Chapter 1419. To provide for circuit and district courts of the United States at Selma and Tuscaloosa, Alabama
1,079 words·~5 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-33/chapter-1419-4408898·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 1419.— An Act To provide for circuit and district courts of the United States at Selma and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. March 3, 1905.[[S. 6232](/us/bill/58/s/6232).][[Public, No. 152](/us/pl/58/152).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the northern division United States Courts. Alabama southern judicial district. Northern division established. R. S., sec. 532, p. 89.of the southern judicial district of the State of Alabama is hereby established, composed of the counties of Dallas, Hale, Marengo.
Perry, and Wilcox. And all other counties now in the southern judicial district of the State of Alabama shall constitute the southern division 988of the southern district of Alabama; and the courts of said southern division shall be held in Mobile, as now provided by law. Northern division of southern district. Terms at Selma. R. S., secs. 572, 658, pp. 98, 120. Sec. 2. That a term of the circuit court and of the district court for the northern division of the southern judicial district of the State of Alabama shall be held in Selma, in Dallas County, in said State, of the first Monday in November and the first Monthly in May in each year; and it shall be the duty of the clerk, marshal, and other officers of the southern judicial district to attend said terms of said court and perform all the duties pertaining to their positions, and no additional clerk or marshal shall he appointed in said district.
If in the opinion of the court it shall become necessary, a deputy clerk may he appointed: *Proviso.* Court room.*Provided, however,* That suitable rooms and accommodations are furnished for the holdings of said courts free of expense to the Government of the United States. Suits not of a local nature. Sec. 3. That all suits not of a local nature in the circuit and district courts against a single defendant, inhabitant of said State, must be brought in the division of the district where he resides; but if there are two or more defendants residing in different divisions of the district such suits may be brought in either division.
All issues of fact in said suits shall be tried at the term of the court held in the division where the suit is so brought. Prosecution of crimes. Sec. 4. That prosecutions for crime or offenses hereafter committed in any of the counties of the northern division shall lie cognizable within such division; and all prosecutions for crime or offenses heretofore committed within either of said counties, taken, as aforesaid, from the middle and southern districts, or committed in the middle or southern districts as hitherto constituted, shall be commenced and proceeded with-as if this Act had not been passed.
Transfer of pending civil cases. Sec. 5. That all civil suits and proceedings now pending in the circuit or district courts of either district or division from which the counties constituting this division have been taken, mid which would, after the passage of this Act. be required to be brought within the northern division of said southern district, may be transferred by con-sent of all parties or by order of the court to said northern division of said district, and there disposed of in the same manner and with like effect as if the same had been instituted therein; and all processes, writs, and recognizances relating to such suits and proceedings so transferred shall be considered as belonging to the term of the court in the northern division of said southern district, and in the same manner and with like effect as if they had been issued or taken in reference thereto originally.
Removal of suits from State courts. Sec. 6. That in all cases of removal of suits from the courts of the State of Alabama to the courts of the United States in the southern and middle districts of Alabama such removal shall he made to the United States courts in the division in which the county is situated from which the removal is made, and the time within which such removal shall be perfected, in so far as it refers to or is regulated by the terms of the United States courts, shall be deemed to refer to the terms of the United States courts in such division.
Jurors. Process. Sec. 7. That all grand and petit jurors summoned for service in each division shall be residents of such division. All mesne and final process subject to the provision hereinbefore contained issued in either of said divisions may be served and executed in either or all of said divisions. Northern district, Western division established. R. S., sec. 532, p. 89. Terms at Tuscaloosa. R. S., secs. 572, 658, pp. 98, 120. Sec. 8. That the western division of the northern district of the State of Alabama is hereby established, composed of the counties of Tuscaloosa, Bibb, Greene, Sumter, and Pickens, and a term of the circuit and district court of the western division of the northern district of Alabama shall be held in Tuscaloosa, in Tuscaloosa County, in said State, on the first Tuesday in January and June of each year: and 989it shall be the duty of the clerk, marshal, and other officers of the northern judicial district of said State to attend said terms of court and perform all the duties pertaining to their positions, and no additional clerk or marshal shall be appointed in said district.
If in the opinion of the court it shall become necessary, a deputy clerk may be appointed: *Provided, however,* That suitable rooms and accommodations *Proviso.* Court room.shall be furnished for the holding of said court free of expense to the Government of the United States, All other provisions of this Provision for northern division, etc.Act relating to the northern division of the southern district of Alabama shall, as far as practicable, relate and apply to the western division of the northern district of Alabama.
Sec. 9. That in all prosecutions for crimes or offenses heretofore Prosecution of crimes.committed within either the northern, middle, or southern districts of Alabama, as hitherto constituted, such prosecutions shall be commenced and proceeded with in each of said districts, respectively, the same as if this Act had not been passed. This Act shall be in force from and Effect. Repeal.after April first, anno Domini nineteen hundred and five. All laws and parts of laws inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.
Approved, March 3, 1905.