Chapter 105. To divide the State of West Virginia into two judicial districts
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CHAP. 105.— An Act To divide the State of West Virginia into two judicial districts. January 22, 1901. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, West Virginia divided into two judicial districts.[R. S., sec. 531, p. 89, amended](/us/rs/s531/p89). That section five hundred and thirty-one of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended by striking therefrom the words “West Virginia.” Sec. 2. That the State of West Virginia is divided into two judicial districts, which shall be called the northern and —northern district, of what constituted.southern judicial districts of the State of West Virginia.
The northern district includes the counties of Hancock. Brooke. Ohio, Marshall, Tyler, Pleasants, Wood, Wirt, Ritchie, Doddridge, Wetzel, Monongalia, Marion, Harrison, Lewis, Gilmer, Calhoun. Upshur. Barbour, Taylor, Preston, Tucker, Randolph, Pendleton, Hardy, Grant, Mineral. Hampshire, Morgan. Berkeley, and Jefferson, with the waters thereof; the southern district includes the residue of said State of West Virginia, with the waters thereof. Sec. 3. Existing judicial officers to act in northern district.That the district judge of the judicial district of West Virginia as heretofore constituted and in office at the time this Act takes effect shall be the district judge for the northern judicial district of West Virginia as constituted by this Act; that the clerk of the circuit court and the clerk of the district court in said judicial district of West Virginia as heretofore constituted and in office at the time this Act takes effect shall be the clerks of the circuit and district courts of the northern judicial district of West Virginia, respectively, as hereby constituted, until their successors, respectively, shall be appointed and qualified.
Sec. 4. Marshal and district attorney.Northern district.That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint a marshal and district attorney for the northern judicial district of West Virginia as hereby constituted, who shall, within their respective jurisdictions, possess and exercise all the powers conferred by existing law upon the marshals and district attorneys of the United States, respectively. All other officers residing within said northern district as hereby constituted shall continue to be and act as such officers within their respective jurisdictions in said northern district as hereby constituted until their successors, respectively, are duly appointed and qualified under the provisions of existing law.
Sec. 5. Southern district.Judge.That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint a district judge for the southern judicial district of West Virginia, who shall possess and exercise all the powers conferred by existing law upon the judges of 737the district courts of the United States, and who shall, as to all business and proceedings arising in said southern judicial district as hereby constituted, or transferred thereto, succeed to and possess the same powers and perform the same duties within the said southern judicial district as are now possessed by and performed by the district judge of the district of West Virginia.
Sec. 6. That the marshal and district attorney of the judicial district Existing marshal and district attorney to act in southern district.of West Virginia us heretofore constituted and in office at the time this Act takes effect shall be the marshal and district attorney, respectively, for the southern judicial district of West Virginia as constituted by this Act until the expiration of their respective terms, or until their successors, respectively, shall be appointed and qualified.
All other officers residing within said southern district of West Virginia —other officers to complete term, etc.as constituted by this Act shall continue as such officers until the expiration of their respective terms and until their successors, respectively, shall be duly appointed and qualified. The clerk of the circuit and district courts in the southern judicial district of West Virginia as hereby constituted shall be appointed under the provisions of existing law. Sec. 7.
That the salaries, pay, fees, and allowances of the judges, Existing salaries unchanged.district attorneys, marshals, clerks, and other officers in said districts, until changed under the provisions of existing law. shall be the same, respectively, as now fixed by law for such officers in the judicial district of West Virginia as heretofore constituted. Sec. 8. That all causes and proceedings of every name and nature, Pending cases transferred to northern district.civil and criminal, now pending in the courts of the judicial district of West Virginia as heretofore constituted, whereof the courts of the northern judicial district of West Virginia as hereby constituted would have had jurisdiction if said district and the courts thereof had been constituted when said causes or proceedings were instituted, shall be, and are hereby, transferred to and same shall be proceeded with in the northern judicial district of West Virginia as hereby constituted, and jurisdiction thereof is hereby transferred to and vested in the courts of said northern judicial district, and the records and proceedings therein and relating to said proceedings and causes shall be certified and transferred thereto; and all causes and proceedings of every name and nature, —to southern districtcivil and criminal, now pending in the courts of the judicial district of West Virginia as heretofore constituted, whereof the courts of the southern judicial district of West Virginia as hereby constituted would have had jurisdiction if said district and the courts thereof had been constituted when said causes or proceedings were instituted, shall be, and are hereby, transferred to and same shall be proceeded with in the southern judicial district of West Virginia as hereby constituted, and jurisdiction thereof is hereby transferred to and vested in the courts of said southern judicial district of West Virginia, and the records and proceedings therein and relating to said proceedings and causes shall be certified and transferred thereto: *Provided*, That all motions *Proviso*.Disposition of cases in which evidence has been taken before present district judge.and causes submitted and all causes and proceedings, both civil and criminal, including proceedings in bankruptcy now pending in said judicial district of West Virginia as heretofore constituted, in which the evidence has been taken in whole or in part before the present district judge of the judicial district of West Virginia as heretofore constituted, or taken in whole or in part and submitted and passed upon by the said district judge, shall be proceeded with and disposed of in said northern judicial district of West Virginia as constituted by this Act.
Sec. 9. That the regular terms of the circuit and district courts of Terms of court, northern district.the United States for the northern district of West Virginia shall begin at the following times and places in each year: At Wheeling on the first Tuesday of April and third Tuesday of September. At Clarks-738burg on the third Tuesday of April and first Tuesday of October. At Martinsburg on the third Tuesday of October. And the circuit court shall be held at Parkersburg, beginning on the second Tuesday of January and second Tuesday of June of each year. —southern district.That the regular terms of the circuit and district courts of the United States for the southern district of West Virginia shall begin at the following times and places in each year:
At Charleston on the first Tuesday of May and second Tuesday of November. At Huntington, in the county of Cabell, on the first Tuesday of April and third Tuesday of September. At Bluefield, in the county of Mercer, on the first Tuesday of June and the first Tuesday of December. Sec. 10. Adjournment, etc.That the terms of said courts shall not be limited to any particular number of days, nor shall it be necessary to adjourn by reason of the intervention of a term elsewhere; but the court intervening may be adjourned until the business of the court in session is concluded.
Sec. 11. Adjournment in case of nonattendance of judge.[R. S., sec, 584. p. 103](/us/rs/s584/p103).That the provisions of section five hundred and eighty-four of the Revised Statutes are hereby extended to said districts hereby created. Sec. 12. Jurisdiction of future crimes, etc.That all prosecutions for crimes or offenses hereafter committed in either of said districts shall be cognizable within the district in which committed, and all prosecutions for crimes or offenses committed before the passage of this Act in which indictments have not been found or proceedings instituted shall be cognizable within the district as hereby constituted in which such crimes or offenses were committed.
Sec. 13. Repeal.That all laws and parts of laws so far as inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed. Sec. 14. Effect.That this Act shall take effect on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and one. Approved, January 22, 1901.