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16 United States Statutes at Large 419
FORTY FIRST CONGRESS SESSION III
CHAPTER 62, 1871
CHAP. LXII. -- An act to provide a
Government for the District of Columbia.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States in Congress assembled, That all that part of the
territory of the United States included within the limits of the
District of Columbia be, and the same is hereby, created into a
government by the name of the District of Columbia, by which name
it is hereby constituted a body corporate for municipal purposes,
and may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, plead and
be impleaded, have a seal, and exercise all other powers of a
municipal corporation not inconsistent with the Constitution and
laws of the United States and the provisions of this act.
Section 2. And be it further enacted, That the executive
power and authority in and over said District of Columbia shall be
vested in a governor, who shall be appointed by the President, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall hold
his office for four years, and until his successor shall be
appointed and qualified. The governor shall be a citizen of and
shall have resided within said District twelve months before his
appointment, and have the qualifications of an elector. He may
grant pardons and respites for offenses against the laws of said
District enacted by the legislative assembly thereof; he shall
commission all officers who shall be elected or appointed to office
under the laws of the said District enacted as aforesaid, and shall
take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
Section 3. And be it further enacted, That every bill which
shall have passed the council and house of delegates, shall before
it becomes a law, be presented to the governor of the District of
Columbia; if he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he shall
return it, with his objections, to the house in which it shall have
originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their
journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such
reconsideration, tow thirds of all the members appointed or elected
to the house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent,
together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall
likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of all the
members appointed or elected to that house, it shall become a law.
But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined
by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and
against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house
respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor
within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been
presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he
had signed it, unless the legislative assembly by their adjournment
prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
Section 4. And be it further enacted, That their shall be
appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate, a secretary of said District, who shall reside therein
and possess the qualification of an elector, and shall hold his
office for four years, and until his successor shall be appointed
and qualified; he shall record and preserve all laws and
proceedings of the legislative assembly hereinafter constituted,
and all the acts and proceedings of the governor in his executive
department; he shall transmit one copy of the laws and journals of
the legislative assembly within thirty days after the end of each
session, and one copy of the executive proceedings and official
correspondence semiannually, on the first days of January and July
in each year, to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, for the use of Congress; and in case
of the death, removal, resignation, disability, or absence, of the
governor from the District, the secretary shall be, and hie is
hereby authorized and required to execute and perform the all the
powers and duties of the governor during such vacancy, disability,
or absence, or until another governor shall be duly appointed and
qualified to fill such vacancy. And in case the offices of
governor and secretary shall both become vacant, the power, duties,
and emoluments of the office of governor shall devolve upon the
presiding officer of the council, and in case that office shall
also be vacant, upon the presiding officer of the house of
delegates, until the office shall be filled by a new appointment.
Section 5. And be it further enacted, That legislative power
and authority in said District shall be vested in a legislative
assembly as hereinafter provided. The assembly shall consist of a
council of and house of delegates. The council shall consist of
eleven members of whom two shall be residents of the city of
Georgetown, and two residents of the county outside of the cities
of Washington and Georgetown.
Section 6. And be it further enacted, That the legislative
assembly shall have power to divide that portion of the District
not included in the corporate limits of Washington or Georgetown
into townships, not exceeding three, and create township officers,
and prescribe the duties thereof; but all township officers shall
be elected by the people of the townships respectively.
Section 7. And be it further enacted, That all male citizens
of the United States, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall
have been actual residents of said District for three months prior
to the passage of this act, except such as are non compos mentis
and persons convicted of infamous crimes, shall be entitled to vote
as said election, in the election district or precinct in which he
shall then reside, and shall have so resided for thirty days
immediately preceding said election, and shall be eligible to any
office within said District, and for all subsequent elections
twelve months' prior residence shall be required to constitute a
voter; but the legislative assembly shall have no right to abridge
or limit the right of suffrage.
Section 8. And be it further enacted, That no person who has
been or hereafter shall be convicted of bribery, perjury, or other
infamous crime, nor any person who has been or may be a collector
or holder of public moneys who shall not have accounted for and
paid over, upon final judgment duly recovered according to law, all
such moneys due from him, shall be eligible to the legislative
assembly or to any office of profit or trust in said District.
Section 9. And be it further enacted, That members of the
legislative assembly, before they enter upon their official duties,
shall take and subscribe the following or affirmation: "I do
solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of
the United States, and will faithfully discharge the duties of the
office upon which I am about to enter; and that I have not
knowingly or intentionally paid or contributed any thing, or made
any promise in the nature of a bribe, to directly or indirectly
influence any vote at the election at which I was chosen to fill
the said office, and have not accepted, nor will I accept, or
receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable thing,
for any vote or influence that I may give or withhold on any bill,
resolution, or appropriation, or for any other official act." Any
member who shall refuse to take the oath herein prescribed shall
forfeit his office, and every person who shall be convicted of
having sworn falsely to or violating his said oath shall forfeit
his office and be disqualified thereafter from holding any office
of profit or trust in said District, and shall be deemed guilty of
perjury, and upon conviction shall be punished accordingly.
Section 10. And be it further enacted, That a majority of the
legislative assembly appointed or elected to each house shall
constitute a quorum. The house of delegates shall be the judge of
the election returns and qualifications of its members. Each house
shall determine the rules of its proceedings, and shall choose its
own officers. The governor shall call the council to order at the
opening of each new assembly; and the secretary of the District
shall call the house of delegates to order at the opening of each
new legislative assembly, and shall preside over it until a
temporary presiding officer shall have been chosen and shall have
taken his seat. No member shall be expelled by either house except
by a vote of two thirds of all the members appointed or elected to
that house. Each house may punish by imprisonment any person not
a member who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house by
disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence; but no such
imprisonment shall extend beyond twenty-four hours at one time.
Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for
more than two days, or to any other place than that in which such
house shall be sitting. At the request of any member the yeas and
nays shall be taken upon any question and entered upon the journal.
Section 11. And be it further enacted, That bills may
originate in either house, but may be altered, amended, or rejected
by the other; and on the final passage of all bills the vote shall
be taken by yeas and nays upon each bill separately, and shall be
entered upon the journal, and no bill shall become a law without
the concurrence of a majority of the members elected to each house.
Section 12. And be it further enacted, That every bill shall
be read at large on three different days in each house. No act
shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in
its title; but if any subject shall be embraced in an act which
shall not be expressed in the title, such act shall be void only as
to so much thereof as shall not be so expressed in the title; and
no act of the legislative assembly shall take effect until thirty
days after its passage, unless, in case of emergency, (which
emergency shall be expressed in the preamble or body of the act,)
the legislative assembly shall by a vote of two-thirds of all the
members appointed or elected to each house otherwise direct.
Section 13. And be it further enacted, That no money shall be
drawn from the treasury of the District, except in pursuance of an
appropriation made by law, and no bill making appropriations for
the pay or salaries of any of the officers of the District
government shall contain any provisions on any other subject.
Section 14. And be it further enacted, That each legislative
assembly shall provide for all the appropriations necessary for the
ordinary and contingent expenses of the government of the District
until the expiration of the first fiscal quarter after the
adjournment of the next regular session, the aggregate amount of
which shall not be increased without a vote of two thirds of the
members elected or appointed to each house as herein provided, nor
exceed the amount of revenue authorized by law to be raised in such
time, and all appropriations, general or special, requiring money
to be paid out of the District treasury, from funds belonging to
the District, shall end with such fiscal quarter; and no debt, by
which the aggregate debt of the District, shall exceed five per
cent of the assessed property of the District, shall be contracted,
unless the law authorizing the same shall at a general election
have been submitted to the people and have received a majority of
the votes cast for members of the legislative assembly at such
election. The legislative assembly shall provide for the
publication of said law in at least two in the District for three
months, at least, before the vote of the people shall be taken on
the same, and provision shall be made in the act for the payment of
the interest annually, as it shall accrue, by a tax levied for the
purpose, or from other sources of revenue, which law providing for
the payment of such interest by such tax shall be irrepealable
until such debt be paid: Provided, That the law levying the tax
shall be submitted to the people with the law authorizing the debt
to be contracted.
Section 15. And be it further enacted, That the legislative
assembly shall never grant or authorize extra compensation, fee, or
allowance to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor,
after service has been rendered or a contract made, nor authorize
the payment of any claim, or part thereof, hereafter created
against the District under any contract or agreement made, without
express authority of law; and all such unauthorized agreements or
contracts shall be null and void.
Section 16. And be it further enacted, That the District
shall never pay, assume, or become responsible for the debts or
liabilities of, or in any manner give, loan, or extend its credit
to or in aid of any public or other corporation, association, or
individual.
Section 17. And be it further enacted, That the legislative
assembly shall not pass any special laws in any of the following
cases, that is to say: For granting divorces; regulating the
practice in courts of justice; regulating the jurisdiction or
duties of justices of the peace, police magistrates, or constables;
providing for changes of venue in civil or criminal cases, or
swearing and impaneling jurors; remitting fines, penalties, or
forfeitures; the sale or mortgage of real estate belonging to
minors or others under disability; changing the law of descent;
increasing or decreasing the fees of public officers during the
term for which said officers are elected or appointed; granting to
any corporation, association, or individual, any special or
exclusive privilege, immunity, or franchise whatsoever. The
legislative assembly shall have no power to release or extinguish,
in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liability, or obligation of
any corporation or individual to the District or to any municipal
corporation therein, nor shall the legislative assembly have power
to establish any bank of circulation, nor to authorize any company
or individual to issue notes for circulation as money or currency.
Section 18. And be it further enacted, That the legislative
power of the District shall extend to all rightful subjects of
legislation within said District, consistent with the Constitution
of the United States and the provisions of this act, subject,
nevertheless, to all the restrictions and limitations imposed upon
States by the tenth section of the first article of the
Constitution of the United States; but all acts of the legislative
assembly shall at all times be subject to repeal or modification by
the Congress of the United States, and nothing herein shall be
construed to deprive Congress of the power of legislation over said
District in as ample manner as if this law had not been enacted.
Section 19. And be it further enacted, That no member of the
legislative assembly shall hold or be appointed to any office,
which shall have been created or the salary or emoluments of which
shall have been increased while he was a member, during the term
for which he was appointed or elected, and for one year after the
expiration of such term; and no person holding any office of trust
or profit under the government of the United States shall be a
member of the legislative assembly.
Section 20. And be it further enacted, That the said
legislative assembly shall not have power to pass any ex post facto
law, nor law impairing the obligation of contracts, nor to tax the
property of the United States, nor to tax the lands or other
property of non-residents higher than the lands or other property
of residents; nor shall lands or other property in said district be
liable to a higher tax, in any one year, for all general objects,
territorial and municipal, than two dollars on every hundred
dollars of the cash value thereof; but special taxes may be levied
in particular sections, wards, or districts for their particular
local improvements; nor shall said territorial government have
power to borrow or issue stock or bonds for any object whatever,
unless specially authorized by an act of the legislative assembly,
passed by a vote of tow thirds of the entire number of the members
of each branch thereof, but said debt in no case to exceed five per
centum of the assessed value of the property of said District,
unless authorized by a vote of the people, as hereinafter
[hereinbefore] provided.
Section 21. And be it further enacted, That the property of
that portion of the District not included in the corporations of
Washington or Georgetown shall not be taxed for the purposes either
of improving the streets, alleys, public squares, or other public
property of the said cities, or either of them, nor for any other
expenditure of a local nature, for the exclusive benefit of said
cities, or either of them, nor for the payment of any debt
heretofore contracted, or that may hereafter be contracted by
either of said cities while remaining under a municipal government
not coextensive with the District.
Section 22. And be it further enacted, That the property
within the corporate limits of Georgetown shall not be taxed for
the payment of any debt heretofore or hereafter to be contracted by
the corporation of Washington, nor shall the property within the
corporate limits of Washington be taxed for the payment of any debt
heretofore or hereafter to be contracted by the corporation of
Georgetown; and so long as said cities shall remain under distinct
municipal governments, the property within the corporate limits of
either said cities shall not be taxed for the local benefit of the
other; nor shall said, or either of them, be taxed for the
exclusive benefit of the county outside of the limits thereof:
Provided, That the legislative assembly may make appropriations for
the repair of roads, or for the construction or repair of bridges
outside the limits of said cities.
Section 23. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the
duty of said legislative assembly to maintain a system of free
schools for the education of the youth of said District, and all
moneys raised by general taxation or arising from donations by
Congress, or from other sources, except by bequest or devise, for
school purposes, shall be appropriated for the equal benefit of all
the youths of said District between certain ages, to be defined by
law.
Section 24. And be it further enacted, That the said
legislative assembly shall have power to provide for the
appointment of as many justices of the peace and notaries public
for said District as may be deemed necessary, to define their
jurisdiction and prescribe their duties; but justices of the peace
shall not have jurisdiction of any controversy in which the title
of land may be in dispute, or in which the debt or sum claimed
shall exceed one hundred dollars: Provided, however, That all
justices of the peace and notaries public now in commission shall
continue in office till their present commissions expire, unless
sooner removed pursuant to existing laws.
Section 25. And be it further enacted, That the judicial
courts of said District shall remain as now organized until
abolished or changed by act of Congress; but such legislative
assembly shall have power to pass laws modifying the practice
thereof, and conferring such additional jurisdiction as may be
necessary to the due execution and enforcement of the laws of said
District.
Section 26. And be it further enacted, That there shall be
appointed by the President of the United States, by an with the
advice and consent of the Senate, a board of health for said
District, to consist of five persons, whose duty it shall be to
declare what shall be deemed nuisances injurious to health, and
provide for the removal thereof; to make and enforce regulations to
prevent domestic animals from running at large in the cities of
Washington and Georgetown; to prevent the sale of unwholesome food
in said cities; and to perform such other duties as shall be
imposed upon said board by the legislative assembly.
Section 27. And be it further enacted, That the offices and
duties of register of wills, recorder of deeds, United States
attorney, and United States marshal for said District shall remain
as under existing laws till modified by act of Congress; but said
legislative assembly shall have power to impose such additional
duties upon said officers, respectively, as may be necessary to the
due enforcement of the laws of said District.
Section 28. And be it further enacted, That the said
legislative assembly shall power to create by general law, modify,
repeal, or amend, within said District, corporations aggregate for
religious, charitable, educational, industrial, or commercial
purposes, and to define their powers and liabilities: Provided,
That the powers of corporations so created shall be limited to the
District of Columbia.
Section 29. And be it further enacted, That the legislative
assembly shall define by law who shall be entitled to relief as
paupers in said District, and shall provide by law for the support
and maintenance of such paupers, and for that purpose shall raise
the money necessary by taxation.
Section 30. And be it further enacted, That the legislative
assembly shall have power to provide by law for the election or
appointment of such ministerial officers as may be deemed necessary
to carry into effect the laws of said District, to prescribe their
duties, their terms of office, and the rate and manner of their
compensation.
Section 31. And be it further enacted, That the governor,
secretary, and other such officers to be appointed pursuant to this
act, shall, before they act as such, respectively, take and
subscribe an oath or affirmation before a judge of the supreme
court of the District of Columbia, or some justice of the peace in
the limits of said District, duly authorized to administer oaths or
affirmations by the laws now in force therein, or before the Chief
Justice or some associate justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States, to support the Constitution of the United States,
and to faithfully to discharge the duties of their respective
offices; which said oaths, when so taken, shall be certified by the
person before whom the same shall have been taken; and such
certificates shall be received and recorded by the said secretary
among the executive proceedings; and all civil officers in said
District, before they act as such, shall take and subscribe a like
oath or affirmation before the said governor or secretary, or some
judge or justice of the peace of the said District, or before the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, which said
oath or affirmation shall be certified and transmitted by the
person administering the same to the secretary, to be by him
recorded as aforesaid; and afterward the like oath or affirmation
shall be taken and subscribed, certified and recorded in such
manner and form as may be prescribed by law.
Section 32. And be it further enacted, That the governor
shall receive an annual salary of three thousand dollars; and the
secretary shall receive an annual salary of two thousand dollars,
and that the said salaries shall be paid quarter-yearly, from the
dates of the respective appointments, at the treasury of the United
States; but no payment shall be made until said officers shall have
entered upon the duties of their respective appointments. The
members of the legislative assembly shall be entitled to receive
four dollars each per day during their actual attendance at the
session thereof, and an additional allowance of four dollars per
day shall be paid to the presiding officer of each house for each
day he shall so preside. And a chief clerk, one assistant clerk,
on engrossing and one enrolling clerk, and a sergeant-at-arms may
be chosen for each house; and the chief clerk shall receive four
dollars per day, and the said other officers three dollars per day,
during the session of the legislative assembly: Provided, That
there shall be but one session of the legislative assembly
annually, unless, on an extraordinary occasion, the governor shall
think proper to call the legislative assembly together. And the
governor and secretary of the District shall, in the disbursement
of all moneys appropriated by Congress and intrusted to them, be
governed solely by the instructions of the Secretary of the
Treasury of the United States, and shall semiannually account to
the said Secretary for the manner in which the aforesaid moneys
shall have been expended; and no expenditure shall be made by the
legislative assembly of funds appropriated by Congress, for objects
not especially authorized by acts of Congress making the
appropriations, nor beyond the sums thus appropriated for such
objects.
Section 33. And be it further enacted, That the legislative
assembly of the District of Columbia shall hold its first session
at such time and place in said District as the governor thereof
shall appoint and direct.
Section 34. And be it further enacted, That a delegate to the
House of Representatives of the United States, to serve for the
term of two years, who shall be a citizen of the United States and
of the District of Columbia, and shall have the qualifications of
a voter, may be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of
the legislative assembly, who shall be entitled to the same rights
and privileges as are exercised and enjoyed by the delegates from
the several Territories of the United States to the House of
Representatives, and shall also be member of the committee for the
District of Columbia; but the delegate first elected shall hold his
seat only during the term of Congress to which he shall be elected.
The first election shall be held at the time and places and be
conducted in such manner as the elections for members of the House
of Representatives are conducted; and all subsequent elections the
time and places and the manner of holding the elections shall be
prescribed by law. The person having the greatest number of legal
votes shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected, and a
certificate thereof shall be given accordingly; and the
Constitution and all the laws of the United States, which are not
locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within
the said District of Columbia as elsewhere within the United
States.
Section 35. And be it further enacted, That all officers to
be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, for the District of Columbia,
who, by virtue of the provisions of any law now existing, or which
may be enacted by Congress, are required to give security for
moneys that may be intrusted to them for disbursement, shall give
such security at such time and in such manner as the Secretary of
the Treasury may prescribe.
Section 36. And be it further enacted, That there shall be a
valuation taken in the District of Columbia of all real estate
belonging to the United States in said District, except the public
buildings, and the grounds which have been dedicated to the public
use as parks and squares, at least once in five years, and return
thereof shall be made by the governor to the President of the
Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives on the first day
of the session of Congress held after such valuation shall be
taken, and the aggregate of the valuation of private property in
said District, whenever made by the authority of the legislative
assembly, shall be reported to Congress by the governor: Provided,
That all valuations of property belonging to the United States
shall be made by such persons as the Secretary of the Interior
shall appoint, and under such regulations as he shall prescribe.
Section 37. And be it further enacted, That there shall be in
the District of Columbia a board of public works, to consist of the
governor, who shall be president of said board; four persons, to be
appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, one of whom shall be a civil
engineer, and the others citizens and residents of the District,
having the qualifications of an elector therein; one of said board
shall be citizen and resident of Georgetown, and one of said board
shall be citizen and resident of the county outside of the cities
of Washington and Georgetown. They shall hold office for the term
of four years, unless sooner removed by the President of the United
States. The board of public works shall have entire control of and
make all regulations which they shall deem necessary for keeping in
repair the streets, avenues, alleys, and sewers of the city, and
all other works which may be intrusted to their charge by the
legislative assembly or Congress. They shall disburse upon their
warrant all moneys appropriated by the United States, or the
District of Columbia, or collected from property-holders, in
pursuance of law, upon the property adjoining and to be specially
benefited by the improvements authorized by law and made by them,
a reasonable proportion of the cost of the improvement, not
exceeding one third of such cost, which sum shall be collected as
all other taxes are collected. They shall make all necessary
regulations respecting the construction of private buildings in the
District of Columbia, subject to the supervision of the legislative
assembly. All contracts made by the said board of public works
shall be in writing, and shall be signed by the parties making the
same, and a copy thereof shall be filed in the office of the
secretary of the District; and said board of public works shall
have no power to make contracts to bind said District to the
payment of any sums of money except in pursuance of appropriations
made by law, and not until such appropriations shall have been
made. All contracts made by said board in which any member of said
board shall be personally interested shall be void, and no payment
shall be made thereon by said District or any officers thereof. On
or before the first Monday in November of each year, they shall
submit to each branch of the legislative assembly a report of their
transactions during the preceding year, and also furnish duplicates
of the same to the governor, to be by him laid before the President
of the United States for transmission to the two houses of
Congress; and shall be paid the sum of two thousand dollars each
annually.
Section 38. And be it further enacted, That the officers
herein provided for, who shall be appointed by the President, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall be paid by the
United States by appropriations to be made by law as hereinbefore
provided; and all other officers of said District: Provided, That
no salary shall be paid to the governor as a member of the board of
public works in addition to his salary as governor, nor shall any
officer of the army appointed upon the board of public works
receive any increase of pay for such service.
Section 39. And be it further enacted, That if, at any
election hereafter held in the District of Columbia, any person
shall knowingly personate and vote, or attempt to vote, in the name
of any other person, whether living, dead, or fictitious, or vote
more than once at the same election for any candidate for the same
office, or vote at a place where he may not be entitled to vote, or
vote without having a lawful right to vote, or do any unlawful act
to secure a right or opportunity to vote for himself or any other
person, or by force, threats, menace, or intimidation, bribery,
reward, or offer, or promise thereof, or other wise unlawfully
prevent any qualified voter of the District of Columbia from freely
exercising the right of suffrage, or by any such means induce any
voter to refuse to exercise such right, or compel or induce, by any
such means or otherwise, any officer of any election in said
District to receive a vote from a person not legally qualified or
entitled to vote; or interfere in any manner with any officer of
said elections in the discharge of his duties; or by any unlawful
means induce any officer of an election, or officer whose it is to
ascertain, announce, or declare the result of any such election, or
give or make any certificate, document, or evidence in relation
thereto, to violate or refuse to comply with his duty,
Section 40. And be it further enacted, That the charters of
the cities of Washington and Georgetown shall be repealed on and
after the first day of June, A.D. eighteen hundred and seventy-one,
and all offices of said corporations abolished at that date; the
levy court of the District of Columbia and all offices connected
therewith shall be abolished on and after the said first day of
June, A.D. eighteen hundred and seventy-one; but all laws and
ordinances of said cities, respectively, and of said levy court,
not inconsistent with this act, shall remain in full force and
until modified or repealed by Congress or the legislative assembly
of said District; that portion of said District included within the
present limits of the city of Washington shall continue to be known
as the city of Washington; and that portion of said District
included within the limits of the city of Georgetown shall continue
to be known as the city of Georgetown; and the legislative assembly
shall have power to levy a special tax upon property, except the
property of the United States, within the city of Washington for
the payment of the debts of the city; and upon property, except the
property of the United States, within the city of Georgetown for
the payment of the debts of said city; and upon property, except
the property of the government of the United States, within said
District not included within the limits of either said cities to
pay any debts owing by that portion of said District: Provided,
That the charters of said cities severally, and the powers of said
levy court, shall be continued for the following purposes, to wit:
For the collection of all sums of money due to said cities,
respectively, or to said levy court; for the enforcement of all
contracts mad by said cities, respectively, or by said levy court,
and all taxes heretofore assessed, remaining unpaid; for the
collection of all just claims against said cities, respectively, or
against said levy court; for the enforcement of all legal contracts
against said cities, respectively, or against levy court, until the
affairs of said cities, respectively, and of said levy court, shall
have been fully closed; and no suit in favor of or against said
corporations, or either of them, shall abate by reason of the
passage of this act, but the same shall be prosecuted to final
judgment as if this act had not been passed.
Section 41. And be it further enacted, That there shall be no
election holden for mayor or members of the common council of the
city of Georgetown prior to the first day of June, eighteen hundred
and seventy-one, but the present mayor and common council of said
city shall hold their offices until said first day of June next.
No taxes for general purposes shall hereafter be assessed by the
municipal authorities of the cities of Washington or Georgetown, or
by said levy court. And upon the repeal of the charters of the
cities of Washington and Georgetown, the District of Columbia be,
and is hereby, declared to be the successor of said corporations,
and all the property of said corporations, and of the county of
Washington, shall become vested in the said District of Columbia,
and all fines, penalties, costs, and forfeitures, which are now by
law made payable to said cities, respectively, or said levy court,
shall be paid to said District of Columbia, and the salaries of the
judge and clerk of the police court, and of the marshal of the
District of Columbia shall be paid by said District: Provided,
That the moneys collected upon the judgments of said police court,
or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be applied to the
payment of the salaries of the judge and other officers of said
court, and to the payment of the necessary expenses thereof, and
any surplus remaining after paying the salaries, compensation, and
expenses aforesaid, shall be paid into the treasury of the District
at the end of every quarter.
Approved, February 21, 1871.
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