An Act To provide for the appointment of additional judges of the United States court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes

An Act To provide for the appointment of additional judges of the United States court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the territory known as the Indian Territory, now within the jurisdiction of the United States court in said Territory, is hereby divided into three judicial districts, to be known as the northern, central, and southern districts, and at least two terms of the United States court in the Indian Territory shall be held each year at each place of holding court in each district at such times as the judge for such district shall fix and determine. The northern district shall consist of all the Creek country, all of the Seminole country, all of the Cherokee country, all of the country occupied by the Indian tribes in the Quapaw Indian Agency, and the town site of the Miami Townsite Company, and the places of holding courts Northern district in said district shall be at Vinita, Miami, Tahlequah, and Muscogee.

The central district shall consist of all the Choctaw country, and the places of holding courts in said district shall be at South McAlester, Atoka, Antlers, and Cameron.

The southern district shall consist of all the Chickasaw country, and the places of holding courts in said district shall be at Ardmore, Purcell, Pauls Valley, Ryan, and Chickasha.

Sec. 2. That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, two additional judges of the United States court in said Indian Territory, who shall hold their respective offices for the term of four years from the date of their appointment, unless sooner removed as provided by law, one of whom shall be the judge of the northern district and the other shall be the judge of the southern district; and the judge of the United States court now in office shall, from and after said appointments, be the judge of the central district, and shall hold his office for the term for which he was appointed, and during the period of their Service said judges shall reside in the judicial districts for which they are appointed; and said judges of the northern and southern districts shall each take the oath of office required by law to be taken by the judges of the district courts of the United States. The judge for each district shall be paid a salary of live thousand dollars per annum, and allowed his necessary expenses when holding court away from home, the same to be paid from the Treasury of the United States in like manner as the salaries and allowances of the judges of the United States district courts. If the appointment of said judges, or any of them, shall not be made during the present session, the President of the United States shall be, and is hereby, empowered to make such appointment during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of the next session.

The judges shall have, within the judicial districts for which they are appointed, all such authority, both in term time and vacation, as to all matters and causes, both criminal and civil, pending or that may be brought in said districts, and shall have the same superintending control over commissioners’ courts therein, and the same authority in the judicial districts, to issue writs of habeas corpus and prohibition, injunction, mandamus, certiorari, and other remedial and final process as is now by law vested in the judge of the United States court in the Indian Territory, or in the circuit and district courts of the United States. The judge of each district is authorized and empowered to hold court in any other district, for the trial of any case which the judge of said other district is disqualified from trying, and the disqualifications under this Act shall be the same as are provided by the laws of the State of Arkansas to disqualify the circuit judges of that State, except that no judge shall be disqualified by the filing of an affidavit of his prejudice. And whenever on account of sickness, or for any other reason, the judge of any district is unable to perform the duties of his office, either of the other judges may act in his stead, in term time or in vacation.

Until the appointment and qualification of said judges of the northern and southern districts, respectively, the judge of the United States court in the Indian Territory shall continue to perform all the duties and exercise all the authority that is now, or hereafter may be, conferred upon him as such judge.

There shall be appointed by the President an attorney and marshal for said court in each of said districts, who shall continue in office for four years, and until their successors shall be duly appointed and qualified, and they shall discharge the like duties as other United States attorneys and marshals. Each of said marshals shall appoint one or more deputies, who shall have the same powers perform the like duties, and be removable in like manner as other deputy United States marshals; and said marshals shall give bond, with two or more sureties, to be approved by the judge for said district, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned as by law required in regard to the bonds of other United States marshals. The United States attorney for the Indian Territory shall be the district attorney for the northern district as herein created, and the marshal in the Indian Territory shall be the marshal for said central district after this Act goes into effect . . . 

The provisions of chapter forty-five of Mansfield’s Digest of the General Laws of Arkansas, entitled “Criminal law,” except as to the crimes and misdemeanors mentioned in the proviso of this section, and chapter forty-six of said laws of Arkansas, contained in said digest, entitled “Criminal procedure,” and chapter ninety-one of said general laws, regulating the jurisdiction and procedure before justices of the peace in civil cases, be, and they are hereby, extended to and put in force in the Indian Territory; and the jurisdiction to enforce said pro- visions is hereby conferred upon the United States court in the Indian Territory: Provided, That in all cases where the laws of the United States and the said criminal laws of Arkansas have provided for the punishment of the same offenses the laws of the United States shall govern as to said offenses, except for the crime of larceny, the punishment for which shall be that prescribed by the laws of the State of Arkansas, any law in force in said Indian Territory to the contrary notwithstanding.

The original jurisdiction of such commissioners as justices of the diction under $100. peace in civil cases shall, in all those classes of cases where jurisdiction is by this Act conferred upon the United States court in the Indian Territory, be exclusive where the amount or value of the demand or of the property or thing in controversy does not exceed one hundred dollars.

That said commissioner, acting as justices of the peace in criminal cases, shall have jurisdiction to hold preliminary examinations and discharge, hold to bail, or commit in cases of offenses which, under the laws applicable to the Territory, amount to felonies.

Appeals may be taken to the United States court in the Indian Territory, in said districts, respectively, from the final judgment of said commissioners, acting as justices of the peace, in all cases; and such appeals shall be taken in the manner that appeals may be taken from the final judgments of the justices of the peace under the provisions of said chapter ninety-one in civil cases and chapter forty-six in criminal cases of the laws of Arkansas: Provided, That no appeal shall be allowed in civil cases where the amount of the judgment, exclusive of cost, does not exceed twenty dollars. Each of said commissioners in said Territory shall receive a salary of one thousand five hundred dollars per annum, and all fees collected by him shall be paid over to the clerk of the district . . .

Sec. 7. That all prosecutions for crimes or offenses of which the United States court in the Indian Territory shall have jurisdiction, shall be had within the district in which said offense shall have been committed, and in the court nearest or most convenient to the locality where it is committed, to be determined by the judge on motion to transfer the trial of the case from one court to another. All civil suits shall be brought in the district in which the defendant or defendants reside or may be found; but if there are two or more defendants residing in different districts the action may be brought in any district in which either of the defendants may reside or be found; and if a resident, in the court nearest to his residence. All cases shall be tried in the court to which the process is returnable, unless a change of venue is allowed, Change of venue. In which case the court shall change the venue to the nearest place of holding court, within the district, and any civil cause may be removed to another district for trial if the court shall so order, on the application of either party . . .

Sec. 9. That the United States court in the Indian Territory shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of all offenses committed in said Territory, of which the United States court in the Indian Territory now has jurisdiction, and after the first day of September, eighteen hundred and ninety six, shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of all offenses against the laws of the United States, committed in said Territory, except such cases as the United States court at Paris, Texas, Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Fort Scott, Kansas, shall have acquired jurisdiction of before that time; and shall have such original jurisdiction of civil cases as is now vested in the United States court in the Indian Territory, and appellate jurisdiction of all cases tried before said commissioners, acting as justices of the peace, where the amount of the judgment exceeds twenty dollars.

All laws heretofore enacted conferring jurisdiction upon United States courts held in Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas, outside of the limits of the Indian Territory, as defined by law, as to offenses coin mitted in said Indian Territory, as herein provided, are hereby repealed, to take effect on September first, eighteen hundred and ninety-six; and the jurisdiction now conferred by law upon said courts is hereby given from and after the date aforesaid to the United States court in the Indian Territory: Provided, That in all criminal cases where said courts outside of the Indian Territory shall have, on September first, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, acquired jurisdiction, they shall retain jurisdiction to try and finally dispose of such cases. Every case, civil or criminal, pending in the United States court in the Indian Territory shall be tried and disposed of by the court where the same is pending, unless the venue therein be changed, as herein provided . . . 

Sec. 10. That it shall be the duty of the marshals appointed under this act to provide, under the direction and with the approval of the judge of the district, suitable buildings and rooms for holding said courts in their respective districts. They shall also procure suitable offices for the clerks and marshals. Any contract for these purposes shall be approved by the judge only after personal inspection of the premises leased, and any contract for a period longer than six months of holding said court for the confinement and safe-keeping of all prisoners committed by said court and the commissioners appointed under this act, and all other prisoners in legal custody.

Sec. 11. That the judges of said court shall constitute a court of appeals, to be presided over by the judge oldest in commission as chief justice of said court; and said court shall have such jurisdiction and powers in said Indian Territory and such general superintending control over the courts thereof as is conferred upon the supreme court of Arkansas over the courts thereof by the laws of said State, as provided by chapter forty of Mansfield’s Digest of the Laws of Arkansas, and the provisions of said chapter, so far as they relate to the jurisdiction and powers of said supreme court of Arkansas as to appeals and writs of error, and as to the trial and decision of causes, so far as they are applicable, shall be, and they are hereby, extended over and put in force in the Indian Territory; and appeals and writs of error from said court in said districts to said appellate court, in criminal cases, shall be prosecuted under the provisions of chapter forty-six of said Mansfield’s Digest, by this act put in force in the Indian Territory. But no one of said judges shall sit in said appellate court in the determination of any cause in which an appeal is prosecuted from the decision of any court over which he presided . . .

Sec. 13. That none of the provisions of any other acts, or of any of the laws of the United States, or of the State of Arkansas, heretofore put in force in said Indian Territory, except so far as they come in conflict with the provisions of this act, are intended to be repealed, or in any manner affected by this act, but all such acts and laws are to remain in full force and effect in said Territory.

Approved, March 1, 1895.