Chapter 82.
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CHAP. 82.— An act to provide for holding term of the circuit and district courts in the district of Colorado. Feb. 15, 1879. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Colorado That the circuit and district courts of the district of Colorado may, when the public interests require Special terms of courts.*Proviso*.it, order a special term, to be held at such time and place as said courts may designate: *Provided,* That no special term of the circuit court shall be held except with the consent of the circuit judge of the circuit that Juries.the circuit or district court, may order a grand or petit jury, or both, to attend such special term, by an order entered of record at least thirty Notice.days before the day on which such special term shall convene.
Notice of such special term shall be published weekly for four consecutive District courts.weeks in a newspaper published at the capital of the State. And when a circuit and district court shall be held at the same time and place, the same panel of jurors shall serve in both courts. Sec. 2. Divisions. That for the trial and determination of all causes and proceedings cognizable and triable in the district, court of the United States for the district of Colorado, as established by the act entitled “An act to further the administration of justice in the State of Colorado”, approved June twenty-six, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, the said district shall Southern division.be separated into three divisions, as follows:
All that part of said district lying within the following-named counties as now constituted, to wit; the counties of Bent, Las Animas, Pueblo, Huerfano, Fremont, and Custer shall constitute the southern division and a regular term of said court for said divisionTerm at Pueblo.Western division. shall be held annually at Pueblo, to commence on the first Tuesday in February; all that part of said district lying within the following-named counties, to wit; the counties of Costilla, Conejos, 293 Rio Grande, Saguache.
Gunnison, Hinsdale, San Juan, Ouray, and La Plata, together with all that part of the Ute Indian reservation lying south of the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude in said State, shall constitute the western division, and a regular term of said court for said division shall be held annually at Del Norte, to commence on the firstTerm at Del Norte.Northern division.Term at Denver.Adjournment. Tuesday in August; and the residue of the State of Colorado shall constitute the northern division, and two regular terms of said court for said division shall be held annually at Denver, to commence on the first Tuesday in May and on the first Tuesday in October.
And should the judge of said district court fail to attend at the time and place of holding any one of the regular terms of the court for either of the said divisions of the aforesaid district, before, the close of the fourth day of any such term, the business pending in such court shall stand adjourned to the next regular term thereof: *Provided,* That whenever the judge of said court,Intermediate terms. from any cause, shall fail to hold a regular term of said court, for either of said divisions, it shall be his duty, if in his opinion the business in said court shall require, to hold an intermediate term of said court, at such time as he shall, by his order in writing, direct, addressed to the clerk and marshal of said court, at least thirty days previous to the commencement of said term, and to be published in the several newspapers published in the bounds of said divisions, the same length of time; and at any and all such intermediate terms the business of any such courts, of every nature and description whatsoever, shall have reference to, and be proceeded with, in the same manner as if the same were a regular term of the said court.
And all issues of fact shall be tried at a term of said court to be held in the division where such suit should hereafter be commenced, in accordance with the third section of this act. But nothingVenue of transitory actions. herein contained shall prevent the said district court from regulating, by general rule, the venue of transitory actions either in law or in equity, and from changing the same for a good cause to be shown. Sec. 3. That all issues now pending in the said district court shall bePending issues. tried at the places above prescribed for holding such court within the division where the cause of action may have arisen, unless otherwise ordered by said court, in pursuance of the authority given in the first section of this act; and no process issued or proceedings pending in theReturns of process. said district court shall be avoided or impaired by this change of the time and place of holding such court; but all process, bail bonds, and recognizances, returnable at the next term of the said court, shall be returnable arid returned to the court next, held at the appropriate place, according to this act, in the same manner as if so made returnable on the face thereof, and shall have full effect. accordingly; and all continuances maybe made to conform to the provisions of this act.
Sec. 4. That all suits and proceedings hereafter to be brought in theVenue in civil suits. said district court, not of a local nature, shall be brought in a court of the division of the district where the defendant resides; but if there be more than one defendant, and they reside in different divisions of the district, the plaintiff may sue in either division, and send duplicate writ or writs to the other defendants, on which the plaintiff or his attorney shall endorse that the writ thus sent is a copy of a writ sued out of a court of the propel division of the said district; and the said writs, when executed and returned into the office from which they issued, shall constitute one suit, and be proceeded in accordingly.
Sec. 5. The clerk of the district court for the district of ColoradoDeputy clerks. shall appoint a deputy clerk for said court held at Pueblo and a deputy clerk for said court held at Del Norte, who shall reside and keep their offices at said places respectively. And the said clerk shall reside andClerk’s office. keep his office at Denver. Each deputy shall keep in his office full records of all actions and proceedings in the district court held at the, same place, and shall have the same power to issue all process from the said court that is or may be given to the clerks of said district courts in like cases. 294 FORTY-FIFTH CONGRESS.
Sess. III. Ch. 82, 83. 1879. Sec. 6. District attorney and marshal. That the district attorney and marshal of the district of Colorado shall respectively perform the duties of district attorney and marshal of and for the southern, western, and northern divisions of the districtDeputy marshals. of Colorado as established by this act; and the said marshal shall keep an office and deputy at each of the places where the sessions of the said district court are directed to be held.
Sec. 7. Concurrent jurisdiction. That in addition to the ordinary jurisdiction and powers of a district coma of the United States, with which the district court of Colorado has been invested, it be, and is hereby, invested, within the limits of the said southern and western divisions of same with the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction and power, in all civil cases, now exercised by Error and appeals.the circuit courts of the United States; and that in all eases where said court shall exercise such jurisdiction, writs of error and appeals shall be allowed and taken from the judgment, orders, or decrees of said court to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the same manner and upon the same conditions as appeals may be taken from the circuit courts.
Sec. 8. Venue in criminal causes. Any person charged with violating any of the penal or criminal statutes of the United States of which the said district court, has jurisdiction shall be proceeded against, by indictment or otherwise, within the division of said district wherein the alleged offense was committed, and shall have his or her trial at a term of the said district court held in the said division, unless for cause shown the judge shall otherwiseJuries. direct; and grand and petit juries shall be summoned for the several terms of said district court in manner as is now, or may be, provided by law; and jurors shall be selected and drawn from the division of the said district in which they reside and in which the term of the said district court to which they are summoned is held.
Sec. 9. Terms of circuit court at Denver. A term of the circuit court of the eighth judicial circuit shall be held at Denver, in said State, upon the first Tuesday in May and the Juries.first Tuesday in October in each year. One grand jury and one petit jury shall be. summoned, and serve in both the said circuit and district courts, the terms of which are to be held in Denver. Sec. 10. Repeals. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. Approved, February 15, 1879.