Statement of the Case.

oaths respectively do present that Charles P. Barrett, [and others naming them, together with divers other evil-disposed persons to the jurors aforesaid unknown, late of the district aforesaid, on the first day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, at Spartanburg, in the State of South Carolina aforesaid, in the district aforesaid and within the jurisdiction of this court, being persons of evil minds and dispositions, wickedly devising and intending to commit the offence against the United States hereinafter set forth, fraudulently, maliciously and unlawfully did combine, conspire, confederate and agree together between and among themselves to commit against the United States this offence

Certain exceptions were taken to the action of the court in refusing to sustain a challenge to the array of both grand and petit jurors on the ground that they were drawn from both the eastern and western districts of South Carolina, when the alleged offence was charged in the indictment to have been committed in the county of Spartanburg in the western district of said State; to the order of the court overruling defendant's demurrer to the indictment on the ground that the offence was charged to have been committed in the county of Spartanburg, in the State of South Carolina, the same being in the western district of said State, although the indictment was found in the city of Columbia in the county of Richland in the eastern district thereof; to the refusal of the court to sustain defendant's plea to the jurisdiction on the ground that, although the alleged offence was charged to have been committed in the county of Spartanburg, the same being in the western district of South Carolina, the trial was sought to be had in the city of Columbia in the county of Richland, in the eastern district of said State; to the denial by the court of defendant's motion that the district attorney be required to elect on which one of several conspiracies disclosed by the evidence to have been committed, if any, he would ask for a conviction; and to the refusal of the court to arrest judgment because the grand jurors who found the indictrient and the petit jurors who found the verdict were drawn from the west

Opinion of the Court.

ern and eastern districts of South Carolina, although the offence was alleged to have been committed in the county of Spartanburg in the western district; because the indictment was found in the county of Richland in the eastern district at a time not authorized by law for the sitting of the United States court for the western district, and because the trial was had in the county of Richland in the eastern district for an offence committed in the western district.

Mr. Charles C. Lancaster for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Assistant Attorney General Boyd for defendant in

error.

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE FULLER, after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.

As to the action of the court overruling defendant's motion on the evidence to compel the district attorney to elect, the bill of exceptions does not contain the evidence, and it is impossible for this court to know the ground on which the Circuit Court proceeded. The exception in that regard need not therefore be considered.

In respect of the other exceptions, they all present the same objection in different forms, namely, that the State of South Carolina was divided into two judicial districts, and that an indictment could not be lawfully found in the Circuit Court of the United States held in the eastern district or a trial be therein had, for a criminal offence committed in the western district.

The Constitiition provides that the trial of crimes shall be had in the State "where the crime shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed," Art. III, § 2, cl.: 3; and by Amendment VI, that " in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,

Opinion of the Court.

which district shall have been previously ascertained by law."

This indictment was found December 3; the trial had December 6 to 11; and the defendant sentenced December 12, 1894, in the Circuit Court in session at Columbia. Were there at that time two judicial districts in South Carolina within the intent and meaning of the Constitution and the acts of Congress in that behalf?

The circuit court of each judicial district sits within and for that district; and its jurisdiction as a general rule is bounded by its local limits. Toland v. Sprague, 12 Pet. 300, 328; Devoe Manufacturing Company, Petitioner, 108 U. S. 401. At the same time courts may be required to be held at different places in a judicial district, and prosecutions for offences committed in certain counties may be required to be tried, and writs and recognizances to be returned at each place, but this does not affect the power of the grand jury sitting at either place to present indictments for offences committed anywhere within the district. Logan v. United States, 144 U. S. 263. As to where trials shall be had in a judicial district depends entirely on the legislation upon the subject. Rosencrans v. United States, 165 U. S. 257; Post v. United States, 161 U. S. 583.

By the judiciary act of September 24, 1789, c. 20, the then United States were divided into thirteen districts, of which New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Georgia and South Carolina each constituted one district, called by the name of the State, as for instance, "South Carolina district;" while a part of the State of Massachusetts was erected into a district "called Maine district," and a part of the State of Virginia into a district " called Kentucky district," the remaining part of the State of Massachusetts being made a district "called Massachusetts district," and the State of Virginia, except so much thereof as was thereby made the district of Kentucky, a district "called Virginia district." 1 Stat. 73.

The plan was to make each of the States a judicial district, and to direct the appointment of a judge, a clerk to be ap

Opinion of the Court.

pointed by him, a district attorney and a marshal, for each district. But that part of Massachusetts now constituting the State of Maine and that part of the State of Virginia now. forming the State of Kentucky were erected into independent districts under the names of "Maine District" and "Kentucky District," and the district court established in each was invested with the powers of a Circuit Court.

By the fourth section these districts, "except those of Maine and Kentucky," were divided into three circuits, called the eastern, the middle and the southern circuits; and it was provided that circuit courts should be held "in each district of said circuits," by two of the justices of the Supreme Court and "the district judge of such districts."

North Carolina having ratified the Constitution, November 21, 1789, Congress by the act of June 4, 1790, c. 17, 1 Stat. 126, gave effect to the judiciary act of 1789 in that State, erecting it into a district to be called "North Carolina district," establishing a district court with one judge, and annexing the district to the Southern circuit. Rhode Island having ratified the Constitution, May 29, 1790, a similar act to give effect to the judiciary act was passed June 23, 1790, c. 21, 1 Stat. 128, by which Rhode Island was annexed to the Eastern circuit.

From the first, then, district courts have been, in exceptional instances, vested with Circuit Court jurisdiction.

On February 21, 1823, an act was passed, c. 11, entitled "An act to divide the State of South Carolina into two judicial districts," as follows: "That the State of South Carolina be, and the same is hereby divided into two districts, in manner following, that is to say: the districts of Lancaster, Chester, York, Union, Spartanburg, Greenville, Pendleton, Abbeville, Edgefield, Newberry, Laurens and Fairfield; shall compose one district, to be called the western district, and the residue of the State shall form one other district to be called the eastern district. And the terms of the said district court, for the eastern district, shall be held at Charleston, at such times as they are now directed by law to be holden. And for the trial of all such criminal and civil causes, as are by law

Opinion of the Court.

cognizable in the district courts of the United States which may hereafter arise or be prosecuted, or sued, within the said western district, there shall be one annual session of the said district court holden at Laurens court-house, to begin on the second Monday in May in each year; to be holden by the district judge of the United States of the State of South Carolina; and he is hereby authorized and directed to hold such other special sessions as may be necessary for the despatch of the causes in the said court, at such time or times as he may deem expedient, and may adjourn such special sessions to any other time previous to a stated session." 3 Stat. 726.

By an act approved May 25, 1824, c. 145, entitled "An act to alter the times of holding the Circuit and District Courts of the United States for the district of South Carolina," + Stat. 34, it was provided that the Circuit Court "for the district of South Carolina" should annually be held "at Charleston on the second Tuesday of April; and at Columbia on the third Tuesday of November," etc.; and that "the times of holding the district court of the United States at Laurens court-house, South Carolina, shall be so altered that the said court shall hereafter convene on the Tuesday next ensuing after the adjournment of the Circuit Court of the United States at Columbia."

On March 3, 1825, this act was amended by providing that "the Circuit Court for the district of South Carolina at Columbia, South Carolina, shall commence on the fourth Tuesday of November, annually." 4 Stat. 124, с. 78.

By an act of May 4, 1826, c. 37, the sessions of the Circuit Court "for the District of South Carolina" were again changed, 4 Stat. 160; and again February 24, 1829, с. 19, 4 Stat. 335.

By the act of March 1, 1845, 5 Stat. 730, c. 39, it was provided, referring to the Circuit Court, "that the spring term of said court shall be held in and for the district of South Carolina at Charleston, on the Wednesday preceding the fourth Monday of March."

By an act approved August 16, 1856, c. 119, entitled "An