Samuel Chase, Md., 1796. Bushrod Washington, Va., 1798. * Declined the appointment. CHAPTER XVI. Circuits and Circuit Courts. 1. In the last Chapter we gave an account of the United States Supreme Court. We now come to the United States Circuit Courts, the next in dignity, power, and jurisdiction. Unlike the Supreme Court, which, as stated, is always held in Washington, the circuit courts are held in every State, at such times and places as Congress by law directs. It would add some interest and utility to our work if they were inserted here, so as to show when and where these courts are held. But we omit this, because they are so often changed, that what is now correct, might not remain so after another session of Congress; these changes are made to accommodate the people in the State, or the judges of the Court. As now arranged, the whole of the States are divided into nine circuits, each circuit comprising several States; some more and some less, according to the size and population of the States comprised in a circuit. Then the Court is held in each State in the circuit. This arrangement is made in order to bring these courts within convenient reach of all the people in every part of the country. 2 The circuit courts are held by the judges of the Supreme Court, who allot the circuits among them selves, and then travel each through his own circuit, until he has visited and held a session in every State which lies within it. A judge of the Supreme Court is the presiding and supreme magistrate in every circuit court, but the judge of the District Court of the district in which the circuit is held, sits with the judge of the Supreme Court, as Associate Justice. JURISDICTION. 3. These courts have both original and appellate jurisdiction. Causes may be appealed from the district courts to the Circuit. They also have concurrent jurisdiction with the State courts, where the matter in dispute exceeds the sum of $500, and the United States are plaintiffs; or where an alien is a party, or where the suit is between citizens of different States. They have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases of crimes against the laws of the United States, except where the law especially confers the power on other courts. It extends to all cases under the revenue laws of the United States. 4. There is also a certain class of cases, (too tedious to be described here in detail), which may be removed from State and from District courts, into these courts, and be tried and determined in the same manner as if they had been commenced here. The officers of circuit courts are, first, the Judges; second, the District Attorney of the district in which the Court is held; third, the Marshal, of the District; and fourth, a clerk; who is appointed by the court. 5. It may be interesting, and perhaps useful to know how the different circuits are formed, and what States lie in each. They have been from time to time increased in number, as the number of the States increased. In some cases, States have been at first placed in one circuit, and afterwards detached and placed in another. 6. By the Acts of 1862, and 1863, the circuits were ar. ranged as follows: First Circuit,-Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire, (by Act of 1820.) Second Circuit,-Vermont, Connecticut, New York, (Act of 1837.) Third Circuit,-New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Fourth Circuit,-Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and North Carolina. Fifth Circuit,-South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Sixth Circuit, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. Seventh Circuit,-Ohio and Indiana. Eighth Circuit,-Michigan and Illinois. Ninth Circuit,-Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas and Min nesota. Tenth Circuit,-California and Oregon. But in 1866 this arrangement of the circuits was again changed; and this was done, we suppose, to make the circuits approximate nearer to the number of the Associate Justices, as reduced from nine to six, by the same act: or, it was then enacted, that hereafter there should be no more Associate Justices of the Supreme Court appointed, until they were reduced (by death or resignation,) to six. 7. The circuits of this last Act were reduced to nine, and were arranged as follows:-First and Second Circuits, to remain as before. The Third was made up of the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The Fourth, of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The Fifth, of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The Sixth, of Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. The Seventh, of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. The Eighth, of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas. The Ninth, of California, Oregon and Nevada. We have inserted both of these circuit arrangements, because one new State (Nebraska), has been admitted since the Act passed. Others will soon come in, and very probably, the old number of circuits and judges will be restored. |