abode, with some member of his family above the age of fifteen years, or at his office, with some clerk above the age of fifteen

years.

SEC. 19. The service of any notice required by this act may be by any sheriff, marshal, constable, or by any competent witness who shall make affidavit to such service.

SEC. 20. In all cases where notice is required by this law, the same shall be served at least three days before the day of taking of the depositions, and one day additional for every twentyfive miles, for the first three hundred miles; and beyond that, one additional day for each one hundred miles of distance from the place of serving or setting up such notice to the place of taking the depositions, except as otherwise provided in the next succeeding section.

SEC. 21. When it is desired to take depositions out of this territory, to be read in suits pending in any of the courts of this territory, the court in which any suit is pending, or the judge thereof, in vacation, may shorten the time for which notice is to be given, as now required, upon such application of the party desiring it, with due notice of such application to the opposite party, or his attorney; and notice of taking depositions, given for such time as shall be designated by the court or judge, shall, in all such cases, be sufficient.

SEC. 22. When a party to any suit pending in any court of record in this territory shall make application to such court in term time, or to the judge thereof, in vacation, for a commission to take the examination of witnesses, and shall support the application by affidavits, and shall have given to the adverse party reasonable notice of such application, the court or judge may, upon such ternis as it may think proper, award such commission.

SEC. 23. The commission shall be to such person as the court or judge shall appoint, to be named in the commission, or to some proper officer of the government where the witnesses may be, commanding such person or officers to examine such witnesses (naming them) upon interrogatories.

SEC. 24. The interrogatories shall be annexed to the commission, and shall be drawn and signed by the parties or their counsel in the cause, under the sanction and direction of the court or judge thereof.

SEC. 25. The commission shall further command the person or officer to whom the same is directed to reduce the examination of the witnesses and their answers to the interrogatories annexed to writing, and return the same with the commission into the court with all convenient speed.

SEC. 26. Such person or officer shall examine the witnesses named in the commission, touching the matters contained in the interrogatories annexed, and none others, at any time and place, when and where such witnesses may be found.

SEC. 27. Every witness examined in pursuance of this law shall be sworn or affirmed to testify the whole truth, and his examination shall be reduced to writing in the presence of the person or officer before whom the same shall be taken.

SEC. 28. Every person, judge, or other officer in this territory required to take the depositions or examination of witnesses in pursuance of this law, or by virtue of any commission. issuing out of any court of record in this or any other government, shall have power to issue subpoenas for witnesses to appear and testify, and to compel their attendance in the same manner and under the like penalties as any court of record of this territory.

SEC 29. To every deposition or examination taken by virtue of this law shall be appended the certificate of the person or of ficer by or before whom the same shall be taken, showing that the deposition or examination was reduced to writing in his presence, and was subscribed and sworn to by the witnesses, and the place at which, and the day, and within the hours, when the same was taken.

SEC 30. Depositions or examinations taken by any person or officer in this territory authorized by this act, or by any person or officer out of this territory, appointed by authority of the laws. of this territory to take depositions, or by any consul, commercial or diplomatic representative of the United States, or mayor, or chief officer of any city, town, or borough, having a seal of office; or by any notary public, and certified to by such person or officer, in his official character, and accompanied by his seal of office, if there be one, shall, to all intents and purposes, be sufficient evidence of the authentication of such depositions or examinations.

SEC. 31. The official character of such officer taking depositions or examinations within any of the United States, or in the District of Columbia, authenticated and proved as aforesaid, or by the certificate and seal of the clerk of any court of record within any county of the state or territory, or within the district where such officer resides; and certifying, also, that such officer was an acting judge or justice of the peace, and duly commissioned as such at the time when the depositions were taken, shall be a sufficient authentication thereof. Depositions or examinations taken by any person or judicial officer without the United States by virtue of any commission issued in pursuance of this law, shall be, except as herein otherwise provided, accompanied by a certificate of the official character of said officer, attested by the seal of state, or seal of court, of the government in which the depositions or examinations were taken.

SEC. 32. When the party causing depositions to be taken under a notice shall have completed the taking thereof, the adverse party may, before the same officer, and at the same place, proceed immediately, or on the next day, to take any depositions he may desire to have read in the cause, at said place and between the hours specified in the notice, until he shall have taken all that he desires; but, in order thereto, he shall, before or during the time of the taking of the depositions, on behalf of the other party, or the attorney representing him, give notice of his intention to do so.

SEC. 33. Depositions or examinations taken by virtue of any of the provisions of this law, and all exhibits produced to the person or officer taking such examinations or depositions, and proved or referred to by any witness, together with the commissions and interrogatories (if any), shall be enclosed, sealed up, and directed to the clerk of the court in which, or the justice before whom, the action is pending.

SEC. 34. Examinations or depositions taken and returned in conformity to the provisions of this law, may be read and be used as evidence in the cause in which they shall have been taken, as if the witnesses were present and examined in open court on the trial thereof: First, if the witness reside or is gone out of this territory; second, if he be dead; third, if, by reason

of age, sickness, or bodily infirmity, he be unable to, or cannot safely, attend the court; fourth, if he resides at a greater distance than forty miles from the place of trial; fifth, if he be gone to a greater distance than forty miles from the place of trial, without the consent or collusion of the party requiring his testimony; sixth, if he be a judge of a court of records, and engaged in the discharge of his official duties at the time.

SEC. 35. When the officer taking depositions in virtue of this law shall, in his certificate, state the place of residence of the witness, such statement shall be prima facie evidence of the facts.

SEC. 36. Every objection to the competency or credibility of a witness examined, or to the competency or relevancy of any question put to him, or of any answer given by him, may be made in the same manner and with the like effect as if such witness was personally present; and any failure to make such objections at the taking of the depositions, although the objecting party may be present, shall not prejudice his right to make such objections at the trial of the cause.

SEC. 37. That all acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act be and the same are hereby repealed.

SEC. 38. This act shall take effect and be in force from and

after its passage.

[NOTE FROM THE SECRETARY.-The foregoing act having been presented to the governor of the territory for his approval, and not having been returned by him to the house of the legislative assembly in which it originated, within the time prescribed by the Organic Act of the territory, has become a law without his ap proval.]

AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An Act to prevent officers from dealing in certain securities," approved February 2, A. D. 1865.

Be it enacted by the legislative assembly of the territory of Mon

tana:

SECTION 1. That section one of "An Act to prevent officers from dealing in certain securities," approved February 2, 1865

be so amended as to read as follows: "SECTION 1. The territorial treasurer and auditor, and the several district, county, city, or town corporation officers in the territory, are hereby expressly prohibited from purchasing or selling, directly or indirectly, or in any manner receiving to their use and benefit, or to the use and benefit of any person or persons whatever, any territory, county, or town, or city warrants, scrip, orders, demands, claim or claims, or other evidence of indebtedness against the territory, or county, or any city or town thereof."

SEC. 2. That section four of said act be so amended as to read as follows: "SECTION 4. All public officers herein referred to shall have the right to sell or transfer any evidences of public indebtedness which may be issued according to law, and held by such officers for services rendered by them to the territory, county, or town corporation, legally and justly due, and that the remaining portion of said section four of said act, approved February 2, 1865, be and the same is hereby repealed."

SEC. 3. Any officer, or agent, or employe, of any officer who shall be guilty of any violation of any of the provisions of this act shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars, and shall be imprisoned in the territorial prison not less than two months. Such conviction shall operate as a forfeiture of office, and it shall be, and is hereby made, the duty of all judges in this territory to give this act specially in charge to the grand jurors at each term of their respective courts, and, also to all trial juries impannelled for the trial of any of the officers herein before mentioned in this act.

SEC. 4. That all fines collected under and required by the provisions of this act, to be paid into the county treasuries, shall be so paid in for the benefit of the common school fund.

SEC. 5. All acts and parts of acts conflicting with this act be and are hereby repealed.

SEC. 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved December 22d, 1869.

2