Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/762



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be appointed an additional judge for the Michigan territory, who shall possess and exercise, within the counties of Michilimackinac, Brown, and Crawford, in the territory aforesaid, as said counties are now defined and established, or may be hereafter defined and established, the jurisdiction and power heretofore possessed and exercised by the supreme court of the said territory, and by the county courts of said counties respectively, within the said counties, and to the exclusion of the original jurisdiction of the said supreme court: and the jurisdiction of said court, hereby established, shall be concurrent with the said county courts; but in all suits, either at law or in equity, appeals shall be allowed from the decisions of the said county courts to the court established by this act, in the same manner as is provided for appeals from said courts to the supreme court of said territory; Provided, always, That the said supreme court shall have full power and authority to issue writs of error to the court established by this act, in all civil causes, and to hear and determine the same when sitting as a supreme court of the territory, according to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and to the statutes adopted and published by the governor and judges of said territory: And provided, also, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to give cognisance to the court hereby established, of cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, nor of cases wherein the United States shall be plaintiffs, except as hereinafter mentioned.

. And be it further enacted, That the said supreme court are hereby authorized, upon the reversal of a judgment of the court established by this act, to render such judgment as the said court ought to have rendered or passed, except where the reversal is in favour of the plaintiff in the original suit, and the debt or damages to be assessed are uncertain: in which case the cause shall be remanded to the county from whence it came, in order to a final determination.

. And be it further enacted, That, when any person, not being an executor or administrator, applies for a writ of error, such writ shall be no stay of proceedings in the court to which it issues, unless the plaintiff in error, his agent or attorney, shall give security, to be approved of by a judge of the said supreme court, which shall be certified on the back of such writ, that the plaintiff in error shall prosecute his writ to effect, and pay the condemnation money, and all costs, or otherwise abide the judgment of the court, if he fail to make his plea good; and no cause, except suits in equity, shall be removed to said supreme court from the court hereby established, but by writ of error, as herein before provided; and suits in equity may be removed by appeal, in the same manner as is provided for appeals from the county courts to the supreme court.

. And be it further enacted, That the court established by this act shall hold one term in each of the counties aforesaid, yearly, at the following times and places, to wit: at Prairie du Chien, on the second Monday in May; at Green Bay, on the second Monday in June; and at Mackinac, on the third Monday in July, in each and every year; and shall then and there proceed to hear and determine the pleas, process, and proceedings, depending therein, in the same manner as the said supreme or county courts might, or could have done, in case this act had not been passed; and the clerks of the said county courts shall be clerks of the court hereby established in their respective counties, and shall be entitled to such fees for their services as may be allowed them by law; and the officers appointed to execute the process of the said county courts within