TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. Sess.I. Ch.270. 1836.
83
thorized to give judgment and award execution, subject to the provisionsof the thirty-eighth section of the act to reduce into one the severalacts establishing and regulating the Post Office Department, approvedMarch third, eighteen hundred and twenty-five. No claim for a creditshall be allowed upon the trial but such as shall have been presented tothe said auditor, and by him disallowed in whole or in part, unless itshall be proved to the satisfaction of the court that the defendant is atthe time of the trial in possession of vouchers not before in his powerto procure, and that he was prevented from exhibiting to the saidauditor a claim for such credit, by some unavoidable accident. Insuits for balances due from postmasters, interest, at the rate of six percent, per annum, shall be recovered from the time of the default untilpayment.
Sec. 16. And be it further enacted , That the attorneys of the UnitedStates , in the prosecution of suits for moneys due on account of thePost Office Department, shall obey the directions which may, from timeto time, be given to them by the auditor for the Post Office Department;and it shall be the duty of each of the said attorneys, immediately afterthe end of every term of any court in which any of the suits aforesaidshall have been pending, to forward to the said auditor a statement ofall the judgments, orders, and steps which have been made or taken inthe same, during the said term, accompanied by a certificate of theclerk, showing the parties to, and amount of, each judgment, with suchother information as may be required by the said auditor. The saidattorneys shall direct speedy and effectual process of execution uponthe said judgments; and it shall be the duty of the marshals of theUnited States to whom the same shall be directed, to make to the saidauditor, at such times as he may direct, returns of the proceedingswhich have taken place upon the said process of execution.
Sec. 17. And be it further enacted , That in all cases where any sumor sums of money have been paid out of the funds of the Post OfficeDepartment to any individual or individuals, under pretence that servicehas been performed therefor when in fact such service has not beenperformed, or by way of additional allowance for increased serviceactually rendered, when the additional allowance exceeds the sum which,by the provisions of law, might rightfully have been allowed therefor,and in all other cases where the moneys of the Department have beenpaid over to any person in consequence of fraudulent representations,or by the mistake, collusion or misconduct of any officer or clerk of theDepartment, it shall be the duty of the Postmaster General to causesuit to be brought in the name of the United States of America , torecover back the same, or the excess, as the case may be, with interestthereon.
Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That the auditor for the PostOffice Department shall adjust and settle all balances due from post-masters on account of transactions prior to the first day of July eighteenhundred and thirty-six. He shall, when necessary, institute suits for thesame, and cause them to be effectually prosecuted to judgment andexecution ; and in cases in which proceedings at law for these or anyother balances that are or may become due on account of the PostOffice Department, have been or shall be fruitless, may direct the insti-tution of suits in chancery, to set aside fraudulent conveyances ortrusts, or attach debts due to the defendants, or obtain any other properexercise of the powers of equity, to have satisfaction of the said judg-ments ; and the courts of the United States , sitting in chancery, shallhave jurisdiction to entertain such bills, and make such decrees andorders thereupon as may be consonant to the principles and usages ofequity. The said auditor shall report to the Postmaster General, to beby him submitted to Congress, at its next annual session, a statement
1825, cb. 64.
Auditor to ad-just balancesdue from post-masters, &c.