Circuit Courts; and the District Courts. and The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and associate justices, has jurisdiction over all cases, in which an ambassador, a public minister, a consul, or a State may be a party, or which may lawfully be brought before it by appeal. This court sits only in Washington. Read Federalist, No. lxxviii-lxxxiii. 2 Wilson, pp. 201-223. 1 Kent Comm., Lect. xiv, pp. 290-301; Lect. xv, xvi. Walker Am. Law, §§ 44, 45, 49. Cooley Const. Lim., pp. 12-15, 44-54, 399-413. 2 Story Const., §§ 1573-1795. 1 Abbott U. S. Prac., pp. 167-181, 312–343. § 355. Of the Circuit Courts. The Circuit Courts each consist of three judges: a justice of the Supreme Court; the judge of the District Court for the district in which the Circuit Court is held; and the Circuit judge. These courts have jurisdiction over civil causes, involving five hundred dollars or upwards, which are brought by a citizen of one State against a citizen of another State, or in which the United States is plaintiff, or in which an alien is a party. They also have jurisdiction over matters in bankruptcy, over certain cases arising under the revenue laws, over all cases lawfully brought before them by appeal from the District Courts, and over all crimes cognizable under the authority of the United States, unless the Acts of Congress otherwise direct. Read 1 Kent Comm., Lect. xiv, pp. 301-303. Curtis U. S. Courts, pp. 94–198. § 356. Of the District Courts. The District Courts each consist of one judge, resident in the district. These courts have jurisdiction over all admiralty and maritime causes and all matters in bankruptcy, and over all penal and criminal matters cognizable under the laws of the United States, exclusive jurisdiction over which is not vested either in the Supreme or Circuit Courts. Read 1 Kent Comm., Lect. xiv, pp. 303-305; Lect. xvii. Walker Am. Law, §§ 45, 49. Curtis U. S. Courts, pp. 254-287. 1 Abbott U. S. Prac., pp. 283-298. § 357. Of the Courts of the Individual States. There is no uniformity among the individual States, either as to the number or the organization of their courts. In every State there is some supreme tribunal, by which all questions as to the interpretation of laws, and their applicability to given states of fact, are finally and conclusively determined. Under these, are one or more inferior courts, in which all cases, civil or criminal, which are not within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the United States, may be heard and decided. But the mode in which these courts may be created, their particular jurisdiction, the appointment or election of their judges, their terms of office, and their duties, are matters upon which each State has legislated for itself, and still, from time to time, exercises its reorganizing powers. Read 2 Wilson, pp. 290–296. Walker Am. Law, §§ 46, 47, 50. § 358. Of the Exercise of Judicial Functions. Judicial functions can be exercised by courts, only when they are in actual session at the times and places specified by law, and in the manner which the law provides. Proceedings at another time and place, or in another manner, though in the personal presence and under the direction of a judge, are coram non judice, and void. Read 2 Wilson, pp. 211, 212. § 359. Of Officers De Jure and De Facto. These several governmental functions can be lawfully exercised only by officers duly elected or appointed thereunto. Such an officer is called an officer de jure. Yet if a person should usurp an office and exercise its functions, under color of an election or appointment in itself not legal, he becomes an officer de facto, and his official acts are valid in reference to the rights, which innocent third persons may acquire thereby. Read 1 Bl. Comm., p. 204. 2 Hill Torts, Ch. xxix, §§ 1 note a, 30. Cooley Const. Lim., p. 618 n. 2. CHAPTER II. OF SUBJECTS AND THEIR RELATIONS TO THE STATE. § 360. Of Subjects. A subject is a person who is under legal obligation to submit to the authority of a state, in matters relating to the public welfare. The extent of this obligation depends upon the political character of the subject, and the duties he may owe to other states. The tie, which binds the subject to the state, is called allegiance. It originates in the compact, which is presumed to have been made, between the subject and the state, at the commencement of their political relations with each other, and is at once the foundation and the measure of the rights, which the state has in its subjects, and which they, in their turn, possess in, or against the state. Allegiance is of two kinds: Natural and Local. Natural allegiance is universal and perpetual. It cannot be forfeited, cancelled, or released by any change of time, or place, or circumstance. Only his own death, or the act of the state, can discharge the subject from its obligations. Local allegiance is territorial and temporary. It binds the subject while actually within the state, but may at any time be terminated by his removal from it. Read 1 Bl. Comm., pp. 366–374. 2 Kent Comm., Lect. xxv, pp. 42-49, 63, 64. KENDERT BREED. § 362. Of Native-Born Citizens. Read 1 Bl. Comm., pp. 366, 374, 375. 2 Kent Comm., Lect. xxv, pp. 39-42. Pomeroy Mun. Law, §§ 718, 720, 722. |