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CODE OF LAW FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

"An act to establish a code of law for the District of Columbia," approved March 3, 1901, as amended by the acts approved January 31, and June 30, 1902, and subsequent acts to and including March 3, 1905.

NOTE.-Where entire sections have been repealed and new sections substituted, the new section is printed in type uniform with the text and credit is given to the amendatory act, the repealed section being printed in brackets and smaller type, beneath the new matter. New matter inserted in, or appended to, a section is indicated by italics; and matter stricken out of a section is inclosed in brackets []. Unless otherwise specified the amendments are to be found in the act of June 30, 1902.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following is hereby enacted and declared to be a code of law for the District of Columbia, to go into effect and operation from and after the first day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and two.

2. And be it further enacted, That in the interpretation and construction of said code the following rules shall be observed, namely:

First. Words importing the singular number shall be held to include the plural, and vice versa, except where such construction would be unreasonable.

Second. Words importing the masculine gender shall be held to include all genders, except where such construction would be absurd or unreasonable.

Third. The word "person" shall be held to apply to partnerships and corporations, unless such construction would be unreasonable, and the reference to any officer shall include any person authorized by law to perform the duties of his office, unless the context shows that such words were intended to be used in a more limited sense.

Fourth. Wherever the word "executor" is used it shall include "administrator," and vice versa, unless such application of the term would be unreasonable.

Fifth. Wherever an oath is required an affirmation in judicial form, if made by a person conscientiously scrupulous about taking an oath, shall be deemed a sufficient compliance.

Sixth. The words "insane person" and "lunatic" shall include every idiot, non compos, lunatic, and insane person.

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CHAPTER I.

LAWS REMAINING IN FORCE.

Section 1. The common law, all British statutes in force in Maryland on the twenty-seventh day of February, eighteen hundred and one, the principles of equity and admiralty, all general acts of Congress not locally inapplicable in the District of Columbia, and all acts of Congress by their terms applicable to the District of Columbia and to other places under the jurisdiction of the United States, in force at the date of the passage of this act shall remain in force except in so far as the same are inconsistent with, or are replaced by, some provision of this code.

THE JUDICIARY.

Sec. 2. The judicial power in the District shall continue as at present to be vested in

First. Inferior courts, namely, justices of the peace and the police court; and

Second. Superior courts, namely, the supreme court of the District of Columbia, the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Subchapter I.-JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

Sec. 3. APPOINTMENT AND QUALIFICATIONS.-There shall be six justices of the peace in the District, who shall be appointed by the President of the United States, for a term of four years, unless sooner removed as provided by law: Provided, That no person shall be appointed to said office unless he shall have been a bona fide resident of said District for the continuous period of at least five years immediately preceding his appointment, and shall either have held the office of justice of the peace in said District for a period of at least two years or shall have been engaged in the actual practice of law before the supreme court of the District for a period of at least five years prior to his appointment. Each of said justices before entering upon the duties of his office shall take an oath for the faithful and impartial performance of the duties of his office, and shall give bond in such form, in such penalty, and with such surety or sureties as may be prescribed by the supreme court of the District. And said supreme court shall from time to time divide the said District into subdistricts and prescribe the place in each subdistrict where the justice thereof shall have his office for the transaction of business, and may change the boundaries of such subdistricts and the localities of the offices of the justices therein

from time to time as the volume and convenience of the business may require. No justice of the peace during his term of office shall engage in the practice of the law, subject to the penalty of removal from his office. When the number of such justices of the peace shall be reduced by death, resignation, or expiration of term of service, or otherwise, to six, the number of such justices of the peace shall be six only, and if the number shall not be reduced to six until the expiration of the term of the present justices of the peace only six vacancies shall then be filled.-Act of June 30, 1902.

[Sec. 3. APPOINTMENT AND QUALIFICATIONS.-There shall be ten justices of the peace in the District, who shall be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of four years, unless sooner removed as provided by law: Provided, That no person shall be appointed to said office unless he shall have been a bona fide resident of said District for the continuous period of at least five years immediately preceding his appointment, and shall either have held the office of justice of the peace in said District for a period of at least two years or shall have been engaged in the actual practice of law before the supreme court of the District for a period of at least five years prior to his appointment. Each of said justices before entering upon the duties of his office shall take an oath for the faithful and impartial performance of the duties of his office, and shall give bond in such form, in such penalty, and with such surety or sureties as may be prescribed by the supreme court of the District. And said supreme court shall divide the said District into ten subdistricts and prescribe the place in each subdistrict where the justice thereof shall have his office for the transaction of business, and may change the boundaries of such subdistricts and the localities of the offices of the justices therein from time to time as the volume and convenience of the business may require.]

Sec. 4. SUBDISTRICTS.-No justice of the peace shall sit for the trial of causes in any subdistrict other than the one in which his office is situated: Provided, That in case the office of any justice of the peace shall become vacant by death or otherwise, the said supreme court, or any justice thereof, may designate one of the other justices to preside temporarily in that subdistrict until the vacancy shall be filled: And provided further, That if any justice of the peace shall be disqualified to act by reason of interest, illness, or other cause, any other justice of the peace of the District, on the written request of the justice so disqualified, may preside in his absence, or, if no such written request be made, such justice as may be designated by the said supreme court, or one of the justices thereof, shall preside.

Sec. 5. No resident of the District shall be sued in any subdistrict other than the one in which he resides, and no nonresident of the District having a place of business therein shall be sued in any subdistrict other than the one in which such place of business is situated: Provided, That where two or more persons are sued together the suit may be brought in the subdistrict in which any one of the defendants resides. When a corporation is a defendant, its place of business shall be deemed its residence for the purpose of this section, and if it shall have in the District more than one place of business the suit may be brought in the subdistrict in which any one of its places of business is situated.

Should a suit be brought against any party or corporation in any district in which he or it does not reside or [hold] do business, and a plea to the jurisdiction on this account be filed by said defendant, the party or corporation interposing such plea shall disclose under oath the district in which he or it should have been sued; and the justice, upon sustaining such plea, shall certify the cause for trial to the justice sit

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