The Board of Commissioners Established by the Sequestration act.
The Board of Commissioners under the act of Sequestration meet every morning, at 11 o'clock, in the Patent Office rooms, on 11th street. As a matter of general interest, we publish the rules adopted for the prosecution of business before the Board:
Rules.
- I. Every claim shall be presented in a printed or manuscript petition, addressed to the Commissioners, and signed by the claimant, or his counsel; if in manuscript, it shall be in roll form, the sheets connected at the top with a margin one inch wide on the left hand.
- II.
The petition shall contain a concise, clear, and positive statement of all the facts which may be material to support the claimant's title to relief, and such statement shall be divided into paragraphs, numbered consecutively, and each paragraph shall contain a separate and distinct allegation.
- III.
The claimant, when he files his petition, shall deliver to the Commissioners, or to one of them, one copy, and to the Attorney General one copy thereof; and, on proof of such delivery, the claim shall be entered on the docket.
- IV.
The several Judges and Clerks of the Courts of Record, the Notaries Public, the Commissioners of the Confederate States' Courts, the Commissioners in Chancery, and the Commissioners to take depositions in the respective States and Territories of the Confederate States, are hereby authorized to take testimony to be used in the investigation of claims before the Board, in the counties or corporations in which they may respectively reside.
- V. All evidence shall be in writing; and all depositions shall be taken by questions, each of which shall be written down by the officer taking the same in the body thereof, and then propounded by such officer to the witness; and the answers thereto shall be written down by the witness, or by such officer in the presence of the witness.
But interrogatories and cross interrogatories may be administered under the supervision of the Board whenever, in their opinion, justice and expediency may be thereby promoted.
Each deposition shall be signed by the witness in the presence of the officer who may take it.
- VI.
The party proposing to take depositions shall cause twenty days notice thereof to be given to the Attorney-General of the Confederate States, or to the claimant or his counsel, as the case may be. The notice shall be in writing and shall state the names of the witnesses and their usual places of abode, the name of the claimant, and the day of the month, the hours, and the place of taking the depositions, and shall be subscribed by the Attorney-General or his assistant, or by the claimant or his counsel: Provided, That the Attorney-General, or the Board, may permit the depositions of persons not named in the notice to be taken, on good cause shown in writing, supported by affidavit.
When a claimant proposes to take a deposition, and the witness resides more than five hundred miles from the city of Richmond, in the State of Virginia; or when the Attorney-General proposes to take a deposition, and the witness resides more than five hundred miles from either the claimant or his counsel, one day's further notice shall be given for every additional twenty miles.
- VII.
All witnesses shall be sworn; or affirmed, before any questions are put to them, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, relative to the case in which they are to testify; and each witness shall then state his name, his occupation, his age, his place of birth, and both his place of residence and his business since the first day of November, A. D. , eighteen hundred and sixty; whether he has any interest, direct or indirect, in the claim, which is the subject of inquiry, or in any other claim then pending or designed to be presented before the Board, and if eye what claim, and the nature and extent of his interest therein; and whether and in what degree he is related to the claimant in the case in which he is testifying.
At the conclusion of the deposition the witness shall state whether he known any other matter relative to the claim in question; and if he does, the shall state it.
- VIII.
The caption of each deposition shall be to the following effect: "The deposition of taken at the request of to be used in the investigation of a claim under the Sequestration Act now pending before the Board of Commissioners under that act, in the name of " The return of the officer taking the deposition shall be to the following effect: "State (or Territory) of county (or corporation) of to wit: "On this day of A. D. 1862.
personally came the witness (or witnesses) within named, and after being first sworn (or affirmed) to tell the truth, the whole truth; and nothing but the truth, the questions contained in the written deposition (or depositions) were written down by me, and then propounded by me to the witness (or witnesses, respectively,) and the answers thereto were written down by the witness answering, (or by me in his presence ) and he then subscribed his deposition in my presence.
The adverse party was notified, did (or did not) attend, and did (or did not) object." The return shall be signed by the officer taking the depositions.
- IX.
The officer, who may take depositions, shall enclose the same, and exhibits, if any, in a packet under his seal, directed to the Board of Commissioners under the sequestration act, at the city of Richmond, Virginia, and either deliver the packet to the Board on the postage having been previously paid by the party at whose instance the depositions were taken, deposit the packet in the post-office.
- X. No objection to a deposition will be considered as waived because such objection was not taken before the officer who took the deposition.
But all objections to depositions, except as to the competency of or relevancy of the evidence, shall be considered as waived unless the same be filed in writing within thirty days after the depositions shall have been received by the Board.
All depositions shall be opened as soon as they are received by the Board.
- XI.
No counsel will be admitted to practice before the Board unless he is a man of good character, and has been admitted or licensed to practice in the highest Court of some State or Territory of the Confederate States; and, before such admission, such counsel shall be sworn to support the Constitution of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States, and that his conduct as counsel shall be upright and according to law. But any claimant may appear in person and manage his own case.
- XII.
When the claimants' case is prepared, he shall notify the Attorney-General thereof, and within a reasonable time there after the case shall be prepared on the part of the Attorney-General.
No viva voce arguments on behalf of either party shall continue more than two hours, without the special permission of the Board previously granted; nor shall more than two counsel argue in any case on the same side, unless by leave of the Board.
- XIII.
In the computation of time mentioned in these rules, all Sundays, and also the day of the service of any notice, and the day on which a party is required to appear, or on which any act is required to be done, shall be excluded.
- XIV.
No paper filed with the Broad shall be withdrawn without their permission, and then only on the party's leaving a certified copy thereof.
- XV.
If the claimant die pending the claim, his proper representatives may, on motion, be admitted to prosecute the claim.
- XVI.
The proceedings of the Board shall be entered in a book, and the proceedings of each day shall be drawn up at large and read publicly the next day, except those of the last day of the term, which shall be drawn up and read the same day. After being read, each day's proceedings shall be signed by the President of the Board.
