Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/554

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ever the same are not grantable of course according to the rules and practice of the court.

Supreme court to have power to prescribe the forms of bills, writs, &c.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the Supreme Court shall have full power and authority, from time to time, to prescribe, and regulate, and alter, the forms of writs and other process to be used and issued in the district and circuit courts of the United States, and the forms and modes of framing and filing libels, bills, answers, and other proceedings and pleadings, in suits at common law or in admiralty and in equity pending in the said courts, and also the forms and modes of taking and obtaining evidence, and of obtaining discovery, and generally the forms and modes of proceeding to obtain relief, and the forms and modes of drawing up, entering, and enrolling decrees, and the forms and modes of proceeding before trustees appointed by the court, and generally to regulate the whole practice of the said courts, so as to prevent delays, and to promote brevity and succinctness in all pleadings and proceedings therein, and to abolish all unnecessary costs and expenses in any suit therein.

Supreme court to have power to regulate the costs in the district or circuit courts.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of further diminishing the costs and expenses in suits and proceedings in the said courts, the Supreme Court shall have full power and authority, from time to time, to make and prescribe regulations to the said district and circuit courts, as to the taxation and payment of costs in all suits and proceedings therein; and to make and prescribe a table of the various items of costs which shall be taxable and allowed in all suits, to the parties, their attorneys, solicitors, and proctors, to the clerk of the court, to the marshal of the district, and his deputies, and other officers serving process, to witnesses, and to all other persons whose services are usually taxable in bills of costs. And the items so stated in the said table, and none others, shall be taxable or allowed in bills of costs; and they shall be fixed as low as they reasonably can be, with a due regard to the nature of the duties and services which shall be performed by the various officers and persons aforesaid, and shall in no case exceed the costs and expenses now authorized, where the same are provided for by existing laws.

Interest shall be allowed and levied by the marshal under execution upon all judgments, &c.Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That on all judgments in civil cases, hereafter recovered in the circuit and district courts of the United States, interest shall be allowed, and may be levied by the marshal, under process of execution issued thereon, in all cases where, by the law of the State in which such circuit or district court shall be held, interest may be levied under process of execution on judgments recovered in the courts of such State, to be calculated from the date of the judgment, and at such rate per annum, as is allowed by law, on judgments recovered in the courts of such State.[1]

Approved, August 23, 1842.

  1. The decisions of the courts of the United States on the subject of interest have been:

    The decree on bottomry is to consider the sum loaned and the premium as a principal, and to allow common interest on that sum for the delay of payment after it is due. The Ship Packet, 3 Mason’s C. C. R. 255.

    An administrator is not liable to pay interest upon assets in his hands, unless under special circumstances. Neither is a partner, on partnership accounts before settlement, and a balance struck. Dexter v. Arnold, 3 Mason’s C. C. R. 284.

    Interest will not be allowed against a trustee holding a fund where he had no interest, if there be no laches or neglect or use of the money on his part. Cassels v. Vernon, 5 Mason’s C. C. R. 332.

    Interest or money in the hands of an administrator, is not chargeable where the same is retained in his hands until a suit shall determine the right of the claimant thereto. Wade v. The Administrators of Wade, 1 Wash. C. C. R. 477.

    The court allowed the customary interest paid at Canton, on a note executed there. Cowqua v. Lauderbrun, 1 Wash. C. C. R. 521.

    The correct general rule is to calculate interest up to the period when a payment is made, to satisfy which the payment should be first applied; and if it exceed the interest due, the balance is to be applied towards the payment of the principal; but if the payment is not sufficient to discharge the interest, the principal is not to be increased by adding to it the balance of interest due at the time, so as to produce interest on interest. Smith v. The Administrators of Shaw, 2 Wash. C. C. R. 167.