MUSIC BOOKS.

See COPYRIGHTS, 1, 2, 5.

NATIONAL BANKS.

See BANKS.

NATIONAL GUARD.

See DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 5, 6; MILITIA.

NAVAL ACADEMY.

1. A person who took the regular four years' course at the Naval Academy, and received a certificate of graduation, issued pursuant to the act of August 5, 1882. is a graduate of the Academy within the meaning of the "Naval personnel bill." 485. 2. The exemption as to age limit with reference to the eligibility to appointment in the Marine Corps is not restricted to those who served in such corps, but extends to all graduates of the Naval Academy who served in the war with Spain. Ib..

NAVAL MILITIA, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

The commanding officer of the National Guard is authorized to nominate candidates for appointment as officers in the naval battalion. 237.

NAVAL OFFICERS.

1. An officer of the Corps of Engineers, not below the relative rank of captain, is eligible for appointment as Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. 47.

2. Under the practical interpretation of section 423, Revised Statutes, naval constructors are treated as officers of the Navy and their relative rank as the actual rank or grade required by that section. Ib.

3. The President may appoint the officers of the line and staff of the Navy authorized by the act of May 4, 1898, without the advice and consent of the Senate. 82.

4. A commission issued pursuant to the foregoing act should show upon its face that it is the commission of the President. Ib. 5. Credit should be given a person seeking promotion in the Marine Corps, as well as in the Navy proper, for the time of service of such person as a cadet at the Naval Academy and at sea anterior to commission, in making the promotions provided by the act of March 3, 1899. 377.

6. The provisions of the act of March 3, 1899, relative to voluntary or compulsory retirement, applies to the current year ending June 30, 1899, as well as any fiscal year in the future. 380. 7. Officers on the retired list recalled to active duty in case of war would reenter the active list with the rank and pay of the next higher grade. 433.

NAVAL OFFICERS-Continued.

8. Engineer officers who attained the relative rank of commander prior to the passage of the personnel act became entitled to take the actual rank in the line of the Navy. 449.

9. Neither boatswains, gunners, nor warrant machinists are officers of the line of the Navy within the meaning of the Revised Statutes, the acts of August 5, 1882, and March 3, 1899. 620.

10. These officers are not improperly classed in the regulations of the Navy as officers of the line, and may therefore be given the star upon their uniforms. Ib.

11. Warrant machinists created by the naval personnel act were not placed in the list of line officers of the Navy. Ib:

12. Warrant machinists are not entitled to command.

Ib.

13. Boatswains and gunners are officers in the line of command, and there is nothing in the classification in the act of 1862 to indicate an intent to make unlawful the exercise of command by them.

Ib.

14. The order of the President retiring certain officers under the naval personnel law, had the effect to retire Lieutenant-Commander Driggs on June 30, 1899. 657.

15. The retirements under section 8 of the law are to be made from the list of voluntary applicants for the fiscal year then being considered, to take effect on the last day of the fiscal year.

Ib.

16. Lieutenant McLean is entitled to the grade and rank indicated by his commission, together with the emoluments attached, from and including the 1st day of July, 1899. Ib.

17. Vacancies occurring through retirements, as provided under the naval personnel law, are to occur or to be accredited to the fiscal year which ends with the 30th of June. Ib.

See NAVY.

NAVIGABLE WATERS.

1. The Mississippi River in Minnesota, both above and below the Falls of St. Anthony, is a navigable river, and can not be bridged without the permission of the United States. 52.

2. The regulation of fisheries in navigable waters within the territorial limits of the several States, in the absence of Federal treaty, is a subject of State rather than of Federal jurisdiction. 214. 3. The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company may exercise its privilege under the New Jersey statutes of closing its drawbridge over the Passaic River a reasonable time for repairs. 312.

4. The United States has the right to control all structures and works which interfere in any manner with the navigable capacity of the navigable waters of the United States which, either by themselves or in connection with other waters, form channels for interstate commerce. 332.

5. The act of July 13, 1892, does not limit the authority of the Secretary of War to grant permission for the construction of a work

NAVIGABLE WATERS—Continued.

of this character to navigable waters which lie wholly within the limits of one State.

Ib.

6. Canals being artificial waterways or means of commercial transportation, as well as natural lakes and rivers, the same principles

may be applied to them that are applied to bridges, turnpikes, streets, and railroads. Ib.

7. The Secretary of War can not require changes to be made in the bridge of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company over the Ohio River at the expense of the owner without compensa

tion. 343.

S. If the company itself voluntarily prostrates its bridge, with the intention of constructing another in its place, the Secretary of War has the right to prescribe conditions as to height, length of span, etc. lb.

9. Structures which are unauthorized by law may be summarily removed and without compensation. Those which are authorized by law can only be removed upon making just compensation, unless the authorization by the Federal Government was accompanied with a reservation of a right to change, modify, or remove. Ib.

10. Congress has power to improve the navigation of the Ohio River, and for that purpose may actually take such property as is requisite, and may cause the abatement and prostration of all structures which, in its judgment, interfere with its plan of improvement. Ib.

11. Congress may regulate the use of all means and instrumentalities used in commerce, whether on sea, navigable rivers and lakes, in harbors, or on land, irrespective of whether a State has attempted to regulate the same matter or not. 501.

12. The power of the United States to regulate commerce is general, absolute, and without limit, either as to the time, place, or detail of its exercise, except as to waters whose entire navigability for commerce is limited to the confines of a single State.

646.

13. This power includes the right to regulate the use of the means and instrumentalities used in commerce. Ib.

14. Congress has power to regulate and improve the harbors of navigable waters of the United States, and this carries with it the right to deposit the material removed in making the improvements in any other part of the harbor or navigable waters or other place within its control. 647.

See RIVERS AND HARBORS.

NAVIGATION LAWS.

1. The scale of provisions prescribed by section 23 of the act of December 21, 1898, must be printed in the copy of shipping articles for coastwise steamers and posted. 349.

NAVIGATION LAWS-Continued.

2. For violating the provision of law that there shall not be in any compartment or space on a vessel occupied by passengers more than two tiers of berths, nor more than one person in a berth not double, the master becomes liable to a fine of $5 for each passenger carried other than cabin passengers. 499.

See SEAMEN.

NAVY.

1. A person who took the regular four years' course at the Naval Academy, and received a certificate of graduation, issued pursuant to the act of August 5, 1882, is a graduate of the Academy within the meaning of section 20 of the "naval personnel bill." 485.

2. Neither boatswains, gunners, nor warrant machinists are officers of the line of the Navy within the meaning of the Revised Statutes, the acts of August 5, 1882, and March 3, 1899. 620.

3. Warrant machinists are not entitled to command. Ib. 4. The conviction by a general court-martial can not be ratified by the Secretary of the Navy where one member of the court has been relieved by a subordinate without authority of the Secretary and another judge substituted in his stead. 137. See LICENSE, 1, 2; NAVAL OFFICERS.

NAVY-YARD.

On April 6, 1899, the Washington Navy-Yard being closed at noon, pursuant to an Executive order, in connection with the ceremonies attending the interment of the bodies of the soldiers and sailors whose lives were lost in the war with Spain, the per diem employees of the yard should receive compensation for the entire day. 472.

NEGOTIABLE PAPER.

Negotiable paper may be transferred, so as to pass the title and ownership, by the endorsement of the payee or endorsee thereon, which may be made as well by the agent of such payee or endorsee as by such principal. 637.

NEUTRALITY.

See WAR.

NORTH AMERICAN COMMERCIAL COMPANY.

The North American Commercial Company is liable to the United States for interest upon the sums overdue on account of taxes, rental, and bonus under its lease with the United States. 172.

OATHS.

1. The act of June 7, 1888, with reference to administering oaths to pensioners free of charge, only applies to the officers authorized to administer oaths at the time of the passage of that act. 86.

OATHS-Continued.

2. United States commissioners are not required to administer oaths to pensioners and their witnesses in the execution of pension vouchers free of charge. Ib.

OFFICE.

1. The circuit judge appointed as a commissioner under the convention of February 8, 1886, with Great Britain, is entitled to compensation additional to that of his salary, notwithstanding Revised Statutes, sections 1763 and 1765, and the act of July 31, 1894, section 2. 184.

2. This law should not be regarded as enacted by Congress to invade the domain of the treaty-making authority and establishing restrictions upon future occasional and temporary commissionerships created by international agreement, the nature and functions of which neither Congress nor the framers of Article II, section 2, of the Constitution, could wisely undertake or foresee. Ib.

3. The word "office," as used in section 2 of the act of 1894, is to be presumed, in the absence of indications to the contrary, not to embrace such commissionership, because it is not what is called a constitutional office. Ib.

4. Incompatibility in law exists where the nature and duty of the two offices are such as to render it improper, from considerations of public policy, for one incumbent to hold both, and does not necessarily arise when the incumbent places himself for the time being in a position where it may be impossible for him to discharge the duties of both offices. 237. See ARMY OFFICER, 88.

OFFICERS.

See ARMY OFFICERS; NAVAL OFFICERS.

OHIO RIVER.

See NAVIGABLE WATERS, 7-10.

OPINIONS.

See ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

ORDNANCE.

1. In the absence of any of the appropriation for the maintenance of the militia in the several States, or of arms, ordnance stores, etc., purchased with it, the Government can not issue to the several States stores in kind to replace such as were exhausted, consumed, or impaired by use in the war with Spain; nor can it make compensation for such stores, as they were the property of the United States. 372.

2. Such stores belonging to the several States, taken or accepted by the Government for use in the war with Spain, should not be returned in kind, but should be paid for at the price agreed