AN ACT TO REVISE THE LAW IN RELATION TO CIRCUIT COURTS AND THE SUPERIOR COURT OF COOK COUNTY.

Approved February 16, 1874. In force July 1, 1874.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the several judges of the circuit courts of this state and of the superior court of Cook county, shall, before entering upon the duties of their office, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation, which shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the judge of...... court, according to the best of my ability."

§ 2. The said courts, respectively, shall have a seal, and may, from time to time, as may be necessary, renew or alter the same. The expense of such seal and renewing and altering the same shall be paid by the county.

§ 3. The circuit courts of the several counties in this state shall be held in the court houses of such counties, except as otherwise provided by law; and the superior court of Cook county shall be held in the court house, in the county of Cook, except as otherwise provided by law.

§ 4. If there is no court house in the county, or, if from any cause the court house is unfit for the holding of court therein, the proper authorities of the county may temporarily provide another place at the county seat for the holding of court, or the court, by order entered upon its records, may adjourn to a suitable place, at such county seat, and the place so provided, or to which such adjournment is made, shall, during the time the court is so held thereat, be held to be the court house of such county for all judicial purposes connected with such court.

§ 5. If, by reason of war, rebellion, mob, pestilence or other public calamity, it is unsafe or inexpedient to hold a court at the time and place appointed by law, the judge or judges of the court may appoint another time and place for the holding of the same. Notice thereof shall be given in the same manner, as nearly as may be, as is required in case of a special term. The place appointed shall be at the nearest convenient place to that at which the court is appointed by law to be held.

§ 6. In such case the court may require the services of any sheriff or other proper officer of the county into which the court is removed, or of the county from which it may remove, to execute process and attend upon the court.

7. It may also cause the grand and petit jurors to be summoned from either or both of such counties.

§ 8. And it shall have all the power and authority in either county which it might have exercised in the county where such court is appointed by law to be held, and may try and determine all causes, civil and criminal, which it might have tried and determined in such county, with like effect.

§ 9. The judge or judges of any circuit court, or the judges of the superior court of Cook county, may, at a regular term, or in vacation, appoint or call a special term of his or their court.

§ 10. If a special term is appointed at a regular term, an order to that effect shall be entered on the records of the court.

§ 11. If the appointment or call of such special term specifies the causes or particular matters that will be heard at such term, the business of such term shall be confined to such causes or matters. If no specification is made, the term shall be deemed to be for the transaction of all business that may be done at a regular term.

§ 12. Suits and proceedings may be instituted, and process made returnable, at such special term, in all causes and matters that may be heard thereat under the appointment or call; and all process in causes that may be heard at such term, which may have been made returnable at the next regular term, shall be deemed in law returnable to such special term, and all continuances in such causes to such regular term shall be deemed to be to such special term.

§ 13. Upon the appointment or calling of a special term of court, the clerk of the court shall give at least twenty days' notice thereof, by publication in some newspaper published in the county, or, if none is published in the county, then in a newspaper published nearest to the place of holding court, and by posting a notice in his office, and in four other of the most public places in the county. The notice shall state the time and place of holding the court, and in general terms what matters may be heard at such term.

§ 14. The clerk shall, also, twenty days before the commencement of such special term, notify the sheriff of the county and the state's attorney of the time and place of holding such special term.

§ 15. For omitting to give the notices specified in the two preceding sections, the court may impose a fine upon the clerk in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars. But the failure to give such notice shall not prevent the holding of such term, or invalidate any of the proceedings thereat.

§ 16. Unless otherwise directed by the court, or judge, or judges, a grand and petit jury shall be summoned to attend such special term, in like manner as if the same were a regular term: Provided, the names of the jurors may be drawn at any time before the assembling of the court.

§ 17. If there is no judge attending on the day appointed for the commencement of any regular or special term of court, the court shall stand adjourned until the next day, and should a judge of such court not attend by four o'clock in the afternoon of the second day of the term, the court

Judges may Interchange.

Terms may be Held in Two Counties.

shall stand adjourned until the next succeeding term of the court; and alk suits, writs, process, indictments, recognizances and other proceedings shall stand continued over until the next term of the court, as effectually as if the same had been continued by the order of the court.

§ 18. The circuit courts of the several counties of this state and the superior court of Cook county, when lawfully in session, may adjourn from day to day, or to any day not beyond the first day of the next term of the court.

§ 19. The several judges of the circuit and superior courts of Cook county holding different branches thereof may each in like manner adjourn the branch of the court held by him.

§ 20. If, at any time after the opening of court for the term, no judge of the court is present at the time and place of holding court, the sheriff of the county or his deputy may adjourn the court from day to day, or, upon the written order of the judge, from time to time, and shall give notice of such adjournment by making proclamation in the court house, and by notification posted on the door of the court house.

§ 21. All causes and proceedings pending and undisposed of in any of said courts at the end of a term shall stand continued until the next term of the court.

§ 22. Judges of the several circuit courts of this state may interchange with each other and with the judges of the superior court of Cook county, and the judges of said circuit courts and of the superior court of Cook county may hold court, or any branch of the court for each other, and perform each other's duties, where they find it necessary or convenient.

§ 23. Where a judge shall hold court, or a branch thereof, for another judge out of his circuit or judicial district, as provided in the preceding section (except in cases of interchange with each other), it shall be competent for the county board of the county in which he shall so hold court, in their discretion, to cause him to be paid, out of the county treasury, not exceeding ten dollars per day for the time he shall so hold the same.

§ 24. Regular or special terms of the circuit court may be held in two or more counties in the same circuit at the same time; and it shall not be necessary to close any regular or special term of the circuit court in any county before the business of said term shall be disposed of, in order to begin a regular or special term in any other county in the same circuit, if any circuit judge of the state shall consent, at the request of the presiding judge of said circuit, to preside over the pending term, or open and hold such special or regular term in such other county.

§ 25. All suits shall be tried in the county in which they are instituted, except as otherwise provided by law.

§ 26. The several circuit courts in this state and the superior court of Cook county may make and award such judgments, decrees, orders and

injunctions, and shall issue all such writs and process as may be necessary or proper to carry into effect the powers granted to them.

§ 27. All process of either of said courts shall run in the name of the People of the State of Illinois; be directed to the proper officer or person; be tested in the name of the clerk of the court and be signed by him, sealed with the seal of the court, or, if there is no seal of the court, then with the private seal of the clerk, dated on the day on which it is issued, and made returnable according to law or the order of the court, when not otherwise provided.

28. The respective courts in term time, and the several judges thereof in vacation, shall have power to award throughout the state, and returnable in the proper county, writs of injunction, ne exeat, habeas corpus, quo warranto, and all other writs and process that may be necessary to the due execution of the powers with which they are or may be vested.

§ 29. Any process which may be issued by any clerk of either of said courts, or any judge thereof, in pursuance of law, shall be executed by the officer or person to whom the same shall be directed, in any county or place in this state, and duly returned in the same manner that process usually is, or may be required to be executed and returned.

§ 30. When a cause or matter is taken under advisement by a judge of a circuit court, or of the superior court of Cook county, and the cause or matter is decided in vacation, the judgment, decree or order therein may be entered of record in vacation, but such judgment, decree or order may, for good cause shown, be set aside, or modified, or excepted to, at the next term of the court, upon motion filed on or before the second day of the term, of which motion the opposite party or his attorney shall have reasonable notice. If not so set aside or modified, it shall thereupon become final.

§ 31. If it is stipulated, of record, that a judgment, decree or order so entered of record shall be final, then such judgment, decree or order shall have the same force and effect as if it had been entered at the term preceding the time it is entered, subject to the right of appeal or writ of error: Provided, it shall not take effect as a lien, except from the date of the entry thereof.

§ 32. The several judges of said courts shall have power, in vacation, to hear and determine motions, to dissolve injunctions, stay or quash executions, to make all necessary orders to carry into effect any decree previously entered, including the issuance of necessary writs therefor, to order the issuance of writs of certiorari, to permit amendments in any process, pleading or proceeding in law or in equity. Any order so made shall be signed by the judge making it, and filed and entered of record by the clerk of the court in which the proceeding is had; and from the date of such filing shall have like force and effect as if made at a regular term of such court. The pendency of a term of court in another county than that in which the suit is pending,

or about to be commenced by the same judge, shall not prevent the granting of such order.

33. No such order shall be granted in vacation, unless the party applying therefor shall give the opposite party or his attorney of record reasonable notice of his intended application.

§ 34. The said courts may, from time to time, make all such rules for the orderly disposition of business before them as may be deemed expedient, consistent with law.

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION ONE OF AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT CONCERNING CIRCUIT COURTS, AND TO FIX THE TIMES FOR HOLDING THE SAME IN THE SEVERAL COUNTIES IN THE JUDICIAL CIRCUITS IN THE

STATE OF ILLINOIS, EXCLUSIVE OF THE COUNTY OF COOK," APPROVED MAY 2, 1873.

Approved January 12, 1874. In force January 12, 1874.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the sixteenth (16) paragraph of an act entitled "An act concerning circuit courts, and the times for holding the same in the several counties in the judicial circuits in the State of Illinois, exclusive of the county of Cook," approved May 2, 1873, be and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Fifteenth Circuit, Spring Term.- In the county of Vermilion, on the first Monday in February; in the county of Edgar, on the fifth Monday thereafter; in the county of Douglas, on the third Monday thereafter; in the county of Clark, on the second Monday thereafter; in the county of Coles, on the third Monday thereafter.

Fall Term. In the county of Vermilion, on the second Monday in August; in the county of Edgar, on the fifth Monday thereafter; in the county of Douglas, on the fourth Monday thereafter; in the county of Clark, on the third Monday thereafter; in the county of Coles, on the third Monday thereafter.

§ 2. In consequence' of the necessity for an immediate change of the time for holding such courts, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, requiring this act to take immediate effect; therefore, this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.