TITLE 33 > CHAPTER 18 > § 927

 
                NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
 
         CHAPTER 18--LONGSHORE AND HARBOR WORKERS' COMPENSATION
 
Sec. 927. Powers of deputy commissioners or Board

    (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 \1\ to discharge the duties of his office.
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    \1\ So in original. Probably should be ``effectively''.
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    (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.

(Mar. 4, 1927, ch. 509, Sec. 27, 44 Stat. 1438; June 25, 1936, ch. 804, 
49 Stat. 1921; June 25, 1948, ch. 646, Sec. 32(b), 62 Stat. 991; May 24, 
1949, ch. 139, Sec. 127, 63 Stat. 107; Pub. L. 92-576, Sec. 15(e), Oct. 
27, 1972, 86 Stat. 1262.)

                          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    As originally enacted, subsec.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.


                    Effective Date of 1972 Amendment

    Amendment 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.