Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/412



thence by a direct line to the north-west corner of Washington county, thence due south to the Gulf of Mexico, thence eastwardly, including all the islands within six leagues of the shore, to the Perdido river, and thence up the same to the beginning, shall, for the purpose of a temporary government, constitute a separate territory, and be called “Alabama.”

. And be it further enacted, That all offices which may exist, and all laws which may be in force, in said territory, within the boundaries above described, at the time this act shall go into effect, shall continue to exist, and be in force, until otherwise provided by law. And the President of the United States shall have power to appoint a governor and secretary for the Alabama territory, who shall respectively exercise the same power, perform the same duties, and receive for their services the same compensation, as are provided for the governor and secretary of the Mississippi territory: Provided, that the appointment of said governor, and secretary, shall be submitted to the Senate, for their advice and consent, at the next session of Congress.

. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed an additional judge for the Mississippi territory, who shall reside in the eastern part thereof, and receive the same compensation as the other judges; and that the judge appointed by virtue of an act, passed the twenty-seventh day of March, one thousand eight hundred and four, for the appointment of an additional judge for the Mississippi territory, together with the judge appointed for Madison county, and the judge to be appointed by virtue of this act, shall possess and exercise exclusive original jurisdiction in the superior courts of Washington, Baldwin, Clarke, Monroe, Montgomery, Wayne, Green, Jackson, Mobile, Madison, and of such new counties as may be formed out of them, and shall arrange the same among themselves, from time to time: Provided, that no judge shall sit more than twice in succession in the same court, and that the other judges of the Mississippi territory shall exercise, as heretofore authorized by an act of Congress, or of the territorial legislature, exclusive jurisdiction in the superior courts of the other counties. That a general court, to be composed of the judge appointed by virtue of the, the judge appointed for Madison county, and the judge to be appointed by virtue of this act, or any two of them, shall be holden at St. Stephens, commencing on the first Mondays of January and July, annually, who shall have the same power of issuing writs of error to the superior courts of the counties mentioned in this section, or which shall hereafter be formed in the eastern division of the territory, which was given by the act for the appointment of an additional judge, passed the year one thousand eight hundred and four, to the superior court of Adams district, and which shall possess, exclusively of the courts of the several counties, the federal jurisdiction given to the superior courts of the territories, by an act passed the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and five, entitled “.”

. And be it further enacted, That the governor, to be appointed under the authority of this act, shall, immediately after entering into office, convene, at the town of St. Stephens, such of the members of the legislative council and house of representatives, of the Mississippi territory, as may then be the representatives from the several counties within the limits of the territory to be established by this act; and the said members shall constitute the legislative council, and house of representatives for the aforesaid Alabama territory, whose powers, in relation to the said territory, shall be, until the expiration of the term for which they shall have been chosen, or until Congress shall otherwise provide, the same in all respects as are now possessed by the legislative council, and house of representatives of the Mississippi territory; and the said legislative council, and house of representatives of the Alabama territory,