Includes section on the impressemnt of slaves! 5 3/4 x 9 1/4, imprint, 8 pages. House Bill, No. 233. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, November 28, 1864. Read first and second times, referred to a Special Committee of one from each State, and ordered to be printed. [By Mr. Miles] A BILL. To be entitled An Act to consolidate and amend the laws relative to impressments. Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That private property may be taken for the public use by impressment, upon the payment of just compensation therefor, under regulations to be made by the Secretary of War, and under the limitations and conditions prescribed by this act. Sec. 2. That before any property shall be taken by impressment, the officer empowered to make the impressment shall serve a notice upon the owner, his attorney, bailee, or other agent, describing the property needed, the nature of the existing necessity, and the price to be paid, and shall state that, in the event of the refusal of the price, impressment will be made, whereupon, it shall be the duty of the owner, his attorney, bailee or agent, to communicate to the officer his acceptance or refusal of the offer made, and, in case of refusal, his readiness to ascertain the compensation according to the terms of this act. Much more excellent content: For the ascertainment of just compensation the impressing officer shall appoint one loyal and disinterested citizen of the county in which the property is impressed to assess the value. Whenever any impressment shall be made under the order of a commanding general in the field, and he shall certify that the public exigency will not admit a delay sufficient to establish the value by appraisement, it shall be the duty of the impressing officer to give an official certificate describing the property taken, the company, battalion, regiment, or other command for whose use the same shall be taken, the price to be paid, and the reasons for failing to make payment, or to settle the price at the time, and also the circumstances of necessity that dictated the impressment, while certificate shall be evidence of a claim against the Confederate States, and shall be properly paid by the disbursing officer of the command for which the property was taken, or by the chief of the bureau having charge of disbursements. Other content concerning the impressment of real estate that becomes necessary for the manufacture of arms, munitions, or material of war; the impressment of SLAVES shall be made under the regulations of the Secretary of War, who shall consider the resource of slave labor within the State which their service is required, and he shall endeavor to obtain the supply necessary by fair and equitable apportionment among the owners os such property, and shall follow, as nearly as practicable, the dispositions of any laws of the different States that may have been adopted upon the subject of such impressments, as to the rule of apportionment, the mode of collection and the obligations to be performed on the part of the Government of the Confederate States; There shall be exempt from impressment the dwelling house, furniture and apparel of every family, the servants usually employed in the same, the necessary supplies for the family, the servants and laborers necessary to carry on their agricultural, mechanical or professional employments, Provided, That this shall not be construed to impair the provisions of the act approved 17th February, 1864, entitled, An Act to authorize the impressment of meat for the use of the army under certain circumstances; The number of servants and quantity of property to be ascertained and finally determined when the impressing officer and owner cannot agree, by appraisers, under oath, to be appointed as provided in the first section of this act; Any persons who make impressments without the authority of law, or who shall not be authorized to do so under orders from competent authority or shall fail to conform to the law and regulations of the War Department, or shall act with oppressive violence shall be liable to prosecution by the Confederate States; The notice required in this act may be served by delivering a copy thereof in writing to the party in person, or if he be not at his usual place of abode, by delivering such and the information of its purport to his wife, or any other white person found there who is a member of his family and above the age of sixteen, and if neither he nor his wife, nor any such white person be found there, by leaving such copy posted at the front door of said place. Excellent Confederate imprint! |
