United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/27th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 108
Chap. CVIII.—An Act to regulate arrests on mesne process in the District of Columbia.[1]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter no person Persons not to be held to bail in civil suits except on affidavit, in certain cases.shall be held to bail in any civil suit in the District of Columbia, unless on affidavit, filed by the plaintiff or his agent, stating in cases of debt or contract the amount which he verily believes to be due, and that the same has been contracted by fraud or false pretences, or through a breach of trust, or that the defendant is concealing or has concealed his property in the District of elsewhere, or is about to remove the same from this District or the place of his residence, in order to evade the payment of the debt, or that, being a resident of the District and domiciled therein, is about to abscond without paying the debt, and with a view to avoid the payment of the same, setting forth all the facts on which said allegations of fraud or breach of trust are founded, and in all cases setting forth the grounds, nature, and particulars of the claim. The sufficiency of the affidavit to hold to bail, andSufficiency of affidavit, &c. how to be determined. the amount of bail to be given, shall, upon application of the defendant, be decided by the court in term time, and by any single judge in vacation. In all cases in which the affidavit required by this act is not filed previously to issuing the writ, the defendant, upon its service, shall not be required to give bail, but merely to sign an order to the clerk of the court to enter his appearance in the cause, which, if he refuses to do, he may then be held to bail as in other cases.
Relative to the discharge of persons now held to bail in civil suits.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That any person now held to bail in a civil suit in the said District may apply to the Circuit Court of said District in term time, or to any judge thereof in vacation, for a rule to show cause why he shall not be discharged on filing a common appearance, and shall be so discharged unless the plaintiff or his agent shall file a sufficient affidavit, in conformity with the provisions of the preceding section, within a reasonable period of time, to be assigned by the court or the judge to whom the application is made.
Approved, August 1, 1842.
- ↑ See act supplementary to an act entitled “An act to regulate arrests on mesne process in the District of Columbia,” approved August 1, 1842; June 17, 1844, chap. 100.