33 U.S.C. § 927: Powers of deputy…

Summary

A deputy commissioner or the Board can keep order at hearings and use legal powers to get the facts they need. They can order people to come and testify, make witnesses swear an oath, force the production of books or papers, take depositions before someone who can give oaths, question witnesses, and do other lawful things needed to do the job. If someone disobeys an order, refuses to appear after being ordered, misbehaves at or near a hearing, refuses to give ordered documents, or will not take or answer after an oath, the deputy commissioner or Board must send the facts to the federal district court that covers the place where the hearing is held (or to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia if the hearing is in that District). That court will quickly hear the evidence and, if warranted, punish the person the same way it punishes contempt of court or commit them under the same conditions as if the act had been done against the court itself.

Title 33, §927

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(a)The deputy commissioner or Board shall have power to preserve and enforce order during any such proceedings; to issue subpoenas for, to administer oaths to, and to compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses, or the production of books, papers, documents, and other evidence, or the taking of depositions before any designated individual competent to administer oaths; to examine witnesses; and to do all things conformable to law which may be necessary to enable him effiectively to discharge the duties of his office.

(b)If any person in proceedings before a deputy commissioner or Board disobeys or resists any lawful order or process, or misbehaves during a hearing or so near the place thereof as to obstruct the same, or neglects to produce, after having been ordered to do so, any pertinent book, paper, or document, or refuses to appear after having been subpoenaed, or upon appearing refuses to take the oath as a witness, or after having taken the oath refuses to be examined according to law, the deputy commissioner or Board shall certify the facts to the district court having jurisdiction in the place in which he is sitting (or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia if he is sitting in such District) which shall thereupon in a summary manner hear the evidence as to the acts complained of, and if the evidence so warrants, punish such person in the same manner and to the same extent as for a contempt committed before the court, or commit such person upon the same conditions as if the doing of the forbidden act had occurred with reference to the process of or in the presence of the court.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification As originally enacted, subsec. (b) contained a reference to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Act

June 25, 1936, substituted “the district court of the United States for the District of Columbia” for “the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia”, and act

June 25, 1948, as amended by act

May 24, 1949, substituted “United States District Court for the District of Columbia” for “district court of the United States for the District of Columbia”.

Amendments

1972—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 92–576 inserted references to the Board.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1972 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 92–576 effective 30 days after Oct. 27, 1972, see section 22 of Pub. L. 92–576, set out as a note under section 902 of this title.

§927 Powers of Deputy Commissioners or Board