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AN ACT

TO PRESCRIBE AN OATH OF OFFICE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That hereafter every person elected or appointed to any office of honor or profit under the government of the United States, either in the civil, military, or naval departments of the public service, excepting the president of the United States, shall, before entering upon the duties of such office, and before being entitled to any of the salary or other emoluments thereof, take and subscribe to the following oath or affirmation: "I, A B, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power, or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter; so help me God;" which said oath, so taken and signed, shall be preserved among the files of the court, house of congress, or department to which the said office may appertain. And any person who shall falsely take the said oath, shall be

guilty of perjury, and, on conviction, in addition to the penalties now prescribed for that offense, shall be deprived of his office and rendered incapable forever after of holding any office or place under the United States.

APPROVED, July 2d, 1862.

AN ACT

IN RELATION TO COURTS, AND THE HOLDING OF THE TERMS THEREOF IN THE SEVERAL TERRITORIES IN THE UNITED STATES.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the judges of the supreme court of each territory of the United States are hereby authorized to hold court within their respective districts, in the counties wherein, by the laws of said territories, courts have been, or may be established, for the purpose of hearing or determining all matters and causes except those in which the United States is a party; provided, that the expenses thereof shall be paid by the territories, or by the counties in which said courts may be held, and the United States shall, in no case, be chargable therewith.

APPROVED, June 14th, 1858.

AN ACT

TO SECURE FREEDOM TO ALL PERSONS WITHIN THE TERRI TORIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the territories of the United States now existing, or which may at any time hereafter be formed or acquired by the United States, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

APPROVED, June 19th, 1862.

AN ACT

IN RELATION TO THE COMPETENCY OF WITNESSES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the laws of the state in which the court shall be held, shall be the rules of decision as to the competency of witnesses in the courts of the United States, in trials at common law, in equity, and admiralty.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That so much of section twenty-nine of an act entitled "An act to establish [the] judicial courts of the United States," approved September twenty-fourth, seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, as requires, in cases punished with death, twelve petit jurors to be summoned from the county where the offense was committed, be, and the same is hereby repealed.

APPROVED, July 16th, 1862.

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