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NOTES.

RULES AND REGULATIONS adopted by the Commissioners under the Twelfth Article of the Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded and signed at Washington, on the 8th day of May, A. D., 1871.

THE following are the articles of the Treaty relating to the Commission:

ARTICLE XII.

The High Contracting Parties agree that all claims on the part of corporations, companies, or private individuals, citizens of the United States, upon the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, arising out of acts committed against the persons or property of citizens of the United States during the period between the thirteenth of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and the ninth of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, inclusive, not being claims growing out of the acts of the vessels referred to in Article 1 of this Treaty, and all claims, with the like exception, on the part of corporations, companies, or private individuals, subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, upon the Government of the United States, arising out of acts committed against the persons or property of subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, during the same period, which may have been presented to either Government for its interposition with the other, and which yet remain unsettled, as well as any other such claims which may be presented within the time specified in Article XIV of this Treaty, shall be referred to three Commissioners, to be appointed in the following manner, that is to say: One Commissioner shall be named by the President of the United States, one by Her Britannic Majesty, and a third by the President of the United States and Her Britannic Majesty conjointly; and in case the third Commissioner shall not have been so named within a period of three months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty, then the third Commissioner shall be named by the Representative at Washington, of His Majesty the King of Spain. In case of the death, absence, or incapacity of any Commissioner, or in the event of any Commissioner VOL. I.-12

omitting or ceasing to act, the vacancy shall be filled in the manner hereinbefore provided for making the original appointment; the period of three months in case of such substitution being calculated from the date of the happening of the vacancy.

The Commissioners so named shall meet at Washington at the earliest convenient period after they have been respectively named; and shall, before proceeding to any business, make and subscribe a solemn declaration, that they will impartially and carefully examine and decide, to the best of their judgment, and according to justice and equity, all such claims as shall be laid before them on the part of the Governments of the United States and of Her Britannic Majesty, respectively; and such declaration shall be entered on the record of their proceedings.

ARTICLE XIII.

The Commissioners shall then forthwith proceed to the investigation of the claims which shall be presented to them. They shall investigate and decide such claims in such order and such manner as they may think proper, but upon such evidence or information only as shall be furnished by or on behalf of the respective Governments. They shall be bound to receive and consider all written documents or statements which may be presented to them by or on behalf of the respective Governments in support of, or in answer to, any claim, and to hear, if required, one person on each side, on behalf of each Government, as counsel or agent for such Government, on each and every separate claim. A majority of the Commissioners shall be sufficient for an award in each case. The award shall be given upon each claim in writing, and shall be signed by the Commissioners assenting to it. It shall be competent for each Government to name one person to attend the Commissioners as its agent, to present and support claims on its behalf, and to answer claims made upon it, and to represent it generally in all matters connected with the investigation and decision thereof.

The High Contracting Parties hereby engage to consider the decision of the Commissioners as absolutely final and conclusive upon each claim decided upon by them, and to give full effect to such decisions, without any objection, evasion, or delay whatsoever.

ARTICLE XIV.

Every claim shall be presented to the Commissioners within six months from the day of their first meeting, unless in any case where

reasons for delay shall be established to the satisfaction of the Commissioners, and then, and in any such case, the period for presenting the claim may be extended by them to any time not exceeding three months longer.

The Commissioners shall be bound to examine and decide upon every claim within two years from the day of their first meeting. It shall be competent for the Commissioners to decide in each case whether any claim has or has not been duly made, preferred, and laid before them, either wholly or to any and what extent, according to the true intent and meaning of this Treaty.

ARTICLE XV.

All sums of money which may be awarded by the Commissioners on account of any claim shall be paid by the one Government to the other, as the case may be, within twelve months after the date of the final award, without interest, and without any deduction, save as specified in Article XVI of this Treaty.

ARTICLE XVI.

The Commissioners shall keep an accurate record and correct minutes or notes of all their proceedings, with the date thereof, and may appoint and employ a secretary, and any other necessary officer or officers, to assist them in the transaction of the business which may come before them.

Each Government shall pay its own Commissioner and agent or counsel. All other expenses shall be defrayed by the two Governments in equal moieties.

The whole expenses of the Commission, including contingent expenses, shall be defrayed by a ratable deduction on the amount of the sums awarded by the Commissioners: provided always that such deduction shall not exceed the rate of five per cent. on the sums so awarded.

ARTICLE XVII.

The High Contracting Parties engage to consider the result of the proceedings of this Commission as a full, perfect, and final settlement of all such claims as are mentioned in Article XII of this Treaty upon either Government; and further engage that every such claim, whether or not the same may have been presented to the notice of, made, preferred, cr laid before the said Commission, shall, from and after the conclusion of the proceedings of the said Commission, be

considered and treated as finally settled, barred, and thenceforth inadmissible.

1. In addition to the representation of his claim, and the proofs in support thereof, which shall have been presented to his Government, the claimant shall file in the office of the Commission a statement of his claim, in the form of a memorial, accompanied by twenty printed copies thereof.

In cases where the amount claimed is less than one thousand dollars, the memorials will be printed at the expense of the Commission. One copy of each memorial will, by the Secretary, be furnished to each Commissioner, and five copies to the agent of each Government. 2. Every memorial shall state the full name of the claimant, the place and time of his birth, and the place or places of his residence between the 13th day of April, 1861, and the 9th day of April, 1865, inclusive. If he be a naturalized citizen or subject of the Government by which his claim is presented, an authenticated copy of the record of his naturalization shall be appended to the memorial, and he shall state whether he has taken any and what steps towards becoming naturalized in any country other than that of his birth.

3. If the claim be preferred in behalf of a firm or association of persons other than a corporation or joint stock compary, the names of each person interested, both at the date of the claim accrued and at the date of verifying the memorial, must be stated, with the proportions of each person's interest. And all the particulars above required to be given in the case of individual claimants must be stated in respect of each member of such firm or association, unless the same be dispensed with on special order of the Commission. If any transfer of the claim, or any part thereof, has occurred, the nature and mode of such transfer must be stated.

4. The memorial must state the particulars of the claim, the general grounds on which it is founded, and the amount claimed. It shall be verified by the oath or affirmation of the claimant, or, in the case hereinafter provided, of his agent or attorney; or if the claim be by a firm or an incorporate association of persons, then by the oath or affirmation of one of them; or in the case of a corporation or joint stock company, by the oath or affirmation of the president or other officer. Such oaths or affirmations may be taken, if in the United States or Great Britain, before any officer having authority, according to the laws of the place, to administer oaths or affirmations; and

they may be taken in the said countries, or elsewhere, before any consul or diplomatic agent of either Government. The verification may be by the agent or attorney only when verification by the claimant is substantially impracticable, or can only be given at great inconvenience. And in case of verification by agent or attorney, the cause of the failure of the claimant to verify it shall be stated.

Objection to the jurisdiction of the Commission, or to the sufficiency of the case stated in the memorial, may be made in the form of a demurrer, stating, without technical nicety, the substantial ground of the objection. Any new matter, constituting a special ground of defense, may be stated in a plea, which may be the subject of demurrer, and all demurrers may be set for hearing on a ten days' notice.

5. Every claimant shall be allowed two months, after the filing of his memorial, to complete his proofs; and after the completion of his proofs, and notice thereof given, two months shall be allowed for taking proofs for the defense, with such further extension of time, in each case, as the Commission on application may grant, for cause shown.

After the proofs on the part of the defense shall have been closed, the Commission will, when the claimant shall desire to take rebutting proof, accord a reasonable time for the purpose.

6. All depositions, after the filing of the memorial, shall be taken on notice, specifying the time and place of taking, to be filed in the office of the Commission, with a copy of the interrogatories, or a statement in writing by the counsel of the Government adducing the witness, showing the subject of the particular examination with sufficient precision to be accepted by the counsel of the Government against whom such witness is to be produced, to be signified by his indorsement thereon. Such interrogatories or statement to be filed in the office of the Commission at least fifteen days before the day named for the examination, with one additional day for every five hundred miles of distance from Washington to the place where the deposition is to be taken. When depositions are to be taken elsewhere than in North America, thirty days will be allowed.

7. Every deposition taken in the United States shall be taken before some officer authorized to take depositions in causes pending in courts of the United States. Depositions in Great Britain and her possessions may be taken before any person authorized to take depositions, to be used in courts of record, or any justice of the peace.

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