CHAPTER XX. THE JURISDICTION OF THE SEVERAL COURTS. ARTICLE III. Section 2, Clause 2.—In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make. 514. KINDS OF JURISDICTION.-A court has original jurisdiction of a case when the case may begin in that court; appellate jurisdiction, when a case begun in some lower court may be brought before it for review by some process provided by law. Such processes are two in number, appeal and writ of error. A court has exclusive jurisdiction of a case when no other court can take cognizance of it, or administer a particular remedy with reference to it. Two or more courts have concurrent jurisdiction of a case when it may be tried in either of them at the will of the suitor. 515. THE ORIGINAL JURISDICTION OF THE SUPREME COURT. This includes cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, and cases to which a State is a party. The Judiciary Act of 1789 gave the Court a wider original jurisdiction than the Constitution had conferred, but the Court decided in 18031 that Congress had no such power, and that the provision was unconstitutional. On the other 1 Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch, 137. hand, Congress has divided the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court with inferior courts, and such legislation the Court has sustained. Chief Justice Waite discusses the subject at length in one of his decisions, and reaches the conclusion that it rests with Congress to say to what extent it shall grant to the inferior courts jurisdiction in cases where the Constitution vests original jurisdiction in the Supreme Court.' The substance of these decisions is, that Congress cannot enlarge the original jurisdiction of the Court, but may divide it with inferior courts. 516. ITS APPELLATE JURISDICTION. — Subject to the regulation of Congress, this is co-extensive, both as to law and fact, with the jurisdiction of the inferior National courts and with the State courts in respect to Federal questions. Appeals or writs of error may be taken, under certain prescribed limitations, from the District and the Circuit Courts in cases involving the following questions: the jurisdiction of the court; prize cases; capital or otherwise infamous crimes; the construction or application of the National Constitution; the constitutionality of a law of Congress or the validity or construction of a treaty, and the conformability of a State law to the National Constitution. Appeals also lie to the Supreme Court from the Supreme Courts of the Territories. The Constitution is silent concerning appeals from the State courts; but Clause 2, Article VI., makes the Constitution and the laws of the United States enacted in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made under the authority of the United States, the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every State are bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. In pursuance of this clause, Congress provided, in the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary Act, for the appeal to the Supreme Court of all final decisions and decrees of State courts infringing upon the validity of the National Consti 1 Ames v. Kansas, 111 U. S., 449. tution, laws, and treaties. Some of the States, and notably Virginia, denied absolutely that the Constitution conferred any such power, but the Supreme Court strongly affirmed it in one decision after another, and its existence is now universally admitted. Congress has also provided for the removal from the State courts to the National courts of cases involving questions drawing into construction the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States. Exercising these powers, the Supreme Court has set aside State laws as unconstitutional far more frequently than National laws. 517. THE CIRCUIT COURTS.-These are courts of both civil and criminal jurisdiction. In civil matters, they have original jurisdiction in cases where the matter in dispute exceeds $5,000, exclusive of costs, in copy-right cases, in patent-right cases, and in many others. In criminal cases they have an original jurisdiction, and in capital cases an exclusive one. They also have an appellate jurisdiction in respect to certain cases decided in the District Courts. 518. THE CIRCUIT COURTS OF APPEALS. -An Act approved March 3, 1891, provided for the appointment of an additional Circuit Judge in each circuit, and created in each circuit a Circuit Court of Appeals, to consist of three judges, of whom two constitute a quorum. The judges of the Supreme Court, the Circuit Judges, and the several District Judges are competent to sit as judges of this Court within their respective circuits; the District judges to sit, however, only in the case of the absence of the Judge of the Supreme Court assigned to the circuit, or one or both of the Circuit Judges. These Courts hold a term once a year in the several circuits, in certain designated places: In the first circuit, Boston; in the second, New York; in the third, Philadelphia; in the fourth, Richmond; in the fifth, New Orleans; in the sixth, Cincinnati; in the seventh, Chicago; in the eighth, Saint Louis; in the ninth, San Francisco; and in such other places in the several circuits as the law may from time to time designate. As its name implies, this is exclusively a court of appeals. It can review, on appeal or writ of error, the final decisions of the District and Circuit Courts in all cases other than those that are directly reviewable by the Supreme Court, and its decisions are final in several classes of cases, as in patent, revenue, criminal, and admiralty cases. This court was organized to relieve the Supreme Court of a part of its overgrown business. 519. THE DISTRICT COURTS.-The District Courts have a limited range of jurisdiction in civil cases. Mention may be made especially of cases in admiralty. They also have jurisdiction of crimes and offenses under the laws of the United States, committed within their several districts, or upon the high seas. 520. THE COURT OF CLAIMS.-No sovereign state can be sued without its own permission. If it could be sued in the tribunals of another state, it would not be sovereign; and if in its own tribunals, that would be an implication that it was unwilling to do justice without coercion. Formerly, persons having claims against the United States that they could not adjust through the Executive Departments, had no redress but to petition Congress for relief. This method caused much delay and injustice, as well as imposed burdensome duties upon Senators and Representatives in investigating cases. So Congress, in 1855, created the Court of Claims to adjudicate certain classes of claims against the United States. Since then, however, Congress has given a limited jurisdiction over such cases to the District and Circuit Courts. The Court of Claims consists of a Chief Justice and four Judges, who receive salaries of $4,500. 521. THE CONCURRENT JURISDICTION OF STATE AND NATIONAL COURTS.-The Constitution does not in terms, or by necessary implication, exclude the State courts from the judicial jurisdiction that it bounds, save in the cases of ministers and consuls and in cases to which a State is a party. The subject was left to the discretion of Congress. Congress has given the National courts exclusive jurisdiction in certain classes of cases, such as in patent rights and admiralty, but within certain limits it grants to the State courts a civil jurisdiction concurrent with that of the National courts. This is permitted and not vested; for the Supreme court has decided that "Congress cannot vest any portion of the judicial power of the United States, except in courts ordained and established by itself." In a large range of legal business, therefore, the suitor may appeal to the State or the National courts, as he sees fit; the ultimate authority, of course, residing in the latter. Some offenses against the National laws may be prosecuted in the State courts, as offenses against the postal laws. 522. THE COURTS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.-The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia consists of a Chief Justice and five Associate Justices. Any of these judges may hold a District Court for the District, with powers similar to those that belong to the District Judges. 523. THE TERRITORIAL COURTS.-The constitutional provisions relating to the judiciary apply to the States only; but Congress, in the exercise of its territorial authority, has created both District Courts and Supreme Courts for the Territories. But these are not constitutional courts. The Judges are appointed by the President and Senate, usually for four years, and are paid from the National treasury. |