-ninth, seventeen hundred and eighty-nine; and on the hearing of the cause, any competent evidence may be produced by either party, either viva voce or by deposition taken upon interrogatories; and for this purpose depositions may be taken by either party de bene, or the court may admit fees to counsel claimant. as part of the judgment, etc. affidavits where it is satisfactorily shown that the wi cannot be produced or his examination by interrogat and cross examination cannot be had. Allowance of SECTION 18. That in case any judgment is rendere and attorney of said court for indemnity for any loss or claim herei fore mentioned against the United States at the tim the giving of the judgment, the court shall, upon mc of the attorney or counsel for the claimant, allow, ou the amount thereby awarded, such reasonable counsel attorney fees to the counsel and attorney employed by claimant or claimants respectively as the court shall termine is just and reasonable, as compensation for services rendered the claimant in prosecuting such clai To be entered which allowance shall be entered as part of the judgm in such case, and shall be made specifically payable part of said judgment for indemnification to the attor or counsel, or both, to whom the same shall be adjudg Warrant for and a warrant shall issue from the Treasury in favor issued in favor the person to whom such allowance shall be made resp To be com- tively, which shall be in full compensation to the cour pensation in full or attorney for prosecuting such claim; and all other li for prosecution of upon, or assignments, sales, transfers, either absolute liens, assign-conditional for services rendered or to be rendered ab ments, etc., for any claim or part or parcel thereof provided for in t bill heretofore or hereafter made or done before su judgment is awarded and the warrant issued theref shall be absolutely null and void and of none effect. Approved, June 23, 1874. allowance to be of, etc. case. A 11 other services to be void. 18 Stat., 245. [22 Stat. L., p. 98.] AN ACT Re-establishing the Court of Commissioners of Alabar Claims, and for the distribution of the unappropriated mone of the Geneva award. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen atives of the United States of America in Congress assen Re-establish bled, That the Court of Commissioners of Alabam of Commission- Claims created by chapter four hundred and fifty-nin ers of Alabama of the laws of the Forty-third Congress is hereby re ment of Court Claims, etc. Judges. 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, t be nominated and appointed in the mode directed by sec tion two of said chapter, shall be three, each to receive the Compensation. compensation provided by section four 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 section |