Act of March 2, 1793, ch. 22. The first six days of each term to be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the laws and constitution of the United States. Records to be kept at the places where the courts are held. Persons learn ed in the law to be appointed to act as attorneys, and to receive the same salary, each, as the attorney for the district of Kentucky. A marshal to be appointed for each court. Each judge to receive 1500 dol lars per annum. A court of appeal to be organized and composed of the judges of the superior court. Senior judge to preside. Court may be adjourned, by any one of its judges being present, from day to day, un til a quorum be convened. So much of the act of which this is amenda tory, as requires the legislative council to comsions on the first Monday in May, repealed. mence its ses vested in the court of the Kentucky district. The first six days of each term of the said courts, or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the laws and Constitution of the United States. And writs of error and appeal from the decisions in the said superior courts, authorized by this section of this act, shall be made to the appellate court of said territory, in such manner, and under such regulations, as the legislative council shall direct. The clerks, respectively, shall keep the records at the places where the courts are held, and no one clerk shall, by himself or deputy, officiate at more than one place for holding said courts: they shall receive, in all cases under the laws and Constitution of the United States, the same fees which the clerks of the district court of the next adjoining state receives [receive] for similar services. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed, for each of the said courts, a person, learned in the law, to act as attorneys of the United States, as well as for the territory, each of whom shall receive the same fees, both in civil and criminal cases, as are received by the district attorneys of the United States, of the next adjoining state, for similar services; and shall, moreover, receive, as a full compensation for all extra services, annually, the same salary, as is provided, by law, for the district attorney of the district of Kentucky, to be paid, quarterly, by the treasury of the United States. There shall, also, be appointed, for each of the said courts, a marshal, who shall perform the same duties, be subject to the same regulations and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees, to which marshals, in other districts are entitled for similar services; and shall, in addition, be paid the sum of two hundred dollars annually, as a compensation for extra services; and shall, also, be subject to such regulations and penalties as the legislative council shall impose, while acting under, and in virtue of, the territorial laws. Each judge shall receive a salary of fifteen hundred dollars per annum, to be paid, quarterly, by the treasury of the United States. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That there shall be organized in said territory a court of appeals, to be composed of the judges of the superior courts of said territory, any two of whom shall be a quorum, and shall hold, annually, at the seat of government of said territory, one session, commencing on the first Monday in January, in each and every year. The senior judge shall be the presiding judge of said court, and the other judges shall have precedence according to the date of their commissions, or where their commissions are of the same date, according to their respective ages. That the said court may by any one of its judges being present, be adjourned, from day to day, until a quorum be convened; and if no one of its judges be present, by the marshal of said court, until a quorum be convened; and the district attorney, marshal, and clerk, of the superior court, of the middle district, shall be officers of the said court of appeals; and writs of error and appeal from the decision of the said court shall be made to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the same manner, and under the same regulations, as from the circuit courts of the United States, where the amount in controversy, to be ascertained by the oath or affirmation of either party, shall exceed one thousand dollars. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act, of which this is an amendment, as requires the legislative council of said territory to commence its sessions on the first Monday in May, in each and every year, be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and the said legislative council shall, hereafter, hold a session in every year commencing on the second Monday in November, in each and every year, but shall not continue longer in session than four weeks after the first session, which shall not continue longer than eight weeks; to be held at the seat of government in said territory, or at such other place or places as the governor and council may, from time to time, direct. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act, of which this is an amendment, as requires that the governor of Florida shall not leave the territory without the permission of the President of the United States, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. APPROVED, May 26, 1824. Part of the for mer act repealed. 1823, ch. 28. STATUTE I. CHAP. CLXIV. An Act granting donations of land to certain actual settlers in May 26, 1824. the territory of Florida. (a) The commissioners for as certaining titles to lands in Florida authorized receive and exand required to amine all claims presented to their respective districts." them within Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the commissioners for ascertaining titles and claims to lands in Florida, be, and they are hereby, authorized and required, within their respective districts, and in addition to their former duties, to receive and examine all claims that may be presented to them, and the evidence in support of each of such claims, founded on habitation and cultivation of any tract of land, town, or city lot, or out-lot, by any person, being the head of a family, and twenty-one years of age, who, on the twenty-second day of February, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, actually inhabited and cultivated such tract of land, or actually cultivated and improved such lot, or who, on that day, cultivated any tract of land in the vicinity of any town or city, having a permanent residence in such town or city, in said territory; and to grant certificates of confirmation for any tract of land thus inhabited and cultivated, or cultivated by any person of the above description, residing in any town or city in the vicinity of the tract so cultivated; which land shall be located in an entire body, as nearly as possible, in conformity to the surveys of the contiguous public lands, and so as to embrace the principal improvements then made on any tract so claimed, and shall not exceed in quantity six hundred and forty acres: And it shall also be Duty of said the duty of said commissioners to receive claims to land founded on habi- commissioners. tation and cultivation, commenced between the twenty-second of February, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, and the seventeenth of July, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, when Florida was surrendered to the United States, and evidence in support of the same; and to report an abstract of all such claims to Congress, and of the claims by them confirmed, to the Secretary of the Treasury; and the claims merely reported on, shall be laid before Congress at their next session, with the evidence of the time, nature, and extent, of such inhabitation and cultivation, in each case, and the extent of the claim: Provided, That no claim shall be received, confirmed, or reported, to Congress, by the said commissioners, for confirmation, in favour of any person, or the legal representatives of any person, who claims any tract of land in said territory, by virtue of any written evidence of title derived from either the British or Spanish government. APPROVED, May 26, 1824. Proviso. STATUTE I. CHAP. CLXV.-An Act to authorize the state of Indiana to open a canal through May 26, 1824. the public lands, to connect the navigation of the rivers Wabash and the Miami of Lake Erie. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the state of Indiana be, and is hereby, authorized to survey and mark, through the public lands of the United States, the route of a canal, by which to connect the navigation of the rivers Wabash and Miami of Lake Erie; and ninety feet (a) See notes to act of May 26, 1824, ch. 154. A route for a canal to be surveyed and marked, by which the navigation of the Wabash and Miami of Lake Erie may be connected. The reservation and grant of land, on each side of said canal, shall be reserved from sale on the part of the United States, and the use thereof, forever, be vested in the state aforesaid, for a canal, and for no other purpose whatever. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, if the said state shall not survey, and direct by law said canal to be opened, and furnish the comto be void, if a missioner of the general land office a map thereof, within three years canal be not completed in twelve years. Proviso. Proviso. Each section of land through which said canal may pass, to be reserved from future sale. from and after the date of this act; or, if the said canal be not completed, suitable for navigation, within twelve years thereafter; or, if said land, hereby granted, shall ever cease to be used and occupied for the purpose of constructing and keeping in repair a canal, suitable for navigation; the reservation and grant aforesaid shall be void, and of none effect: Provided, That nothing in this act contained, or [that] shall be done in pursuance thereof, shall be deemed to imply any obligation on the part of the United States, to appropriate money to defray the expense of surveying or opening said canal: And provided, likewise, That the said canal, when completed, shall be, and forever remain, a public highway, for the use of the government of the United States, free from any toll or charge whatever, for any property of the United States, or persons in their service, on public business, passing through the same. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That every section of land through which said canal route may pass, shall be, and the same is hereby, reserved from future sale, under the direction of the commissioner of the general land office, until hereafter specially directed by law; and the said state is hereby authorized, without waste, to use any materials on the public lands adjacent to said canal, that may be necessary for its construc tion. APPROVED, May 26, 1824. STATUTE I. May 26, 1824. [Obsolete.] The secretary thorized to have surveyed the harbours of Charleston, South Carolina, and St. Mary's in Georgia, for certain purpo CHAP. CLXVI.-An Act authorizing an examination and survey of the harbour of Charleston, in South Carolina, of St. Mary's in Georgia, and of the coast of Florida, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United of the navy au- States of America, in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Navy be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause to be made, an examination and survey of the harbours of Charleston, in South Carolina, and St. Mary's, in Georgia, in reference to the expediency of establishing a navy yard at either of those places, for the building and repairing sloops of war and other vessels of an inferior class; and, also, to cause to be made and perfected an examination and survey of the harbour of Pensacola, and the coast of Florida, in order to ascertain the expediency of establishing a naval depot at Pensacola, or at such place in the vicinity of it, as may be most advantageous to the United States; and that the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, for the purposes aforesaid, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. ses. APPROVED, May 26, 1824. STATUTE I. May 26, 1824. Counties to CHAP. CLXVII.—An Act to alter the judicial districts of Virginia, and for other purposes. (a) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United compose a part States of America,in Congress assembled, That the following counties in the state of Virginia shall cease to be a part of the eastern judicial dis of the western, instead of the (a) See notes to act of February 4, 1819, ch. 12. eastern judicial district of Vir trict of Virginia, and shall be added to, and form a part of, the western SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the terms of the courts in the said western district shall be held on the days and at the places hereinafter mentioned, viz: at Staunton, on the second Mondays in April and September; at Wythe Courthouse, on the third Mondays in April and September; at Lewisburg, on the fourth Mondays in April and September; and at Clarksburg, on the fourth Mondays in May and October, in each year. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That if the judge shall not attend on the first day of any court, such court shall stand adjourned, from day to day, for three days, if the same cause continue; after which time, if the judge still fail to attend, the court shall stand adjourned until the first day of the next term. Times and places fixed for the holding of the courts. Courts to be adjourned should the judge not attend. Power of the SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the judge of said court shall have power to hold special sessions, at his discretion, at either of the said said judge. places, for the trial of civil or criminal cases. APPROVED, May 26, 1824. STATUTE I. CHAP. CXLVIII.-An Act for altering the time for holding the circuit court of the Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the terms of the circuit court of the United States for the fourth circuit in the district of Mary land, which are now directed by law to be holden on the first day of May and seventh day of November, in each year, shall be hereafter holden on the 8th days of May and December in each year, except where such days shall occur on Sunday, when the terms of the said court shall commence and be holden on the next succeeding day. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the first session of the said circuit court, after the passage of this act, shall be held on the eight [eighth] day of December, in the year eighteen hundred and twentyfour. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all process which may have issued, or which may hereafter issue returnable to the next succeeding terms, as heretofore established, shall be held returnable, and be returned, to those terms to which they are severally changed by this act. APPROVED, May 26, 1824. (a) Acts of Congress relating to circuit courts in Maryland: An act to establish the judicial courts of the United States, September 24, 1789, ch. 20, sec. 3. An act concerning the circuit courts of the United States, March 3, 1797, ch. 27. An act to amend the judicial system of the United States, April 29, 1802, ch. 31, sec. 4. An act for altering the time of holding the circuit court of the United States for the fourth circuit in the Maryland district, May 26, 1824, ch. 168. An act to alter the time of holding the circuit court of the United States, for the district of Maryland, February 11, 1830, ch. 11. An act supplementary to the act, entitled "An act to amend the judicial system of the United States," March 3, 1837, ch. 34, sec. 2. An act to change the time of holding the United States circuit court in the district of East Tennessee, and the district of Maryland, July 7, 1838, ch. 193. CHAP. CLXIX.-An Act granting to the counties or parishes of each state and territory of the United States, in which the public lands are situated, the right of pre-emption to quarter sections of land, for seats of justice within the same. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That there be granted to the several counties or parishes of each state and territory of the United States, where there are public lands, at the minimum price for which public lands of the United States are sold, the right of pre-emption to one quarter section of land, in each of the counties or parishes, of said states and territories, in trust for said counties or parishes, respectively, for the establishment of seats of justice therein: Provided, The proceeds of the sale of each of said quarter sections shall be appropriated for the purpose of erecting public buildings in the county or parish for which it is located, after deducting therefrom the amount originally paid for the same: And provided, further, That the seat of justice for said counties or parishes, respectively, shall be fixed previously to a sale of the adjoining lands within the county or parish for which the same is located. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That so much of such acts, heretofore passed, granting to states rights of pre-emption, for county or parish purposes, as require said seats of justice to be continued at or near the centre of each of said counties or parishes, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. APPROVED, May 26, 1824. STATUTE I. May 26, 1824. Certain coun a part of the western, instead of the eastern judicial district of Pennsylvania. CHAP. CLXX.-An Act to alter the judicial districts of Pennsylvania, and for other purposes. (a) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United ties to compose States of America, in Congress assembled, That the following counties in the state of Pennsylvania shall cease to be a part of the eastern judicial district of Pennsylvania, and shall be added to, and form a part of, the western district; that is to say: Susquehanna, Bradford, Tioga, Union, Northumberland, Columbia, Luzerne, and Lycoming: and that, besides the terms of the district court directed by law to be held at Pittsburg, for the western district, the judge of the said western district shall hold two terms in every year, at William's Port, in the county of Lycoming, which place of holding shall commence on the first Mondays of the months of June and October, in each and every year, beginning in October next, and be continued and adjourned from time to time, as the court may deem expedient for the despatch of the business thereof. APPROVED, May 26, 1824. Time and courts. CHAP. CLXXI.-An Act to establish an additional land office in the state of Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That so much of the public lands of the United States included in the present district of St. Louis, in the state of Missouri, as lies within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning on the Mississippi river, between townships numbered fortyeight and forty-nine, thence west to the range line between ranges ten and eleven; thence north to the township line between townships numbered fifty-two and fifty-three; thence west to the range line between (a) See notes to the act of May 15, 1820, ch. 111. |