CHAPTER I. THE FEDERAL COURTS. SECTION 1. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS. The constitutional provisions relative to the Federal Courts have been already considered under the subject of Constitutional Law. Some slight repetition, however, is necessary at the beginning of the present subject. The third article of the Constitution is devoted to the judicial department. The first section provides for the establishment of the courts, and is as follows: "The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and Inferior Courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office." A distinction is to be noticed between the provision for the Supreme Court and that for the Inferior Courts of the United States; the former was created directly by the Constitution, while the establishment of the latter was made optional with Congress. The grant of judicial power to the United States Government is contained in the second section of the third article of the Constitution, which is as follows: "The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this Constitution, 1 Volume II, Sub. 3. the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more states; between a State and citizens of another State; between citizens of different states; between citizens of the same states claiming lands under grants of different states; and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects." SECTION 2. JURISDICTION OF UNITED STATES COURTS AS FIXED BY STATUTE. The power herein granted is the maximum which may be exercised by the United States; it is not necessary that the United States assume this jurisdiction in full. By the Revised Statutes of the United States it is provided that the jurisdiction vested in the courts of the United States, in the following cases and proceedings, shall be exclusive of the courts of the several states: First. Of all crimes and offenses cognizable under the authority of the United States. Second. Of all suits for penalties and forfeitures incurred under the laws of the United States. Third. Of all civil cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; saving to suitors, in all cases, the right of a common law remedy, where the common law is competent to give it. Fourth. Of all seizures under the laws of the United States, on land or on waters not within admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. Fifth. Of all cases arising under the patent right or copyright laws of the United States. Sixth. Of all matters and proceedings in bankruptcy. Seventh. Of all controversies of a civil nature, where a State is a party, except between a State and its citizens, or between a State and citizens of other states, or aliens. SECTION 3. UNITED STATES COURTS. At the present time there are three different grades of regular inferior United States Courts, viz.: District Courts, Circuit Courts, and Circuit Courts of Appeal. The two former were first established by the judiciary act of 1789 and the third by the act of 1891. There are seventy-seven judicial districts in the United States, each with a District Court and a district judge. These seventy-seven districts are grouped into nine circuits, in each of which there is a Circuit Court and a Circuit Court of Appeals. Each judge of the Supreme Court is assigned to one of these circuits, and is required to attend a term of the Circuit Court in each district The states of Alabama, Illinois, New York, Tennessee and Texas each contain three districts; those of Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin, two each; while the remaining twenty-five states each constitute a single district. The different states and territories are assigned to the different circuits as follows: FirstRhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine; Second-Vermont, Connecticut and New York; Third-Penn 5 sylvania, New Jersey and Delaware; Fourth-Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina; Fifth-Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas; Sixth-Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee; Seventh-Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin; Eighth-Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico and Oklahoma; Ninth-California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Montana, Alaska and Arizona. Rev. Stats., 604. Rev. Stats., 606. |