# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 3/13th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 49

Chap. XLIX.—An Act for the better organization of the courts of the United States within the State of New York.
1815, ch. 94. 1826, ch. 38. 1833, ch. 15. 1837, ch. 32. Two districts formed; the first to be called the southern. The second, the northern district. Terms of the said court, where and when holden.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that, for the more convenient transaction of business in the courts of the United States within the state of New York, the said state shall be and the same is hereby divided into two districts, in manner following, to wit: the counties of Renssellaer, Albany, Schenectady, Schoharie and Delaware, together with all that part of the said state lying south of the above mentioned counties, shall compose one district, to be called the southern district of New York; and all the remaining part of the said state shall compose another district, to be called the northern district of New York; and that the terms of the district court in the said southern district shall be held in the city of New York, at the several times at which they are now by law directed to be held in the said city; and that the terms of the said court in the said northern district shall be held at the several times and places at which they are now by law directed to be held in that part of the state of New York included in the said northern district, except that the term of the said court now holden at Geneva, shall hereafter be held at the village of Canandaigua.
Judge Tallmadge assigned for the northern and Judge Van Ness for the southern district.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That Matthias B. Tallmadge, one of the district judges of the district of New York, be, and he is hereby assigned as the judge to hold the said district court in the said northern district of New York, and to do and perform all the duties appertaining to his office ​within the said northern district; and that William P. Van Ness, the remaining district judge of the district of New York be, and he is hereby assigned as the judge to hold the said court in the said southern district of New York, and to do and perform all the duties appertaining to his said office within the said southern district.Judge Van Ness to hold the court for the northern district, in certain cases. And it is hereby also made the duty of the judge of the said southern district to hold the several district courts hereinbefore directed to be holden in the said northern district, in case the inability, on account of sickness or absence, of the said Matthias B. Tallmadge to hold the same.
Circuit court to be held for the southern district in New York.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the circuit court of the United States shall be held in and for the said southern district of New York at the city of New York, at the times and in the manner now directed by law to be held in and for the district of New York shall, besides the ordinary jurisdiction of a district court, have jurisdiction of all cases, except for appeals and writs of error cognizable by law in a circuit court, and shall proceed therein in the same manner as a circuit court; and writs of error shall lie from decisions therein to the circuit court; and writs of error shall lie from decisions therein to the circuit court in the said southern district of New York, in the same as from district courts to their respective circuit court.
Approved, April 9, 1814.