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turns.

392. The clerk of the Returns Office shall file all returns Clerk to file re-
made to the office, so that the same may be of easy access, June 2, 1862, c.
keeping all returns made by the same officer in the same 412.
place, and numbering them in the order in which they are Sec. 513, R. S.
made.

93, s. 4, v. 12, p.

Iune 2, 1862, c-

412.

393. The clerk of the Returns Office shall provide and Jndexes.
keep an index-book, with the names of the contracting par- 93, s. 4, v. 12, p.
ties, and the number of each contract opposite to the names;
and shall submit the index-book and returns to any person
desiring to inspect it.

394. The clerk of the Returns Office shall furnish copies
of such returns to any person paying therefor, at the rate
of five cents for every one hundred words, to which copies
certificates shall be appended in every case by the clerk
making the same, attesting their correctness, and that each
copy so certified is a full and complete copy of the return.

Sec. 514, R. S.

Copies of re-
June 2, 1862, c.

turns.

93, s. 4, v. 12, p.

412.

Sec. 515, R. S.

CHAPTER X.

THE REVISED STATUTES-THE STATUTES AT
LARGE THE ARMY REGULATIONS - THE
ARMY REGISTER.

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395. Commissioners to revise and 412. Commissioner to prepare new
consolidate the general

statutes of the United 413. Duty of Commissioner.

States.

396. Duties of the commissioners.

edition of Revised Statutes.

Amendments. References.
Revision of indexes.

397. Work to be submitted to 414. Additional matter to be in-

Congress.

parts.

cluded.

398. Work may be printed in 415. When to be completed. To

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be legal evidence.
New edition of Revised Stat-

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utes to be prima facie evi-
dence.

Supplement to Revised Stat-

utes.

notes. Marginal references. 418. Editing and preparing Sup-
References to judicial de-

cisions. Index.

plement.

419. To be prima facie evidence.
420. Supplement of 1891 to Re-
vised Statutes. (Vol. I.)

402. Printed copies to be evidence.
403. Title of revision of statutes.
404. Certificate to Revised Stat- 421. Distribution of supplement

utes.

405. Scope of Revised Statutes.
406. Repeal of acts embraced in
revision.

407. Accrued rights reserved.
408. Prosecutions and punish-
ments.

409. Acts of limitation.

of 1891.

422. To be prima facie evidence.
423. Supplement of 1895. (Vol. II.)
424. Statutes at Large.
425. Printing and binding.
426. Distribution of pamphlet
copies of acts of each ses-
sion.

410. Arrangement and classifica- 427. Preparation of laws of each

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411. Acts passed since December 428. Printed copies to be legal

evidence.

1 The Revised Statutes must be accepted as the law on the subjects which they
embrace as it existed on the first day of December, 1875, and were enacted to present
the entire body of the laws in a concise and compact form. When the language
of the Revised Statutes is plain and unambiguous, the grammatical structure simple
and accurate, and the meaning of the whole intelligible and obvious, a court is not
at liberty, by construction, to reproduce the law as it stood before the revision.
U. S. v. Bowen, 100 U. S., 508. See also Wright v. U. S., 15 C. Cls. R., 80, 86.

to revise and con

eral statutes of

States.

395. That the President of the United States be, and he Commissioners is hereby, authorized, by and with the advice and consent solidate the gen of the Senate, to appoint three persons, learned in the law, the United as commissioners, to revise, simplify, arrange, and consoli- June 27, 1866, v. date all statutes of the United States, general and permanent in their nature, which shall be in force at the time such commissioners may make the final report of their doings. Act of June 27, 1866 (14 Stat. L., 74).

396. That, in performing this duty, the commissioners shall bring together all statutes and parts of statutes which, from similarity of subject, ought to be brought together, omitting redundant or obsolete enactments, and making such alterations as may be necessary to reconcile the contradictions, supply the omissions, and amend the imperfections of the original text; and they shall arrange the same under titles, chapters, and sections, or other suitable divisions and subdivisions, with head-notes briefly expressive of the matter contained in such divisions; also with side-notes, so drawn as to point to the contents of the text, and with references to the original text from which each section is compiled, and to the decisions of the Federal courts, explaining or expounding the same, and also to such decisions of the State courts as they may deem expedient; and they shall provide by a temporary index, or other expedient means, for an easy reference to every portion of their report. Sec. 2, ibid.

14, p. 74.

Duties of the

commissioners.

Sec. 2, ibid.

submitted to

Sec. 3, ibid.

397. That when the commissioners have completed the revision and consolidation of the statutes, as aforesaid, Congress. they shall cause a copy of the same, in print, to be submitted to Congress, that the statutes so revised and consolidated may be re-enacted, if Congress shall so determine; and at the same time they shall also suggest to Congress such contradictions, omissions, and imperfections as may appear in the original text, with the mode in whch they have reconciled, supplied, and amended the same; and they may also designate such statutes or parts of statutes as, in their judgment, ought to be repealed, with their reasons for such repeal. Sec. 3, ibid.

Work may be printed in parts.

398. That the commissioners shall be authorized to cause their work to be printed in parts, so fast as it may be ready Sec. 4, ibid. for the press, and to distribute copies of the same to members of Congress, and to such other persons, in limited numbers, as they may see fit, for the purpose of obtaining their suggestions; and they shall, from time to time, report to Congress their progress and doings. Sec. 4, ibid.

Revision to be completed as soon

399. That the statutes so revised and consolidated shall be reported to Congress as soon as practicable, and the as practicable. whole work closed without unnecessary delay. Sec. 5, ibid. Sec. 5. ibid.

Compensation.
Sec. 6, ibid.

Preparation of Revised Statutes

Sec. 2, June 20,

ences to original

judicial

sions.

Index.

deci.

Promulgation.

400. That the commissioners shall each receive as com. pensation for his services at the rate of five thousand dollars a year for three years, with the reasonable expenses of clerical service and other incidental matters, not to exceed two thousand dollars annually for such expenses. Sec. 6, ibid.

FIRST EDITION OF THE REVISED STATUTES.

401. That the Secretary of State is hereby charged with for printing, etc. the duty of causing to be prepared for printing, publica1874, v. 18, p. 113. tion and distribution the revised statutes of the United States enacted at this present session of Congress; that Head notes. he shall cause to be completed the head notes of the several Marginal refer: titles and chapters and the marginal notes referring to the statutes. statutes from which each section was compiled and repealed References to by said revision; and references to the decisions of the courts of the United States explaining or expounding the same, and such decisions of State courts as he may deem expedient, with a full and complete index to the same. 402. And when the same shall be completed, the said Secretary shall duly certify the same under the seal of the the United States, and when printed and promulgated as Printed copies hereinafter provided, the printed volumes shall be legal evidence of the laws and treaties therein contained, in all the courts of the United States, and of the several States and Territories. Sec. 2, act of June 20, 1874 (18 Stat. L., 113). 403. That the revision of the statutes of a general and permanent nature, with the index thereto, shall be printed in one volume, and shall be entitled and labeled "Revised Statutes of the United States;" and the revision of the statutes relating to the District of Columbia; to postroads, and the public treaties in force on the first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, with a suitable index to each, shall be published in a separate volume, and entitled and labeled "Revised Statutes relating to District of Columbia and Post-Roads. Public Treaties."

to be evidence.

Title of revi sion of statutes. Sec. 3, ibid.

Sec. 3, ibid.

The act of June 27, 1866 (14 Stat. L., 74), was revived by the act of May 4, 1870 (16 Stat. L., 96), which authorized the President to appoint three commissioners to prosecute and complete the work prescribed by that statute. The work of revision was to be completed within three years from the date of passage of the act (May 4, 1870). The act of March 3, 1873 (17 Stat. L., 579), authorized the appointment of a joint committee of Congress to accept the draft of the revision of laws, so far as the same was completed at the expiration of the time designated for that purpose (May 4, 1873). The same statute authorized the existing joint committee to con tract with some suitable person or persons to prepare a revision of the statutes, already reported by the commissioners, in the form of a bill to be presented at the opening of the Forty-third Congress. The publication of the first edition of the Revised Statutes was authorized by the act of June 20, 1874 (18 Stat. L., 113): pp. 401-403, post.

2 The first edition of the Revised Statutes is a transcript of the original in the State Department. It is prima facie evidence of the law, but the original is the only conclusive evidence of the exact text of the law. Wright v. U. S., 15 Č. Cls. R.. 80, 87.

to

Revised Stat

404. That the certificate to the printed volume of the, Certificate revised statutes of the United States required by section utes. Dec. 28, 1874, v. two of "An act providing for publication of the revised 18, p. 293. statutes and laws of the United States," approved June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, shall be made by the Secretary of State under the seal of the Department of State, and so much of said section as provides that such certificate shall be under the seal of the United States, is hereby repealed. Act of December 28, 1871 (18 Stat. L., 293).

SCOPE OF THE REVISED STATUTES AND REPEAL

PROVISIONS.

vised Statues.

Sec. 5595, B.S.

405. The foregoing seventy-three titles embrace the stat- Scope of Reutes of the United States general and permanent in their nature, in force on the first day of December one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, as revised and consolidated by commissioners appointed under an act of Congress, and the same shall be designated and cited, as The Revised Statutes of the United States.'

embraced in re

406. All acts of Congress passed prior to said first day Repeal of acts of December one thousand eight hundred and seventy- vision. three, any portion of which is embraced in any section of Sec. 5596, R. S. said revision, are hereby repealed, and the section applicable thereto shall be in force in lieu thereof; all parts of such acts not contained in such revision, having been repealed or superseded by subsequent acts, or not being general and permanent in their nature: Provided, That the incorporation into said revision of any general and permanent provision, taken from an act making appropriations, or from an act containing other provisions of a private, local, or temporary character, shall not repeal, or in any way affect any appropriation, or any provision of a private, local, or temporary character, contained in any of said acts, but the same shall remain in force; and all acts of Congress passed prior to said last-named day no part of which are embraced in said revision, shall not be affected or changed by its enactment.

reserved.

Sec. 5597, R. S.

407. The repeal of the several acts embraced in said revi- Accrued rights sion, shall not affect any act done, or any right accruing or accrued, or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil cause before the said repeal, but all rights and liabilities under said acts shall continue, and may be enforced in the same manner, as if said repeal had not been

'The Revised Statutes are an act of Congress. The enactment was approved and became the law on June 22, 1874. Wright v. U. S.. 15 C. Cls. R., 80. In case of doubt, ambiguity, or uncertainty the previous statutes may be referred to. Ibid. See also Bowen v. U. S., 100 U. S., 508. U. S. v. Bowen, 100 U. S.,508; Bate Refrigerating Co. v. Sulzberger, 157 U. S., 1.

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