Independent Judiciary, on which depend the rights and liberties of every citizen of the commonwealth. 3. This court holds but one term in a year, which commences on the first Monday of December, and sits until it has disposed of the business before it. Its sessions are always held at Washington, the capital of the nation; there it has access to the Congressional and Law Libraries, and to all the departments and records of the government when necessary. There is a class of causes which may be commenced in this court. In these cases it has original jurisdiction. They are such as affect ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party. In other cases it has only appellate jurisdiction. The greater part of its business is to hear and determine appeals from inferior courts, mainly from the United States Circuit Courts; and in some instances from the highest State courts. 4. It has not only original, but exclusive jurisdiction in causes where a State is a party, and when proceedings or suits against ambassadors, or other public ministers or their servants, are instituted. Its power to try appeals from lower courts, called appellate jurisdiction, gives it the position of the highest court in the nation. It has power also to restrain or to prohibit proceedings in the United States District Courts, when acting as courts of Admiralty; or in cases of maritime jurisdiction. The judges of this court hold the Circuit Courts, and allot themselves among the judicial circuits. The practice and rules of procedure in this court are very similar to those of the Courts of Chancery and King's Bench, in England. Issues of fact are tried by jury, the same as in other courts. OFFICERS OF THE COURT. 5. The officers of this tribunal are the Judges, the Atto ney General, a clerk, a crier, and a reporter. The three last named are appointed by the court. It is the duty of the Mar shal of the District of Columbia to attend this court, and to serve process issuing from it. An Attorney or Counsellor-at-Law, to be admitted to practice in this court, must have been a practitioner in the Supreme Court of the State where he lives. 6. The following are the names of all the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, from its establishment to the present time; with the dates of their appointments, and the States from which they were appointed: John Jay, N. Y., Sept. 26, 1789. John Rutledge, S. C., July 1, 1795. Morrison R. Waite, O., Jan. 21, 1874. 7. The following are the names of the Associate Justices with the dates of their appointment and the States from which they were appointed: John Rutledge, S. C., 1789. William Cushing, Mass., 1789. James Iredell, N. C., 1790. Thomas Johnson, Md., 1791. William Paterson, N. J., 1793. Samuel Chase, Md., 1796. Bushrod Washington, Va., 1798. Alfred Moore, N. C., 1799. William Johnson, S. C., 1804. Brockholst Livingston, N. Y., 1807. Thomas Todd, Va., 1807. Gabriel Duvall, Md., 1811. Joseph Story, Mass., 1811. Smith Thompson, N. Y., 1823. David Davis, Ill., 1862. Joseph P. Bradley, N. J., 1870. CHAPTER LVIII. CIRCUIT COURTS. The next in dignity, power, and jurisdiction are the United States Circuit Courts. While the Supreme Court is always held in Washington, these are held in every State at such times and places as special law of Congress directs. These are often changed so as to accommodate both the people in the States and the judges of the Court. As now arranged, the whole Union is divided into nine circuits, each circuit comprising several States, according to the size and population of the States. The places are arranged with reference to convenience of access by all the people in the circuit. This Court is similar in design and authority to the Supreme Court; indeed it is but a branch of it; the same officers presiding, and the same class of questions being adjudicated by it, viz.: those involving Constitutional Law; and this authority, so important to uniformity of interpretation of constitutional provisions, and to the enjoyment of rights guaranteed by that instrument to citizens of all the States, is made pervadingis carried within the reach of all. 2. The Circuit Courts are held by the Judges of the Supreme Court, who allot the circuits among themselves, 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 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 arranged 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, Iowa 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 Associate Justices, as reduced from nine to six by the same act; for, 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 by this last act were reduced to nine, and were arranged as follows: First and Second Circuits to remain as before. |