# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/25th Congress/3rd Session/Chapter 81

Chap. LXXXI.—An Act to amend the act of the third of March, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, entitled “An act supplementary to the act entitled ‘An act to amend the judicial system of the United States,’ and for other purposes.”
Act of March 3, 1837, ch. 34. District judge for Missouri shall attend at St. Louis, &c.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be the duty of the district judge of Missouri to attend at St. Louis, on the first Monday of October annually, who shall have power to make all necessary orders touching any suit, action, appeal, writ of error, process, pleadings, or proceedings returned to the circuit court, or depending therein, preparatory to the hearing, trial, or decision of such action, suit, appeal, writ of error, process, pleadings, or proceedings; and all writs and process may be returnable to the said courts on the first Monday of October, in the same manner as to the sessions of the circuit courts directed to be held by the said act of third March, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven; and the said writs returnable to the circuit courts may also bear teste on the said first Monday of October, as though a session of said court was holden on that day.
District court for East Tennessee.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the district court of the United States for the district of East Tennessee shall, hereafter, be holden on the third Monday of October in each year, instead of the second Monday of October, as now prescribed by law; and that the district court of the Middle District of TennesseeDistrict court for Middle dist. Tennessee. All causes, &c. continued over, &c. shall be holden on the first Mondays of March and September, in each year; and all causes and processes shall be continued over, and be returnable to, the respective terms of said courts as hereby established; and said courts shall be holden at the places now prescribed by law, and exercise all the powers and jurisdiction they now enjoy.
Circuit court for Southern dist. Alabama.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of June next the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of Alabama shall commence its terms on the second Monday of March and the fourth Monday of November, in each and every year; and the circuit court for the eastern district of LouisianaCircuit court for Eastern dist. Louisiana. Writs, pleas, &c. how to be proceeded in. shall commence its terms on the first Monday of April and the third Monday of December in each and every year; and all writs, pleas, suits, recognizances, indictments and all other proceedings, civil and criminal, shall be heard, tried and proceeded with by said court, at the times herein fixed, in the same manner as if no change in the times of holding said courts had taken place.
Circuit and district courts for Michigan.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the circuit and district courts of the United States for the district of Michigan, shall be held at Detroit, on the second Monday of October, instead of the first Monday in November, as heretofore established; and that all writs, pleas, suits, recognizances,Writs, pleas, &c. how to be proceeded in. indictments and all other proceedings, civil and criminal, shall be heard, tried, and proceeded with by the said court, at the times herein fixed, in the same manner as if no change in the times of holding the said court had taken place.
District court for Arkansas.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the district court of the United States for the district of Arkansas, shall be held at Little Rock on the first Monday of October, instead of the first Monday in November ​annually as heretofore established; and that all writs, pleas, suits, recognizances, indictments, and all other proceedings, civil and criminal, shall be heard, tried, and proceeded with by the said court, at the times herein fixed, in the same manner as if no change in the times of holding the said court had taken place.
Circuit court for Southern district of New York.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of New York, shall hereafter be held on the last Monday in November instead of the last Monday in October, the time heretofore established by law; that all indictments, informations, suits or actions, and proceedings of every kind, whether of a civil or criminal nature, depending in the said court, on the first day of October next, shall thereafter have day in court, and be proceeded in, heard, tried, and determined, at the time herein appointed for holding the said court, in the same manner as they might and ought to have been done had the said court been holden at the time heretofore directed by law.
Writs, suits, &c. returnable to, &c.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That all writs, suits, actions, or recognizances, or other proceedings which are or shall be, instituted, served, commenced, or taken to the said Circuit Court to have been holden as heretofore directed by law, shall be returnable to, entered in, heard, tried, and have day in court, to be holden at the time by this act directed, in the same manner as might and ought to have been done had the said court been holden at the time heretofore directed by law.
Clerk district court of Southern dist. N. Y. to transmit certified copy of dockets, &c. 1840, ch. 43, § 4.Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the clerk of the district court of the southern district of New York, within six months after the passage of this act, to transmit a certified copy of the dockets of all judgments rendered in that court, or in the circuit court of the United States for that district, since the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, to the clerk of the supreme court of said state, in the city of New York; and on the tenth and twenty-fifth days of each month thereafter, to transmit a like certificate of all dockets of judgments as may have been rendered in either of said courts since the last certificate was transmitted.
Clerk Northern dist. N. Y. to transmit, &c. 1840, ch. 43, § 4.Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the clerk of the northern district of said State within six months after the passage of this act to transmit a certified copy of all judgments rendered and docketed in that court, either as a district court, or as a circuit court, and of all judgments in the circuit court of the United States for that district, docketed since the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, to the clerk of the supreme court of said State at Utica; and on the tenth and twenty-fifth days of each month thereafter, to transmit a like certificate of all such dockets of judgments as may have been rendered in either of said courts since the last certificate was transmitted.
Judgments. 1840, ch. 43, § 4.Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That every judgment which shall have been rendered either in the district or circuit courts aforesaid, previous to the passage of this act, shall, as against subsequent purchasers or incumbrances, cease to be a lien upon the real estate or chattels real of the person or persons against whom such judgments may have been rendered respectively, at the expiration of five years from the passage of this act; and every judgment to be hereafter rendered in either of said courts, shall, as against subsequent purchasers or incumbrances, cease to be a lien upon the real estate or chattels real of any person or persons against whom such judgment shall be rendered at the expiration of ten years, from and after the day of docketing such judgments respectively.
Approved, March 3, 1839.
* ↑ See notes to act of April 29, 1824, chap. 45, vol. 4, for a reference to the acts passed relating to the district court of Missouri.
* ↑ Act of July 4, 1840, chap. 42, sec. 3; act of April 14, 1842, chap. 20; act of May 18, 1842, chap. 30; act of March 3, 1843, chap. 74.