(ACT of March 2d, 1799.) on board such ship or vessel, for the purpose of carrying into effect any of the revenue laws of the United States, he shall forfeit, for every such offence, a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, nor less than fifty dollars; but the onus probandi shall lie on the claimant only where probable cause is shown for such prosecution, to be judged of by the court before whom the prosecution is had. 53. SEC. LXXII. The weighers, gaugers, and measurers, employed in the service of the revenue, shall, within three days after any vessel is discharged, make returns of the articles by them respectively weighed, gauged, or measured, out of such vessel: And the form of the return to be made by the weighers, respectively, shall be as follows: Return of [here insert the number of packages and contents] weighed from on board the [here insert the denomination and name of the vessel] whereof [insert the name] is master, from [insert the port or place from which arrived] Amount of drafts. District of ", port ofA B, weigher. And the form of the return to be made by the gaugers, respectively, shall be as follows: Return of [here insert the number of casks and packages] gauged from on board the [here insert the denomination and name of the vessel] whereof [insert the name] is master, from [insert the port or place from which arrived.] District of port of- And the form of the return to be made by the measurers, respectively, shall be as follows: Return of the [here insert salt, or coal, as the case may be] measured from on board the [here insert the denomination and name of the vessel] whereof [insert the name] is master, from [insert the port or place from which arrived.] port of- And the said returns shall be made by the weighers, gaugers, and measurers, in books, to be prepared by them for that purpose, and kept in the customhouses. 54. SEC. LXXIII. Every collector, naval officer, and surveyor, shall cause to be affixed, and constantly kept, in some public and conspicuous place of his office, a fair table of the rates of fees and duties demandable by law, and shall give a receipt for the fees he shall receive, specifying the particulars, whenever required so to do; and in case of failure therein, shall forfeit and pay one hundred dollars, to be recovered, with costs, in any proper court having cognizance thereof, to the use of the informer: and if any officer of the customs shall demand, or receive, any greater, or other fee, compensation, or reward, for executing any duty or service required of him by law, he shall forfeit and pay two hundred dollars for each offence, recoverable, in manner aforesaid, for the use of the party aggrieved. And if any inspector, gauger, weigher, or measurer, shall receive any gratuity, fee, or reward, for any services performed by virtue of this act, other than is by law allowed, or if any gauger, weigher, or measurer, employed as such by the public, in the districts of Portsmouth, Salem and Beverly, Boston and Charlestown, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk and Portsmouth, or Charleston, shall gauge, weigh, or measure, any article or articles, other than shall be directed by the proper officer, in order to ascertain the duties to be received, or the drawbacks to be allowed thereon, or shall make a return of the weight, gauge, or measure, of any merchandise laden, or to be laden, on board any ship or vessel, for the benefit of drawback upon exportation, without having actually weighed, gauged, or measured, the same, as the case may require, after such merchandise shall have been notified to the collector and entered for exportation, they shall, for the first offence forfeit and pay the sum of fifty dollars, and for the second offence shall forfeit two hundred dollars, and be discharged from the public service; and if any inspector, or other officer of the customs, shall certify the shipment of any merchandise entitled to drawback on exportation, without having duly inspected and examined the same, (ACT of March 2d, 1799.) after he shall have received the permit for lading such merchandise, or if the amount of such drawback shall be estimated according to weight, gauge, or measure, until such merchandise shall be first weighed, gauged, or measured, as the case may require, he shall be subject to the like forfeitures, and be discharged from the public service. [Infra, 78, 80, 83.] 55. SEC. LXXIV. All duties and fees to be collected, shall be payable in money of the United States, or in foreign gold and silver coins, at the following rates; that is to say: The gold coins of Great Britain and Portugal, of the standard prior to the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, at the rate of one hundred cents for every twenty-seven grains of the actual weight thereof; the gold coins of France, Spain, and the dominions of Spain, of the standard prior to the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, at the rate of one hundred cents for every twenty-seven grains and two-fifths of a grain of the actual weight thereof; Spanish milled dollars, at the rate of one hundred cents for each dollar, the actual weight whereof shall not be less than seventeen pennyweights and seven grains, and in proportion for the parts of a dollar; crowns of France, at the rate of one hundred and ten cents for each crown, the actual weight whereof shall not be less than eighteen pennyweights and seventeen grains, and in proportion for the parts of a crown. Provided, That no foreign coins shall be receivable, which are not, by law, a tender for the payment of all debts, except in consequence of a proclamation of the president of the United States, authorizing such foreign coins to be received in payment of the duties and fees aforesaid. Infra, 81. [Sections LXXV. to LXXXVIII. relate to Drawback.] [See Drawback, 1. &c.] 56. SEC. LXXXIX. All penalties accruing by any breach of this act, shall be sued for, and recovered, with costs of suit, in the name of the United States of America, in any court competent to try the same; and the trial of any fact, which may be put in issue, shall be within the judicial district in which any such penalty shall have accrued; and the collector, within whose district the seizure shall be made, or forfeiture incurred, is hereby enjoined to cause suits for the same to be commenced without delay, and prosecuted to effect; and is, moreover, authorized to receive, from the court within which such trial is had, or from the proper officer thereof, the sum or sums so recovered, after deducting all proper charges, to be allowed by the said court; and on receipt thereof, the said collector shall pay and distribute the same without delay, according to law, and transmit, quarter yearly, to the treasury, an account of all moneys by him received for fines, penalties, and forfeitures, during such quarter. And all ships or vessels, goods, wares, or merchandise, which shall become forfeited in virtue of this act, shall be seized, libelled, and prosecut (ACT of March 2d, 1799.) ed, as aforesaid, in the proper court having cognizance thereof; which court shall cause fourteen days' notice to be given of such seizure and libel, by causing the substance of such libel, with the order of the court thereon, setting forth the time and place appointed for trial, to be inserted in some newspaper published near the place of seizure, and also by posting up the same in the most public manner, for the space of fourteen days, at or near the place of trial; for which advertisement a sum not exceeding ten dollars shall be paid. And proclamation shall be made in such manner as the court shall direct; and if no person shall appear and claim any such ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, and give bond to defend the prosecution thereof, and to respond the cost in case he shall not support his claim, the court shall proceed to hear and determine the cause according to law; and upon the prayer of any claimant to the court, that any ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, so seized and prosecuted, or any part thereof, should be delivered to such claimant, it shall be lawful for the court to appoint three proper persons to appraise such ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, who shall be sworn, in open court, for the faithful discharge of their duty; and such appraisement shall be made at the expense of the party on whose prayer it is granted; and on the return of such appraisement, if the claimant shall, with one or more sureties, to be approved of by the court, execute a bond in the usual form, to the United States, for the payment of a sum equal to the sum at which the ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, so prayed to be delivered, are appraised, and, moreover, produce a certificate from the collector of the district wherein such trial is had, and of the naval officer thereof, if any there be, that the duties on the goods, wares, and merchandise, or tonnage duty on the ship or vessel, so claimed, have been paid, or secured, in like manner as if the goods, wares, or merchandise, ship or vessel, had been legally entered, the court shall, by rule, order such ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, to be delivered to the said claimant; and the said bond shall be lodged with the proper officer of the court, and, if judgment shall pass in favour of the claimant, the court shall cause the said bond to be cancelled; but if judgment shall pass against the claimant, as to the whole, or any part, of such ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, and the claimant shall not, within twenty days thereafter, pay into the court, or to the proper officer thereof, the amount of the appraised value of such ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, so condemned, with the costs, judgment shall and may be granted upon the bond, on motion in open court, without further delay. And when any prosecution shall be commenced, on account of the seizure of any ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, and judgment shall be given for the claimant or claimants, if it shall appear to the court before whom such prosecution shall be tried, that there was a reasonable cause (ACT of March 2d, 1799.) of seizure, the said court shall cause a proper certificate or entry to be made thereof, and in such case the claimant or claimants shall not be entitled to costs, nor shall the person who made the seizure, or the prosecutor, be liable to action, suit, or judgment, on account of such seizure and prosecution: Provided, That the ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, be, after judgment, forthwith returned to such claimant or claimants, his, her, or their, agent or agents: And provided, That no action or prosecution shall be maintained, in any case under this act, unless the same shall have been commenced within three years next after the penalty of forfeiture was incurred. [Infra, 92, 129.] 57. SEC. xc. All ships or vessels, goods, wares, or merchandise, which shall be condemned by virtue of this act, and for which bond shall not have been given by the claimant or claimants, agreeably to the provisions for that purpose, in the foregoing section, shall be sold, by the marshal, or other proper officer, of the court in which condemnation shall be had, to the highest bidder, at public auction, by order of such court, and at such place as the court may appoint, giving at least fifteen days' notice, (except in cases of perishable goods,) in one or more of the public newspapers of the place where such sale shall be, or, if no paper is published in such place, in one or more of the papers published in the nearest place thereto; for which advertising, a sum not exceeding five dollars shall be paid. And the amount of such sales, deducting all proper charges, shall be paid, within ten days after such sale, by the person selling the same, to the clerk, or other proper officer of the court directing such sale, to be by him, after deducting the charges allowed by the court, paid to the collector of the district in which such seizure or forfeiture has taken place, as hereinbefore directed. 58. SEC. XCI. All fines, penalties, and forfeitures, recovered by virtue of this act, (and not otherwise appropriated,) shall, after deducting all proper costs and charges, be disposed of as follows: one moiety shall be for the use of the United States, and be paid into the treasury thereof, by the collector receiving the same; the other moiety shall be divided between, and paid in equal proportions to, the collector, and naval officer of the district, and surveyor of the port, wherein the same shall have been incurred, or to such of the said officers as there may be in the said district; and in districts where only one of the aforesaid officers shall have been established, the said moiety shall be given to such officer: Provided, nevertheless, That in all cases where such penalties, fines, and forfeitures, shall be recovered in pursuance of information given to such collector, by any person other than the naval officer or surveyor of the district, the one half of such moiety shall be given to such informer, and the remainder thereof shall be disposed of between the collector, naval officer, and surveyor, or surveyors, in manner aforesaid: Provided, also, That where any fines, forfei |