Patents to be But nothing in this act shall authorize the sale or conveyance of any only a release, &c. title other than such as the United States has, and the patents issued shall be in the form of a release and quit-claim of all title of the United States in such lands. Proclamation of SEC. 2. That all executive proclamations relating to the sales of Pubsale of public lic Lands shall be published in only one newspaper, the same to be lands; where to be published. printed and published in the State or Territory where the lands are sitR. S., § 2359. uated, and to be designated by the Secretary of the Interior. [January 1876, July 4, ch. 12, 1877.] 165. CHAPTER 22. Jan. 16, 1877. 19 Stat. L., 222. In District of Co lumbia, constables to take oath and give bond. R. S., vol. 2, Dist. Col., 1036. AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION TEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX OF THE REVISED STAT- In District of Columbia, constables to take oath and give bond. Be it enacted, &c., That section ten hundred and thirty six of the Revised Statutes relating to the District of Columbia be amended to read as follows: "Each constable shall, before performing any of the duties of his office, take the oath prescribed for civil officers in the District, and shall enter into a bond to the United States in the sum of five thousand dollars, with security, to be approved by the clerk of the supreme court of the District, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office, and for the punctual payment of all moneys coming into his hands to the persons entitled to receive the same. And the clerk of said supreme court shall approve of no bond of any constable until at least three bondsmen shall sign said constable's bond, and each of said bondsmen shall file with said constable's bond an affidavit that he is the owner in fee-simple of unincumbered real estate, situated in the District of Columbia, of the cash value of at least five thousand dollars." [January 16, 1877.] Jan. 16, 1877. 19 Stat. L., 222. Recorder of point deputy. CHAPTER 23. AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE RECORDER OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TO APPOINT Recorder of deeds in District of Columbia may ap- Deputy to act in cases of vacancy. Be it enacted, &c., That the recorder of deeds for the District of Codeeds in District of lumbia is authorized to appoint a deputy recorder; and all deeds of conColumbia may apveyance, leases, powers of attorney, and other written instruments reR. S., vol. 2, Dist. quired to be filed and recorded, and all copies of instruments and records, Col., § 467-471. and certificates authorized by law, filed, recorded, made, and certified by the deputy recorder, shall have the same legality, force, and effect as if performed by the recorder. Deputy to act in case of vacancy. No additional In case of a vacancy in the office of recorder by death, resignation, or other cause, the deputy recorder shall act until a recorder shall be duly appointed and qualified: Provided, That no additional expense shall be incurred by the District expense or fees al- for said deputy, and no other fees shall be allowed than are now prolowed. vided by law. [January 16, 1877.] CHAPTER 24. AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION FIFTY-FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN OF THE REVISE STATUTES OF THE UNITED STATES RELATING TO COUNTERFEITING (1) Counterfeiting, &c., gold or silver coin or bars; how punished. Be it enacted, &c., That Section fifty-four hundred and fifty-seven of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows: (1) Jan. 16, 1877. 19 Stat. L., 223. Counterfeiting, &c., gold or silver coin or bars; how punished. Substitute for R. S., § 5457. 10 Pet., 618. 4 Wash., 733. "Every person who falsely makes, forges, or counterfeits, or causes or procures to be falsely made, forged, or counterfeited, or willingly aids or assists in falsely making, forging, or counterfeiting any coin or bars in resemblance or similitude of the gold or silver coins or bars which have been, or hereafter may be, coined or stamped at the mints and assay-offices of the United States, or in resemblance or similitude 208. of any foreign gold or silver coin which by law is, or hereafter may be, current in the United States, or are in actual use and circulation as money within the United States, or who passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or bring into the United States from any foreign place, knowing the same to be false, forged, or counterfeit, with intent to defraud any body politic or corporate, or any other person or persons whatsoever, or has in his possession any such false, forged or counterfeited coin or bars, knowing the same to be false, forged or counterfeited, with intent to defraud any body politic or corporate, or any other person or persons whatsoever, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars, and by imprisonment at hard labor not more than ten years. [January 16, 1877.] NOTE. (1) This amendment has been incorporated into the second edition of the Revised Statutes in § 5457. CHAPTER 27. AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE PAYMENT OF INVALID AND OTHER PEN- Commissioner of Pensions to report amount of annual additions and reductions. Be it enacted, &c. # Commissioner of Pensions and hereafter he shall report the total annual amount paid for additions, also reductions on the annual pension rolls: [January 19, 1877.] Jan. 19, 1877. 19 Stat. L., 223. Commissioner of Pensions to report amount of annual additions and reductions. R. S., §§ 470-474. CHAPTER 37. AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR AND REGULATE THE COUNTING OF VOTES FOR PRESIDENT Jan. 29, 1877. 19 Stat. L., 227. [SECTION 1], That the Senate and House of Representatives shall Counting votes meet in the hall of the House of Representatives, at the hour of one for President and o'clock post meridian, on the first Thursday in February, anno Domini D. 1877. Vice-President, A. R. S., §§ 131–151. eighteen hundred and seventy-seven; and the President of the Senate shall be their presiding officer. Two tellers shall be previously appointed on the part of the Senate, and two on the part of the House of Representatives, to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by the President of the Senate, all the certificates, and papers purporting to be certificates, of the electoral votes, which certificates and papers shall be opened, presented, and acted upon in the alphabetical order of the States, beginning with the letter A; and said tellers having then read the same in the presence and hearing of the two houses, shall make a list of the votes as they shall appear from the said certificates; And the votes having been ascertained and counted as in this act provided, the result of the same shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote, and the names of the persons, if any, elected, which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and Vice-President of the United States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the journals of the two houses. Upon such reading of any such certificate or paper when there shall be only one return from a State, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all objections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and such objections shall be submitted to the Senate for its decision; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like manner, submit such objections to the House of Representatives for its decision; and no electoral vote or votes from any State from which but one return has been received shall be rejected except by the affirmative vote of the two Houses. When the two Houses have voted, they shall immediately again meet, and the presiding officer shall then announce the decision of the question submitted. SEC. 2. That if more than one return, or paper purporting to be a return from a State, shall have been received by the President of the Senate, purporting to be the certificates of electoral votes given at the last preceding election for President and Vice-President in such State, (unless they shall be duplicates of the same return,) all such returns and papers shall be opened by him in the presence of the two Houses when met as aforesaid, and read by the tellers, and all such returns and papers shall thereupon be submitted to the judgment and decision as to which is the true and lawful electoral vote of such State, of a commission constituted as follows, namely: During the session of each House on the Tuesday next preceding the first Thursday in February, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, each House shall, by viva voce vote, appoint five of its members, who with the five associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, to be ascertained as hereinafter provided, shall constitute a commission for the decision of all questions upon or in respect of such double returns named in this section. On the Tuesday next preceding the first Thursday in February, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, or as soon thereafter as may be, the associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States now assigned to the first, third, eighth, and ninth circuits shall select, in such manner as a majority of them shall deem fit, another of the associate justices of said court, which five persons shall be members of said commission; And the person longest in commission of said five justices shall be the president of said commission. The members of said commission shall respectively take and subscribe the following oath: "I, do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will impartially examine and consider all questions submitted to the commission of which I am a member, and a true judgment give thereon, agreeably to the Constitution and the laws: so help me God;" which oath shall be filed with the Secretary of the Senate. Oath. Commission not to be dissolved. When the commission shall have been thus organized, it shall not be in the power of either house to dissolve the same, or to withdraw any of its members; But if any such Senator or member shall die or become physically Vacancies; how unable to perform the duties required by this act, the fact of such death filled. or physical inability shall be by said commission, before it shall proceed further, communicated to the Senate or House of Representatives, as the case may be, which body shall immediately and without debate proceed by viva voce vote to fill the place so vacated, and the person so appointed shall take and subscribe the oath hereinbefore prescribed, and become a member of said commission; And, in like manner, if any of said justices of the Supreme Court shall die or become physically incapable of performing the duties required by this act, the other of said justices, members of the said commission, shall immediately appoint another justice of said court a member of said commission, and, in such appointments, regard shall be had to the impartiality and freedom from bias sought by the original appointments to said commission, who shall thereupon immediately take and subscribe the oath herein before prescribed, and become a member of said commission to fill the vacancy so occasioned. double returns. All the certificates and papers purporting to be certificates of the Opening certifielectoral votes of each State shall be opened, in the alphabetical order cates in case of of the States, as provided in section one of this act; and when there shall be more than one such certificate or paper, as the certificates and papers from such State shall so be opened, (excepting duplicates of the same return,) they shall be read by the tellers, and thereupon the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. Objections. Certificates, &c., .When all such objections so made to any certificate, vote, or paper from a State shall have been received and read, all such certificates, to be submitted to votes, and papers so objected to, and all papers accompanying the same, proceedings therecommission, and together with such objections, shall be forthwith submitted to said com on. mission, which shall proceed to consider the same, with the same powers, if any, now possessed for that purpose by the two Houses acting separately or together, and, by a majority of votes, decide whether any and what votes from such State are the votes provided for by the Constitution of the United States, and how many and what persons were duly appointed electors in such State, and may therein take into view such petitions, depositions, and other papers, if any, as shall, by the Constitution and now existing law, be competent and pertinent in such consideration; which decision shall be made in writing, stating briefly the ground thereof, and signed by the members of said commission agreeing therein; whereupon the two houses shall again meet, and such decision shall be read and entered in the journal of each House, and the counting of the votes shall proceed in conformity therewith, unless, upon objection made thereto in writing by at least five Senators and five members of the House of Representatives, the two Houses shall separately concur in ordering otherwise, in which case such concurrent order shall govern. No votes or papers from any other State shall be acted upon until the objections previously made to the votes or papers from any State shall have been finally disposed of. Objections to be disposed of before proceeding to oth er cases. Proceedings in joint session. SEC 3. That while the two Houses shall be in meeting, as provided in this act, no debate shall be allowed and no question shall be put by the presiding officer, except to either House on a motion to withdraw; and he shall have power to preserve order. Debate in each SEC 4. That when the two Houses separate to decide upon an objecHouse on objec- tion that may have been made to the counting of any electoral vote or tions, limited. votes from any State, or upon objection to a report of said commission, or other question arising under this act, each Senator and Representative may speak to such objection or question ten minutes, and not oftener than once; but after such debate shall have lasted two hours, it shall be the duty of each House to put the main question without further debate. Joint meeting; arrangement of seats. not to be dis SEC 5. That at such joint meeting of the two Houses, seats shall be provided as follows: For the President of the Senate, the Speaker's chair; for the Speaker, immediately upon his left; the Senators in the body of the hall upon the right of the presiding officer; for the Representatives, in the body of the hall not provided for the Senators; for the tellers, Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House of Representatives, at the Clerk's desk; for the other officers of the two Houses, in front of the Clerk's desk and upon each side of the Speaker's platform. Such joint meeting shall not be dissolved until the count of electoral solved until count votes shall be completed and the result declared; and no recess shall be declared, &c. taken unless a question shall have arisen in regard to counting any such votes, or otherwise under this act, in which case it shall be competent for either House, acting separately, in the manner herein before provided, to direct a recess of such House not beyond the next day, Sunday excepted, at the hour of ten o'clock in the forenoon. Legislative business may be pro ceeded with. Right of legal And while any question is being considered by said commission, either House may proceed with its legislative or other business. SEC 6. That nothing in this act shall be held to impair or affect any proceedings not right now existing under the Constitution and laws to question, by proimpaired. ceeding in the judicial courts of the United States, the right or title of the person who shall be declared elected, or who shall claim to be President or Vice-President of the United States, if any such right exists. SEC 7. That said commission shall make its own rules, keep a record of its proceedings, and shall have power to employ such persons as may be necessary for the transaction of its business and the execution of its powers. [January 29, 1877.] Commission to make rules, &c. CHAPTER 41. Jan. 31, 1877. 19 Stat. L., 230. Arkansas judicial districts. Sub stitute forR. S., § 533. western. AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE, FIVE HUNDRED Arkansas judicial districts. western. eastern. Clerks in eastern district. Terms of court in eastern district. -in western district. District courts in Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia to have circuit court jurisdiction. Be it enacted, &c., That section five hundred and thirty three of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows: (1) "SEC. 533. That the State of Arkansas is divided into two districts, which shall be called the eastern and western districts of Arkansas. The western district includes the counties of Benton, Washington, Crawford, Sebastian, Scott, Polk, Sevier, Little River, Howard, Montgomery, Yell, Logan, Franklin, Johnson, Madison, Newton, Carroll, NOTE.—(1) The amendments made by this act are incorporated into the second edition of the Revised |