NOTARIAL FUNCTIONS OF CONSULAR OFFICERS, ETC. [Circular No. 21.] Concerning the laws of the United States respecting the taking of testimony by letters rogatory. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, To the Diplomatic and Consular Officers of the United States: Letters rogatory for the purpose of taking the testimony of persons residing in the United States, which may be material in suits pending in the courts of foreign countries, are frequently sent to this Department, usually with a note from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the foreign country or from its Diplomatic Representative here, requesting that the business may be attended to. It is not, however, the province of the Department of State to dispose of matters of this kind. Frequently witnesses whose testimony is sought reside in places far from this city, rendering it impracticable to have the testimony taken within the time at which it is required in order to make it available. It is, therefore, deemed advisable to issue this circular, to which are appended the acts of Congress regulating the taking of testimony in such Other information upon the subject, which will be found useful to persons interested, is contained in the following cases. DIRECTIONS. The circuit courts of the United States are held in each of the States; and at the points in each State where the circuit court is held there is established permanently a clerk's office, so that in addressing a communication to that tribunal the proper form would be "To the circuit court of the United States for the State of United States courts are held in Maine, at Portland; in New Hampshire, at Portsmouth and Exeter; in Massachusetts, at Boston; in Rhode Island, at Newport and Providence; in Vermont, at Windsor and Rutland; in Connecticut, at New Haven; in New York, at Canandaigua, Albany, Utica, and the cities of New York and Brooklyn; in New Jersey, at Trenton; in Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; in Delaware, at New Castle; in Maryland, at Baltimore; in West Virginia, at Lewisburgh; in Virginia, at Norfolk; in North Carolina, at Raleigh; in South Carolina, at Charleston; in Georgia, in Atlanta and Savannah; in Florida, at Apalachicola, Tallahassee, Saint Augustine, and Pensacola; in Alabama, at Mobile; in Louisiana, at New Orleans; in Mississippi, at Jackson; in Texas, at Galveston, Brownsville, Austin, and Tyler; in Ohio, at Cleveland and Cincinnati; in Michigan, at Detroit and Grand Rapids; in Kentucky, at Frankfort, Covington, Louisville, and Paducah; in Tennessee, at Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis; in Indiana, at Indianapolis; in Illinois, at Chicago and Springfield; in Wisconsin, at Milwaukee and Madison; in Minnesota, at Saint Paul; in Iowa, at Des Moines; in Missouri, at Saint Louis and Jefferson City; in Kansas, at Topeka; in Arkansas, at Little Rock; in California, at San Francisco; in Oregon, at Portland; in Nevada, at Carson City. There is at least one district court in each State. In many of the States there are two, and in some three. When a State is composed of two districts, they are in some States called northern and southern; in others eastern and western; in one northern, southern and eastern; in another northern, middle, and southern; and in another eastern, middle, and western. The clerks of these courts, respectively, are authorized by the laws of the United States to take depositions, and may, with propriety, be designated as commissioners for that purpose in letters rogatory, which when returned are to be used in the courts of foreign countries. The letters rogatory may be addressed to the judge of either the circuit court of the United States for the State of -, or the district court of the United States for the district of- (naming the State), praying the judge of that court to name and appoint the commissioner, or such letters may be addressed to the commissioner directly. The letter or package should in all cases be directed to the clerk of the district or circuit court to which the letters rogatory are addressed. The clerk's office is at the place where the court holds its sessions. I am your obedient servant, HAMILTON FISH. AN ACT to facilitate the taking of depositions within the United States to be used in the courts of other countries, and for other purposes. (Approved March 3, 1863.) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the testimony of any witness resid ing within the United States, to be used in any suit for the recovery of money or property depending in any court in any foreign country with which the United States are at peace, and in which the government of such foreign country shall be a party or shall have an interest, may be obtained to be used in such suit. If a commission or letters rogatory to take such testimony shall have been issued from the court in which said suit is pending, on producing the same before the district judge of any district where said witness resides or shall be found, and on due proof being made to such judge that the testimony of any witness is material to the party desiring the same, such judge shall issue a summons to such witness, requiring him to appear before the officer or commissioner named in such commission or letters rogatory, to testify in such suit. Such summons shall specify the time and place at which such witness is required to attend, which place shall be within one hundred miles of the place where said witness resides or shall be served with said summons. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall refuse or neglect to appear at the time and place mentioned in the summons issued, in accordance with this act, or if, upon his appearance, he shall refuse to testify, he shall be liable to the same penalties as would be incurred for a like offense on the trial of a suit in the district court of the United States. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That every witness who shall appear and testify, in manner aforesaid, shall be allowed and shall receive from the party at whose instance he shall have been summoned, the same fees and mileage as are allowed to witnesses in suits depending in the district courts of the United States. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That whenever any commission or letters rogatory, issued to take the testimony of any witness in a foreign country, in any suit in which the United States are parties or have an interest, shall have been executed by the court or the commissioner to whom the same shall have been directed, the same shall be returned by such court or commissioner to the Minister or Consul of the United States nearest the place where said letters or commission shall have been executed, who, on receiving the same, shall indorse thereon a certificate, stating the time and place when and where the same was received; and that the said deposition is in the same condition as when he received the same; and he shall thereupon transmit the said letters or commission, so executed and certified, by mail to the clerk of the court from which the same issued, in the manner in which his official dispatches are transmitted to the Government. And the testimony of witnesses so, as aforesaid, taken and returned, shall be read as evidence on the trial of the suit in which the same shall have been taken without objection as to the method of returning the same. AN ACT to prevent mistrials in the district and circuit courts of the United States, in certain cases. (Approved March 2, 1855.) * * * * * * * SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That where letters rogatory shall have be [been] addressed from any court of a foreign country to any circuit court of the United States, and a United States commissioner designated by said circuit court to make the examination of witnesses in said letters mentioned, said commissioner shall be empowered to compel the witnesses to appear and depose in the same manner as to appear and testify in court. Acknowledgments of Deeds. Acknowledgments of deeds for lands in the following States and Territories may be taken before a United States Consul or Vice-Consul resident in the country where the acknowledgment is taken, viz: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin. Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, Oregon Nevada, Colorado, Washington Territory, Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Utah. Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, New Mexico, Arizona, and District of Co lumbia. They may be taken before any Diplomatic or Commercial or Consular Agent of the United States so resident for lands in Rhode Island, New York, Iowa, Nebraska, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, North Car lina, Missouri, Texas, California, Washington Territory, Dakota, and Alabama. A Consul is authorized to certify to the identity, etc., of the officer taking an acknowledgment in a foreign country for lands in Illinois, Iowa, and Florida. (See Form No. 89, Post.) Such a certificate should set forth (a) The official character of the officer taking the acknowledgment; That the signature and seal are those of such officer; (c) That the deed is acknowledged according to the laws of the foreign country. (d) That the officer had authority to take acknowledgments. FORMS OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT. The following forms have been prepared for acknowledgments of deeds for lands in all of the States and Territories which have authorized such acknowledgments to be taken by Consular Officers; Alabama. CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, On the day of A. D. - before me, A. B., Consul of the United States of America, in the said city resident, personally appeared †G. W. L., and M. L., his wife, to me known to be the individuals named in and who executed the foregoing conveyance, and acknowledged before me this day that, being informed of the contents of the said deed, they executed the same voluntarily on the day the same bears date. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my official seal the day and year above written. [L. S.] A. B., Arizona. [As in Alabama to*] who acknowledged that they executed the same freely and voluntarily for the uses and purposes therein mentioned. And the said M. L., wife of the said G. W. L., on an examination separate, apart from, and without the hearing of her husband, after first by me having been made acquainted with the contents of the instrument, acknowledged to me that she executed the same freely and voluntarily, and without fear or compulsion, or undue influence of her husband; and that she does not wish to retract the execution of the same. In witness, etc. California. [As in Alabama to *] who each acknowledged to me that they executed the same freely and voluntarily, and for the uses and purposes therein mentioned; and the said M., having been by me first made acquainted with the contents of such conveyance, acknowledged, on an examination by me had, apart from and without the hearing of her husband, that she executed the same freely and voluntarily, without fear or compulsion, or undue influence of her husband; and that she does not wish to retract the execution of the [As in Alabama to *] and acknowledged that they did sign and seal the same as their free act and deed. In witness, etc. Dakota. [As in Alabama to *] as grantors, and acknowledge the same to be their voluntary act and deed for the purposes therein mentioned. And the said M., etc. [as in Arizona]. Delaware. [As in Alabama to *] and acknowledged said indenture to be their act and deed, respectively, and desired that it might be recorded; and that, on the same day, the said M., wife of the said G. W. L., having been examined by me privately, apart from her said husband, acknowledged that she executed said indenture willingly, without compulsion, or threats, or fear of her said husband's displeasure; and that she relinquishes all her right and claim of dower in the premises by the said indenture conveyed. In witness, etc. |