Statute Ⅰ.
Chap. XLV.—An Act to revive and amend “An act for the relief of certain insolvent debtors of the United States,” passed on the second day of March, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, and an act in addition thereto, passed on the fourteenth of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-two.
Act of March 2, 1831, ch. 62, and of July 14, 1832, ch. 230, revived.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That an act, entitled “An act for the relief of certain insolvent debtors of the United States,” passed on the second day of March, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, and an act in addition thereto, passed on the fourteenth day of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, which said acts expired on the second day of March, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, be, and the same are hereby, revived, and shall continue in force for three years from and after the passage of this act.
Consent of legal representative of deceased surety or co-surety to entitle applicant to relief, &c.
July 14, 1832, ch. 230.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any surety, or co-surety, of any debtor who is, or shall become, an applicant for relief under the provisions of the acts recited in the preceding section of this act, shall be dead, the consent of the legal representative or representatives of such deceased surety, or co-surety, shall be received, and entitle the applicant to relief, in like manner as the consent of a living surety, or co-surety, would do by the provisions of the third section of the act of the fourteenth of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-two; and if the surety, or co-surety, of any such debtor shall be absent in parts unknown, or if the consent of the legal representative or representatives of any deceased surety, or co-surety, cannot be obtained, and the property or estate of any such deceased or absent surety, or co-surety, shall not be sufficient to pay the debt due to the United States, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall be satisfied by proof of these facts, he shall be authorized, in all such cases, to grant such relief or discharge as the debtor applying for the same may be entitled to, according to the provisions of the acts which this act is intended to revive and amend, upon the condition that such debtor shall not be discharged thereby from his or her legal liability to such absent surety, or co-surety, or to the estate of such deceased debtor, for any part of the debt due to the United States, which may thereafter be paid by or out of the estate of any such absent or deceased surety, or co-surety.
All discharges heretofore granted declared valid.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all discharges which have heretofore been granted by the Secretary of the Treasury to any principal debtor, with the consent of the legal representative or representatives of any deceased surety, or co-surety, shall be as valid as though such surety or co-surety had been alive, and his or her consent obtained, according to the letter of the third section of the act of the fourteenth of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-two.
Secretary of the Treasury may cause satisfaction to be entered, &c.
Proviso.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall be authorized to cause satisfaction to be entered upon all judgments against such insolvents as have heretofore been, or may hereafter be, relieved under the provisions of the acts which this act is intended to revive and amend; or under any other and former act of Congress for the relief of persons imprisoned for debts due to the United States: Provided, The district judge of the district in which such judgments are on record, shall certify that he is satisfied that the debtor is possessed or entitled to no property liable to be applied to the satisfaction of said judgments, and that the interest of the government does not require that such judgments should remain unsatisfied. In every case of application for such certificate to a judge at his chambers, ten days’ notice shall be given to the district attorney for the district, when the application is made.
