Chapter 801. To create a new Federal judicial district in Pennsylvania, to be called the middle district
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CHAP. 801.— An Act To create a new Federal judicial district in Pennsylvania, to be called the middle district. March 2, 1901. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representative of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Pennsylvania, middle judicial district created.Counties detached from eastern and western districts.[R. S., sec. 545. p. 91](/us/rs/s545/p91), amended. That the counties of Lackawanna, Wyoming, Bradford, Monroe, Wayne, Pike, Susquehanna, Carbon, Tioga, Potter, Cameron, Clinton, Lycoming, Center.
Union, Snyder, Mifflin, Juniata, Northumberland, Montour, Columbia, Sullivan, Luzerne, Dauphin, Lebanon, Perry, Huntingdon, Fulton, Franklin, Adams, York, and Cumberland, in the State of Pennsylvania, are hereby detached from the eastern and western districts of said State and shall henceforth constitute and compose a judicial district to be Courts established.known as the middle district of Pennsylvania, and a circuit and a district court of the United States are hereby established therein.
Sec. 2. To be part of third judicial circuit.Terms of court. That the said middle district of Pennsylvania shall be attached to and constitute part of the third judicial circuit, and terms of said circuit and district courts shall be held therein as follows, to wit: At the city of Scranton, in the county of Lackawanna, on the first Monday of March and first Monday of October in each year; at the city of Williamsport, in the county of Lycoming, on the second Monday of January and second Monday of June in each year; at the city of Harrisburg, in the county of Dauphin, on the first Monday of May and second Monday of November in each year, the sessions of said courts to continue for such periods of time as the judges thereof shall, by their prior order, determine; and adjourned terms, sittings, 881and sessions may he held when the business shall, in the opinion of such courts, respectively, require it.
Sec. 3. That the President, by and with the advice and consent ofJudicial officers to be appointed. the Senate, shall appoint for said middle district a district judge, a marshal, and district attorney; and clerks for the said circuit and district courts shall be appointed in the same manner as is now provided by law with regard to such officers in the western district of Pennsylvania. Sec. 4. That the courts and judges of said middle district shall,Jurisdiction. within said district, respectively possess the same jurisdiction and powers, civil, criminal, equitable, or otherwise, and perforin the same duties as are now respectively possessed and performed by the circuit and district courts and judges of the United States of the western district of Pennsylvania.
Sec. 5. That the district judge of the said middle district shallSalaries, etc. receive the same compensation as is now by law provided for the district judge of the western district of Pennsylvania: and the marshal, district attorney, and clerks of the circuit and district courts shall severally possess the powers and perform the duties lawfully possessed and performed by the like officers in the said western district, and shall be, respectively, entitled to like fees, compensation, and emoluments; and until otherwise provided by law the salaries herein prescribed or provided for shall be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Sec. 6. That the said circuit and district courts, or either of them,Special terms. may from time to time, in their discretion, appoint special terms of court, civil or criminal, and require grand, traverse, or petit juries, or all of them, to attend the same, by an order to be entered of record thirty days before the day at which such term shall convene, and at such special terms shall have all the powers which they respectively have at the regular terms appointed by law: *Provided*,* however*, That*Proviso*.—order of circuit judge, etc., necessary. no special term of said circuit court shall be appointed except upon the order of the circuit judge or of the associate judge of the supreme court allotted to the third judicial circuit.
Sec. 7. That the jurisdiction and authority of the courts and officersPresent jurisdiction continued until new courts established. of the eastern and western districts of Pennsylvania over the territory embraced within the said middle district shall continue as heretofore constituted and established up to the day of the organization of the courts of said middle district, but shall thereafter cease and determine, except as hereinafter provided in regard to crimes and misdemeanors theretofore, committed therein: but any lien acquired by virtue of a decree, judgment, execution, attachment, seizure, or otherwise uponExisting liens unaffected. property situate or being within the said middle district shall not be divested or affected by this Act: *Provided*, That to enforce the same,*Proviso*.—enforcement of. certified copies of the record thereof shall be taken and entered in the proper court of the said middle district, and thereafter like proceedings shall be had thereon as though the same had been originally entered in such court.
Sec. 8. That the jurisdiction of the courts and officers of the easternPending prosecutions. and western districts of Pennsylvania as now constituted and established is hereby reserved to the same, respectively, over all crimes and misdemeanors which shall have been committed within the territory embraced in the said middle district prior to the organization of the courts thereof the same as though the said middle district had not been established; and the respective courts of the said eastern and western districts shall have the right to summon grand and petit jurors from the body of the districts as now constituted, respectively, for the purpose of inquiring into such crimes and misdemeanors, and prosecuting and trying indictments founded thereon, until every of such crimes and misdemeanors shall have been inquired into, prosecuted, and tried: *Provided*, That such offenses shall be inquired into, prosecuted, and*Provisos*, 882triedSpecial sessions, etc.Special sessions, etc. at special terms or sessions to be convened, and upon special writs of venire facias juratores, issued by said courts, respectively: *Provided further*,Future offenses not included.
That nothing in this section shall affect the jurisdiction of the courts of said middle district over crimes and misdemeanors committed therein after the organization of the courts of said middle district. Sec. 9. Removal of pending suits to new district. That all local actions, suits, and proceedings pending in any of the courts of the eastern or western district of Pennsylvania at the time of the organization of the courts of said middle district, and which relate to property embraced within the territory of the said middle district, shall thereafter be no further proceeded with in the courts where the same are depending, but upon petition of either or any of the parties thereto such local action, suit, or proceedings shall, upon the order of such court, or of a judge thereof in vacation, be removed to the proper court of the said middle district, and the original files thereof and a certified copy of the docket entries shall forthwith be delivered to the clerk of the court to which the same is so removed, who shall enter the same in tile and of record, respectively, and like proceedings shall thereafter be had thereon as fully and completely as though the said action, suit, or proceeding had been originally begun in such court of said middle district; and like removals may, in the discretion of the courts of said eastern or western districts, or of a judge thereof in vacation, be had in all transitory actions, suits, and proceedings, upon petition of the defend-ant or defendants therein, or either of them, where, such petitioner Removal to western district, etc.resides within the said middle district.
In like manner all local actions, suits, and proceedings pending among the records of the courts of the western district of Pennsylvania at Williamsport or Scranton at the time of the organization of the courts of said middle district, and relating to property embraced within the territory of the said western district as hereby constituted, shall, and all transitory actions, suits, and proceedings where a defendant resides in said western district may be removed to the proper court of such western district; but all other actions pending in the courts at Williamsport or Scranton not so removed or properly removable under the provisions of this section, and all records of said courts there remaining, shall be proceeded with, held, and regarded as though originally begun and depending in the —costs.corresponding courts of said middle district.
The costs of removal in every case provided for in this section, where such removal shall be ordered, shall be taxed and paid as part of the costs of the action, suit, or proceedings so removed. Sec. 10. Organization meeting; where held. That the organization and first session of the courts of said middle district shall be held at the city of Harrisburg, in the county of Dauphin, on the first Monday of May, anno Domini nineteen hundredTemporary court rooms. and one, and it shall be the duty of the marshal of said middle district, when appointed, to provide a suitable place for the temporary accommodation of said courts at the several cities hereinbefore appointed for holding the same, and also safe and convenient offices for the proper keeping of the records thereof.
Approved, March 2, 1901.