Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/696



United States, nor to interfere with the claims to lands within said territory: the legislative council shall hold a session once in each year, commencing its first session on the second Monday of June next, at Pensacola, and continue in session not longer than two months; and thereafter on the first Monday in May, in each and every year; but shall not continue longer in session than four weeks; to be held at such place in said territory as the governor and council shall direct. It shall be the duty of the governor to obtain all the information in his power in relation to the customs, habits, and dispositions, of the inhabitants of the said territory, and communicate the same, from time to time, to the President of the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That the judicial power shall be vested in two superior courts, and in such inferior courts and justices of the peace, as the legislative council of the territory may, from time to time, establish. There shall be a superior court for that part of the territory known as East Florida, to consist of one judge; he shall hold a court on the first Mondays in January, April, July, and October, in each year, at St. Augustine, and at such other times and places as the legislative council shall direct. There shall be a superior court for that part of the territory known as West Florida, to consist of one judge; he shall hold a court at Pensacola on the first Mondays in January, April, July, and October, in each year, and at such other times and places as the legislative council shall direct. Within its limits, herein described, each court shall have jurisdiction in all criminal cases, and exclusive jurisdiction in all capital cases, and original jurisdiction in all civil cases of the value of one hundred dollars, arising under, and cognisable by, the laws of the territory, now of force therein, or which may, at any time, be enacted by the legislative council thereof. Each judge shall appoint a clerk for his respective court, who shall reside, respectively, at St. Augustine and Pensacola, and they shall keep the records there. Each clerk shall receive for his services, in all cases arising under the territorial laws, such fees as may be established by the legislative council.

. And be it further enacted, That each of said superior courts shall, moreover, have and exercise the same jurisdiction within its limits, in all cases arising under the laws and constitution of the United States, which, by an, approved the twenty-fourth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, and “,’” approved the second day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, was vested in the court of the Kentucky district. And writs of error and appeal from the decisions in the said superior court, authorized by this section of this act, shall be made to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the same cases, and under the same regulations, as from the circuit courts of the United States. The clerks, respectively, shall keep the records at the places where the courts are held, the and shall receive, in all cases arising under the laws and constitution of the United States, the same fees which the clerk of the Kentucky district received for similar services, whilst that court exercised the powers of the circuit and district courts. There shall be appointed, in the said territory, two persons learned in the law, to act as attorneys for the United States as well as for the territory; one for that part of the territory known as East Florida, the other for that part of the territory known as West Florida: to each of whom, in addition to his stated feed, shall be paid, annually, two hundred dollars, as a full compensation for all extra services. There shall also be appointed two marshals, one for each of the said superior courts, who shall each perform the same duties, be subject to the same regulations and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees, to which marshals in other