LETTER OF GENERAL KEARNY TO THE ADJUTANT GENERAL. SIR: I enclose herewith a copy of the laws prepared for the government of the Territory of New Mexico, and a list of appointments to civil offices in the territory, both of which I have this day signed and published. I take great pleasure in stating that I am entirely indebted for these laws, to Colonel A. W. Doniphan, of the first regiment of Missouri mounted volunteers, who received much assistance from private Willard P. Hall, of his regiment. These laws are taken, part from the laws of Mexico-retained as in the original-a part with such modifications as our laws and constitution made necessary: a part are from the laws of the Missouri territory; a part from the laws of Texas: and also of Texas and Coahuila; a part from the statutes of Missouri and the remainder from the Livingston Code. The organic law is taken from the organic law of Missouri territory. (See act of congress. June 4, 1842.) Very respectfully your obedient servant, ton. Received at the war department, November 23.) APPOINTMENT BY GENERAL KEARNY OF CIVIL OFFICERS. Being duly authorized by the president of the United States of America. I hereby make the following appointments for the government of New Mexico, a territory of the United States. The officers thus appointed will be obeyed and respected accordingly: Charles Bent, to be governor. Donaciano Vigil, to be secretary of the territory. Richard Dallam, to be marshal. Francis P. Blair, to be United States district attorney. Charles Blumner, to be treasurer. Eugene Seitzendorfer, to be auditor of public accounts. Joab Houghton, Antonio José Otero, Charles Beaubian, to be judges of the superior court. Given at Santa Fe, the capital of the Territory of New Mexico, this 22nd day of September, 1846, and in the 71st year of the independence of the United States. S. W. KEARNY, Brigadier General, U. S. A. Francisco Sanacino (Pajarito) is hereby reappointed prefect of the district of the southwest, in place of Francisco Armijo y Ortiz, this day removed. Miguel Romero is hereby appointed alcalde at the Placeya, in place of Julien Tenoira, this day removed. S. W. KEARNY, Brigadier General, U. S. A. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sept. 22, 1846. (Received at the war department, November 23.) ADMINISTRATIONS. SECTION 1. The laws heretofore in force concerning descents, distributions, wills and testaments, as contained in the treatise on these subjects, written by Pedro Murillo Velarde, shall remain in force so far as they are in conformity with the constitution of the United States and the state laws in force for the time being. SEC. 2. The prefects shali grant letters testamentary and of administration. SEC. 3. Letters testamentary and of administration shall be granted in the county in which the mansion, house, or place of abode of the deceased is situated. If he had no mansion, house, or place of abode at the time of his death, and be possessed of lands, letters shall be granted in the county in which the lands or a part thereof lie. If the deceased had no mansion, house, or place of abode, and was not possessed of lands, letters may be granted in the county in which he died or where the greater part of his estate may be; if he died out of the territory having no mansion, house or place of abode, or lands within this territory, letters may be granted in any county in which any personal estate of the deceased may be. SEC. 4. All orders, settlements, trials and proceedings touching the administration of estates shall be had or made in the county in which the letters testamentary or of administration were granted. SEC. 5. Letters of administration shall be granted. first, to the husband or wife surviving: secondly, if there be no husband or wife surviving, to those who are entitled to distribution of the estate, or one or more of them as the prefect shall believe will best manage the estate. SEC. 6. If no such person apply for such letters within thirty days after the death of the deceased any creditor shall be allowed to take out such letters: and in defect of these the prefect may select as administrator such discreet person as he may choose. SEC. 7. After probate of any will, letters testamentary shall be granted to the person or persons therein appointed executor or executors: if a part of the persons refuse to act, or be disqualified, the letters shall be granted to the other persons therein appointed. If all such persons refuse to act, or be disqualified, letters of administration shall be granted to the person to whom administration would have been granted if there had been no will: when there are two or more persons named executors in a will none shall have power to act as such except those who give bonds. SEC. 8. If the validity of a will be contested, or the executor be a minor or absent from the territory, letters of administration shall be granted during the time of such contest, minority, or absence, to some other person who shall take charge of the property and administer the same according to law under the direction of the prefect, and account for, pay and deliver all the money and property of the estate to the executor or regular administrator when qualified to act. SEC. 9. Every applicant for letters of administration at the time of the application shall make an affidavit stating, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the names and places of residence of the heirs of the deceased, that the deceased died without a will, and that he will make a perfect inventory of, and faithfully administer all the estates of the deceased, and account for and pay all assets which shall come to his possession or knowledge. SEC. 10. A similar affidavit with variations, as the case may require, shall be made by administrators of the goods remaining unadministered. and by the administrators during the time of a contest about a will, or the minority or absence of an executor. SEC. 11. Every administrator, with the will annexed, and executor at the time letters are granted to him, shall make an affidavit that he will make a perfect inventory of the estate, and faithfully execute the last will of the testator, and render just ac counts, and faithfully perform all things required by law touching such executorship or administration. The prefect shall take a bond of the person to whom letters testamentary or administration are granted. with two or more sufficient securities, resident in the county, to the Territory of New Mexico, in such amount as the prefect shall deem sufficient, not less than double the estimated value of the estate, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties as an executor or administrator. And no person shall act as executor or administrator until he shall have given such bond. If any prefect shall refuse or neglect to take such bond at the time of granting such letters he shall himself be liable for all the damages resulting from such neglect or refusal at the suit of any person injured. All letters testamentary. and of administration, and all bonds and affidavits of executors and administrators shall be recorded by the clerk of the prefect, in a well bound book kept for that purpose, before such letters are delivered to the executor or administrator, and the clerk shall certify on the letters that they have been recorded, and if any prefect shall deliver, without complying with the foregoing requisitions, any such letters, he shall forfeit to the person injured double the damages occasioned by such default. SEC. 12. Every executor and administrator shall exhibit a statement of the accounts of his administration for settlement, with proper vouchers, to the court of the prefect, at the first term, after the end of one year, from the date of his letters, and at the corresponding term of such court, every year thereafter until the administration be completed: and upon every failure so to do, may be fined not more than one hundred dollars for the use of the county, and shall forfeit to the party injured double the damages sustained by such default. ATTACHMENTS. SECTION 1. Creditors whose demands amount to fifty dollars or more, may sue their debtors in the circuit court by attachment in the following cases, to wit: First. When the debtor is not a resident of, nor resides in this territory. Second. When the debtor has concealed himself or absconded, or absented himself from his usual place of abode in this territory, so that the ordinary process of law cannot be passed upon him. Third. When the debtor is about to remove his property or effects out of this territory; or has fraudulently concealed or disposed of his property or effects so as to defraud, hinder or delay his creditors. Fourth. When the debtor is about fraudulently to convey or assign, conceal or dispose of his property or effects, so as to hinder, delay or defraud his creditors. Fifth. When the debt was contracted out of this territory, and the debtor has absconded. or secretly removed his property or effects into the territory, with the intent to hinder, delay or defraud his creditors. SEC. 2. A creditor wishing to sue his debtor by attachment, may place in the clerk's office of the circuit court of any county in this territory, a petition or other lawful statement of his cause of action, and shall also file an affidavit and bond. and thereupon such creditors may sue out an original attachment against the lands, tenements, goods, moneys, effects and credits of the debtor in whosesoever hands they may be. SEC. 3. The affidavit shall be made by the plaintiff, or some person for him, and shall state that the defendant is justly indebted to the plaintiff, after allowing all just credits and offsets in a sum to be specified in the affidavit, and on what account, and shall also state that the affiant has good reason to believe, and does believe, the existence of one or more of the causes which, according to the provisions of the first section, will entitle the plaintiff to sue by attachment. SEC. 4. The bond shall be executed by the plaintiff or some responsible person as principal, and two or more securities, residents of the county in which the action is to be brought, in a sum at least double the amount sworn to, payable to this territory, conditioned that the plaintiff shall prosecute his action without delay and with effect, and refund all sums of money that may be adjudged to be refunded to the defendant or garnishee by reason of this attachment, or any process of judgment thereon. SEC. 5. The clerk shall judge of the sufficiency of the penalty and the security in the bond; if they be approved he shall indorse his approval thereon, and the same together with the affidavits and petition or other lawful statement of the cause of action shall be filed before an attachment shall be issued. SEC. 6. The bond given by the plaintiff or other person in suit by attachment may be sued on by any party injured, in the name of the territory, and shall proceed as in ordinary suits, and shall recover such damages as he may sustain. SEC. 7. Original writs of attachment shall be directed to the sheriff of the proper county, commanding him to attach the defendant by all and singular his lands and tenements. goods, moneys, effects, and credits in whosesoever hands the same may be found, with a clause of the nature, and to the effect of an ordinary citation to answer the action of the plaintiff. SEC. 8. Original writs of attachment shall be issued and returned in like manner as ordinary writs of citation, and when the defendant is cited to answer the action, the like proceedings shall be had between him and the plaintiff as in ordinary actions on contracts: and general judgment may be rendered for or against the defendant. SEC. 9. The manner of serving writs of attachment shall be as follows: First. The writ, petition, or other lawful statement of the cause of action shall be served on the defendant as an 'ordinary citation. Second. Garnishees shall be summoned by the sheriff, declaring to them that he summons them to appear at the return term of the writ to answer the interrogatories which may be exhibited by the plaintiff and by reading the writ to them if required. Third. When lands or tenements are to be attached, the officer shall briefly describe the same in his return and state that he attached all the right, title and interest of the defendant to the same, and shall moreover give notice to the actual tenants if any there be. Fourth. When goods and chattels, moneys, effects, or evidences of debt are to be attached the officer shall seize the same and keep them in his custody if accessible, and if not accessible he shall summon the person in whose hands they may be as garnishee. Fifth. When the credits of the defendant are to be attached, the officer shall declare to the debtor of the defendant that he attached in his hands all debts due from him to the defendant, or so much thereof as shall be sufficient to satisfy the debt, interest, and costs, and summons such person as garnishee. SEC. 10. All persons shall be summoned as garnishees who are named as such in the writ, and such others as the officers shall find in the possession of goods, money, or effects of the defendant not actually seized by the officer and debtors of the defendant, and a'so such as the plaintiff or his agent shall direct. SEC. 11. When the defendant cannot be cited, and his property or effects shall be attached, if he do not appear and answer to the action at the return term of the writ, within the first two days thereof, the court shall order a publication to be made, stating the nature and amount of the plaintiff's demand, and notifying the defendant that his property has been attached, and that unless he appears at the next term, judgment will be rendered against him, and his property sold to satisfy the same: which notice shall be published four weeks successively in some newspaper printed in this territory, the last insertion to be not less than two weeks before the first day of the next term: but if there should be no newspaper in this territory, said notice shall be published by not less than six hand bills put up at six different places in the county, at least six weeks before the first day of the next term. SEC. 12. When the defendant shall be notified by publication as aforesaid, and shall not appear and answer the action. judgment by default may he entered, which may be proceeded on to final judgment as in ordinary actions, but such judgment shall only bind the property attached, and shall be no evidence of indebtedness against the defendant in any subsequent suit. SEC. 13. When property of the defendant found in his possession, or in the hands of any other person, shall be attached, the defendant, or such other person, may retain possession thereof, by giving bond and security to the satisfaction of the officer executing the writ, to the officer or his successor, in double the value of the property attached, conditioned that the same shall be forthcoming when and where the court shall direct, and shall abide the judgment of the court. SEC. 14. The officer executing the writ of attachment shall return with the writ all bonds taken by him in virtue thereof, a schedule of all property and effects attached, and the names of all garnishees, the times and places when and where respectively summoned. SEC. 15. If the officer willfully fail to return a good and sufficient bond in any case where bond is required by this law he shall be held and considered as security for the performance of all acts, and the payment of all money to secure the performance of which such bond ought to have been taken. SEC. 16. In all cases when property or effects shall be attached, the defendant may at the court to which the writ is returnable, put in his answer without oath denying the truth of any material fact contained in the affidavit, to which the plaintiff may reply: a trial of the truth of the affidavit shall be had at the same term, and on such trial the plaintiff shall be held to prove the existence of the facts set forth in the affidavit, as the ground of the attachment, and if the issue shall be found for him the cause shall proceed, but if it be found for the defendant the cause shall be dismissed at the cost of the plaintiff. SEC. 17. The plaintiff may exhibit in the cause written allegations and interrogatories at the return term of the writ, and not afterwards, touching the property, effects and credits attached in the hands of any garnishee. The garnishee shall exhibit and file his answer thereto on oath during such term. unless the court for good cause shown shall order otherwise. In default of such answer or of a sufficient answer, the plaintiff may take judgment by default against him, or the court may upon motion compel him to answer by attachment of his body. SEC. 18. Such judgment by default may be proceeded on to final judgment in like manner as in cases of defendant in actions upon contracts, but no final judgment shall be rendered against the garnishee until there shall be final judgment against the defendant. SEC. 19. The plaintiff may deny the answer of the garnishee in whole or in part, and the issue shall be tried as ordinary issues between plaintiffs and defendants; if on such trial the property or effects of the defendant be found in the hands of the garnishee, the value thereof shall be assessed, and judgment shall be rendered for the proper amount of money. If the answer of the garnishee be not excepted to or denied at the same time at which it is filed, it shall be taken to be true and sufficient. SEC. 20. If by the answer not excepted to nor denied it shall appear that the garnishee is possessed of property or effects of the defendant, or is indebted to the defendant the value of the property or effects, or of the debt being ascertained, judgment may be rendered against the garnishee. SEC. 21. In all cases of controversy between the plaintiff and garnishee the parties may be adjudged to pay or recover costs as in ordinary cases between plaintiff and defendant. SEC. 22. Creditors whose demands are for a less amount than fifty dollars may sue their debtors by attachment before an alcalde in the same cases, and in the same manner, and under the same rules as creditors are allowed to sue out writs of attachment in the circuit court, provided that publication when required may be by six hand-bills, put up at six different public places three weeks before the return day of the writ. ATTORNEY GENERAL AND CIRCUIT ATTORNEYS. SECTION 1. There shall be an attorney general appointed by the governor, who shall reside and keep his office at the seat of government: he shall act as circuit attorney for the circuit in which the seat of government is, and in said circuit shall perform the duties required by law of circuit attorneys, and receive the same fees therefor. SEC. 2. When required he shall give his opinion in writing to the general assembly, or either house, to the governor, secretary of the territory, auditor, treasurer, and any circuit attorney upon any question of law relating to their respective duties or offices. SEC. 3. The governor shall appoint a suitable circuit attorney in every circuit in this territory, who shall hold his office for two years, and until his successor be appointed and qualified: he shall reside in his circuit, he shall commence and prosecute all civil and criminal actions in which the territory or any county in his circuit may be concerned, and defend all suits which may be brought against the territory or any county in his circuit, he shall prosecute forfeited recogizances and actions for the recovery of debts, fines, penalties, and |