United States Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit

From Judgepedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

This page is about a former federal court. For a list of active courts, see: United States federal courts.


The United States Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit were a collection of circuit courts, united inasmuch as, during any one year, they all had the same Supreme Court justice serving on their bench. From 1807-1869, that was the only thing uniting these courts. From 1869-1891, as per the Judiciary Act of 1869, each of the nine circuits then in existence had a judge appointed to it to hear the cases of the various circuit courts, in conjunction with the district court judges and the Supreme Court justice assigned to that circuit. From 1891-1911, as per the Evarts Act of 1891 which first established the present system of circuit courts of appeals, a fourth tier of federal courts was instituted, and the circuit courts became less and less important. They were finally abolished by the Judicial Code of 1911, leaving America with its current three-tiered federal judicial system.

Judiciary Acts of 1801 & 1802

The Judiciary Act of 1801 was the first time when numbered circuits were instituted. This act drastically altered the federal judiciary, but numbered circuits were one of few provisions of the act which remained after the repeal of the act and the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1802. Under this act, the system of six numbered circuits was retained, but the sixteen judges who had been appointed under the Judiciary Act of 1801 were all out of a job, and the circuit courts were again to be heard by the district judge of the district corresponding to the circuit, the Supreme Court justice assigned to ride the circuit, or both. For example, a case in the Circuit Court for the District of Kentucky could be heard by the judge of the District Court for the District of Kentucky or by the Supreme Court justice assigned to ride the Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit.[1]

Seventh Circuit Act of 1807

The Seventh Circuit Act of 1807 established circuit courts for the districts of Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, and organized these circuit courts into the Seventh Circuit.[2] It also provided for a seventh Supreme Court justice to be appointed to ride this new seventh circuit, and, to ensure that he would actually perform his circuit-riding duties, it mandated that he be a resident of that circuit.[3]

Judiciary Act of 1869

An act passed in 1869[4] provided for each of the nine circuits then in existence to have a circuit judge appointed to it.[5] It is commonly held that the practice of circuit-riding had fallen into disuse some years before the passage of this act[6], but this act was the first legislation which spelled the beginning of the end of the circuit-riding era. Technically, even under this act, Supreme Court justices still had a circuit-riding responsibility, but it was often not practiced, especially by those Supreme Court justices assigned to remote circuits, and most of the circuit court rulings in this era came from the circuit court judge appointed to each district as per the act of 1869, and/or the district court judge of each respective district.[7]

Evarts Act of 1891

22 years later, the Evarts Act[8] added a 4th tier to the federal judiciary by establishing courts of appeals in each circuit. As part of this act, the circuit court judges which had been appointed under the act of 1869 were reassigned to their respective courts of appeals.[9] For example, in the seventh circuit, Walter Quintin Gresham, who was the judge of the Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit in 1891, was reassigned to the new United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, becoming the first judge of that court.[10] Under this act, as under the Judiciary Act of 1802, the circuit courts in each district were heard by the district judge of that district or the Supreme Court justice assigned to ride that circuit. All appellate jurisdiction which had previously belonged to the Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit now belonged to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, but the circuit courts retained the same original jurisdiction which was first given to them by the Judiciary Act of 1789.[11]

Judicial Code of 1911

The Judicial Code of 1911 abolished the entire circuit court system. The limited jurisdiction which the circuit courts had retained under the Evarts Act was transferred to the district courts.[12] For the first time, America had three completely distinct tiers in the federal judiciary; all cases started in the district courts, and the appeals proceeded through the courts of appeals to the Supreme Court.[12]

Judges of the Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit

The 22 years from 1869-1891 was the only period during which the Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit had a judge appointed exclusively to serve them. Two judges, as follows, served these courts during this period, each during the years in parentheses:[13]

Constituent Circuits of the Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit

As has been explained to some extent above, Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit is a designation referring to the federal judicial circuits in several states. The following circuits, then, comprised the Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit, each during the years in parentheses:

References

  1. ↑ Summary of the Judiciary Act of 1802
  2. ↑ Full text of the Seventh Circuit Act of 1807; see SEC. 2
  3. ↑ http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/05b Full text] of the Seventh Circuit Act of 1807; see SEC. 5
  4. ↑ Full text of the Judiciary Act of 1869
  5. ↑ http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/10a_bdy Summary] of the Judiciary Act of 1869
  6. ↑ The United States Circuit Court from the website of the New Hampshire District at www.nhd.uscourts.gov; see sixth paragraph from the bottom
  7. ↑ The United States Circuit Court from the website of the New Hampshire District at www.nhd.uscourts.gov; see fourth paragraph from the bottom
  8. ↑ Full text of Evarts Act from the Federal Judicial Center
  9. ↑ Legislative history of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from the Federal Judicial Center
  10. ↑ List of Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judges in chronological order from the Federal Judicial Center
  11. ↑ Summary of the Evarts Act, provided by the Federal Judicial Center.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Summary of the Judicial Code of 1911, provided by the Federal Judicial Center.
  13. ↑ List of judges of the Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit, provided by the Federal Judicial Center.


Retrieved from "http://judgepedia.org/index.php?title=United_States_Circuit_Courts_for_the_Seventh_Circuit&oldid=623746"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Encyclopedia:
Get involved:
Donate
Toolbox