RS 27

hybrid appellate courts jurisdiction. The Constitution did not assign specific courts to consider these cases, with one exception: ArticleIII described those cases in which the Supreme Court would have original jurisdiction and stated that in all other cases the Supreme Court would have appellate jurisdiction, subject to the exceptions and regulations Congress might make.9 In the Judiciary Act of 1789 Congress established with great particularity a limited jurisdiction for the district and circuit courts, gave the Supreme Court the original jurisdiction provided for in the Constitution, and granted that Court appellate jurisdiction in cases from the federal circuit courts and from state courts where those courts’ rulings had rejected federal claims. Trials of fact in cases of original jurisdiction before the Supreme Court would be by jury.10 District courts were granted exclusive original jurisdiction of civil cases “of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,” as well as the trial of minor federal crimes–those where the punishment would not exceed thirty stripes, a fine of $100, or imprisonment for more than six months. But the district courts were given concurrent jurisdiction, to be shared with state courts and federal circuit courts, in cases involving consuls and viceconsuls, and cases where the United States sued, if the matter in dispute amounted to $100 in value. Issues of fact, in all cases but civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, were to be tried by jury.11 The jurisdiction assigned to circuit courts appears somewhat more confusing than that given to district courts. Circuit courts were given exclusive jurisdiction of major federal crimes and concurrent jurisdiction with the district courts of minor federal crimes. But in civil causes the circuit courts were given original jurisdiction, concurrent with the state courts,12 if the disputed matter exceeded $500 in value, and the United 9 U.S. Constitution, Article III, section 2. 10 Judiciary Act of 1789, U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. 1, p. 73, section 13. The Supreme Court no longer uses juries in cases of original jurisdiction but appoints a special master to establish the facts of the case. 11 Judiciary Act of 1789, U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. 1, p. 73, section 9. 12 Impinging somewhat on this concurrent jurisdiction, a subsequent section of the Judiciary Act gave defendants the choice of removing the suit from state court to federal circuit court, when the parties were of diverse citizenship and the matter in controversy exceeded $500 in value. U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. 1, p. 73, section 12. 198

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