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48. SECT. XLVIII. All penalties, given by this act for the benefit of the creditors, shall be recovered by the assignee or assignees by action of debt, and the money so recovered, the charges of suit being deducted, shall be distributed towards payment of the creditors.

49. SECT. XLIX. If any action shall be brought against any com missioner, or assignee, or other person, having authority under the commission, for any thing done or performed by force of this act, the defendant may plead the general issue, and give this act and the special matter in evidence; and in case of a nonsuit, discontinuance, or verdict or judgment for him, he shall recover double costs.

50. SECT. L. If any estate real or personal shall descend, revert to, or become vested in any person, after he or she shall be declared a bankrupt, and before he or she shall obtain a certificate, signed by the judge as aforesaid, all such estate shall, by virtue of this aci, be vested in the said commissioners, and shall be by them assigned and conveyed to the assignee or assignees in fee simple, or otherwise, in like manner as above directed, with the estate of the said bankrupt, at the time of the bankruptcy, and the proceeds thereofshall be divided among the creditors.

51. SECT. LI. The said commissioners shall, once in every year, carefully file, in the clerk's office of the district court, all the proceedings had in every case before them, and which shall have been finished, including the commissions, examinations, dividends, entries, and ether determinations of the said commissioners, in which office, the final certificate of the said bankrupt may also be recorded; all which proceedings shall remain of record in the said office, and certified copies thereof shall be admitted as evidence in all courts, in like manner as the copies of the proceedings of the said district court are admitted in other cases.

52. SECT. LII. It shall and may be lawful for any creditor of such bankrupt, to attend all or any of the examinations of said bankrupt, and the allowance of the final certificate, if he shall think proper, and then and there to propose interrogatories, to be put by the judge or commissioners to the said bankrupt and others, and also to produce and examine witnesses and documents before such judge or commissioners, relative to the subject matter before them. And in case either the bankrupt or creditor, shall think him or herself aggrieved by the determination of the said judge or commissioners, relative to any material fact, in the commencement or progress of the said proceedings, or in the allowance of the certificate aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful for either party to petition the said judge, setting forth such facts and the determination thercon, with the complaint of the party, and a prayer for a trial by a jury to determine the same, and the said judge shall, in his discretion, make order thereon, and award a venire facias to the marshal of the district, returnable within fifteen days before him, for the trial of the facts mentioned in the said petition, notice whereof shall be given to the commissioners and creditors concerned in the same; at which time the said trial shall be had, unless, on good cause shewn, the judge shall give farther time, and judgment being entered on the verdict of the jury, shall be final, on the said facts, and the judge or commissioners shall proceed agreeably thereto.

53. SECT. LIII. The commissioners before the appointment of assignees, and the assignees after such appointment, may from time to time make such allowance out of the bankrupt's estate until he shall have obtained his final discharge, as in their opinion may be requisite for the necessary support of the said bankrupt and his family.

54. SECT. LIV. It shall be lawful for the major part in value of the creditors, before they proceed to the choice of assignees, to direct in what manner, with whom, and where the monies arising by, and to be received from time to time out of the bankrupt's estate, shall be lodged, until the same shall be divided among the creditors, as herein provided; to which direction every such assignee and assignees shall con form as often as three hundred dollars shall be received.

55. SECT. LV. Every matter and thing by this act, required to be done by the commissioners of any bankrupt, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, if performed by a majority of them.

56. SECT. LVI. In all cases where the assignees shall prosecute any debtor of the bankrupt for any debt, duty or demand, the commission, ora certified copy thereof, and the assignment of the commissioners of the bankrupt's estate, shall be conclusive evidence of the issuing the commission, and of the person named therein, being a trader and bankrupt, at the time mentioned therein.

57. SECT. LVII. Every person obtaining a discharge from his debts, by certificate as aforesaid, granted under a commission of bankruptcy, shall not, on any future commission, be entitled to any other certificate than a discharge of his person only; unless the nett proceeds of the estate and effects of such person so becoming bankrupt a second time, shall be sufficient to pay seventy-five per cent. to his or her creditors on the amount of their debts respectively.

58. SECT. LVIII. Any creditor of a person, against whom a commission of bankruptcy shall have been sued forth, and who shall lay his claim before the commissioners appointed in pursuance of this act, may at the same time declare his unwillingness to submit the same to the judgment of the said commissioners, and his wish that a jury may be empannelled to decide thereon: And in like manner the assignee or assignees of such bankrupt may object to the consideration of any particular claim by the commissioners, and require that the same should be referred to a jury. In either case, such objection and request shall be entered on the books of the commissioners, and thercupon an issue shall be made up between the parties, and a jury shall be empannelled, as in other cases, to try the same in the circuit court for the district in which such bankrupt has usually resided. The verdict of such jury shall be subject to the control of the court, as in suits originally instituted in the said court, and when rendered, if not set aside by the court, shall be certified to the commissioners, and shall ascertain the amount of any such claim, and such creditor or creditors shall be considered in all respects as having proved their debts under the commission.

59. SECT. LIX. The lands and effects of any person becoming bankript may be sold on such crecit, and on such security, as a major part in value of the creditors may direct : Provided, nothing herein contained shall be allowed so to operate, as to retard the granting the bankrupt's certificate.

60. SECT. LX. If any person becoming bankrupt, shall be in prison, it shall be lawful for any creditor or creditors, at whose suit he or she shall be in execution, to discharge him or her from custody, or if such creditor or creditors shall refuse to do so, the prisoner may petition the commissioners to liberate him or her, and thereupon, if, in the opinion of the commissioners, the conduct of such bankrupt shall have been fair, so as to entitle him or her in their opinion, to a certificate, when by law such certificate might be given, it shall be lawful for them to direct the discharge of such prisoner, and to enter the same in their books, which being notified to the keeper of the gaol in which such prisoner may be confined, shall be a sufficient authority for his or her discharge: Provided, That in either case, such discharge shall be no bar to another execution, if a certificate shall be refused to such bank. rupt: And provided also, that it shall be no bar to a subsequent imprisonment of such bankrupt by order of the commissioners, in conformity with the provisions of this act.

61. SECT. LXI. This act shall not repeal or annul, or be construed to repeal or annul the laws of any state now in force, or which may be hereafter enacted, for the relief of insolvent debtors, except so far as the same may respect persons, who are, or may be clearly within the purview of this act, and whose debts shall amount in the cases specified in the second section thereof to the sums therein mentioned. And if any person within the purview of this act shall be imprisoned for the space of three months, for any debt, or upon any contract, unless the creditors of such prisoner shall proceed to prosecute a commission of bankruptcy against him or her, agrecably to the provisions of this act, such debtor may and shall be entitled to relief, under any such laws for the relief of insolvent debtors, this act notwithstanding.

62. SECT. LXII. Nothing contained in this law shall, in any manner, affect the right of preference to prior satisfaction of debts due to the united states as secured or provided by any law heretofore passed, nor shall be construed to lessen or impair any right to, or security for, money due to the united states or to any of them.

63. SECT. LXIII. Nothing contained in this act shall be taken, or construed to invalidate, or impair any lien existing at the date of this act, upon the lands or chattels of any person who may have become a bankrupt.

64. SECT. LXIV. This act shall continue in force during the term of five years, and from thence to the end of the next session of congress thereafter, and no longer: Provided, that the expiration of this act shall not prevent the complete execution of any commission which may have been previously thereto issued.

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ACT of July 16, 1790. (Vol. I. p. 132.)

1. SECT. 1. A district of territory, not exceeding ten miles square, to be located as hereafter directed on the river Potomack, at some place between the mouths of the Eastern-branch and Connogochegue, shall be, and the same is hereby accepted for the permanent seat of the

government of the united states: Provided nevertheless, That the operation of the laws of the state within such district shall not be affected by this acceptance, until the time fixed for the removal of the government thereto, and until congress shall otherwise by law provide. [See postea 7.]

2. SECT. II. The president of the united states shall be authorized to appoint, and by supplying vacancies happening from refusals to act or other causes, to keep in appointment as long as may be necessary, three commissioners, who, or any two of whom, shall, under the direction of the president, survey, and by proper metes and bounds, define and limit a district of territory, under the limitations above mentioned; and the district so defined, limited and located, shall be deemed the district accepted by this act, for the permanent seat of the government of the united states. [Altered, see postea 47.]

3. SECT. III. The said commissioners or any two of them, shall have power to purchase or accept such quantity of land on the eastern side of the said river, within the said district, as the president shall deem proper for the use of the united states, and according to such plans as the president shall approve, the said commissioners, or any two of them, shall, prior to the first Monday in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred, provide suitable buildings for the accommodation of congress, and of the president, and for the public offices of the government of the united states.

4. SECT. IV. For defraying the expense of such purchases and buildings, the president of the united states shall be authorized and requested to accept grants of money.

5. SECT. V. Prior to the first Monday in December next, all offices attached to the seat of the government of the united states, shall be removed to, and until the said first Monday in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred, shall remain at the city of Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, at which place the session of congress next ensuing the present shall be held.

6. SECT. VI. On the said first Monday in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred, the seat of the government of the united states, shall by virtue of this act, be transferred to the district and place aforesaid: And all offices attached to the said seat of government, shall accordingly be removed thereto by their respective holders, and shall, after the said day, cease to be exercised elsewhere; and that the necessary expense of such removal shall be defrayed out of the duties on imposts and tonnage, of which a sufficient sum is hereby appropriated.

ACT of March 3, 1791. (Vol. I. p. 359.)

7. So much of the act, entitled "An act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the government of the united states," as requires that the whole of the district of territory, not exceeding ten miles square, to be located on the river Potomack, for the permanent seat of the government of the united states, shall be located above the mouth of the Eastern-branch, shall be and is hereby repealed, and that it shall be lawful for the president to make any part of the territory be

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