# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/25th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 115

Chap. CXV.—An Act to reorganize the district courts of the United States in the State of Mississippi.
1839, ch. 27. Mississippi divided into two districts. Northern district.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Mississippi shall be, and the same is hereby, divided into two districts, in the following manner, to wit: The counties of Noxubee, Winston, Attala, Carrol, Bolivar, Coahoma, Tunica, De Soto, Marshal, Tippah, Tishemingo, Itawamba, Monroe, Lowndes, Oaktibbeha, Choctaw, Yalobusha, Tallechatcha, Penola, Lafayette, Pontotoc, and Chickasaw, in said State, shall compose one district, to be called the northern district, and a court shall be held for the said district, at the town of Pontotoc, and the residue of the counties of the said State shall hereafter compose the southern district of Mississippi,Southern dist. and a court shall be held for the same, as heretofore, at the city of Jackson.
U.S. district judge for Miss to hold two terms a year in northern dist.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be two terms of the district court, for the northern district, held at Pontotoc, in each year, to begin on the first Monday of June and December, and the district judge of the United States for the State of Mississippi is hereby required to hold the courts aforesaid.
All cases pending in the dist. court at Jackson, &c. to be transferred for trial, &c.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all causes at law or in chancery, and all indictments pending in the district court at Jackson, in which the defendant or defendants resided in the northern district (hereby established) at the time of serving process or the finding of a bill of indictment, shall be transferred for trial to the district court for the said northern district, and be proceeded in, heard, adjudged, and determined, in the same manner as though originally commenced or prosecuted in the said court; and it shall be the duty of the clerk of the district court at Jackson,The original papers to be transferred. safely to transmit to the clerk of the district court at Pontotoc, the original papers in all cases and prosecutions hereby ordered to be transferred, together with a transcript of all orders and other proceedings had thereon.
All suits, not of a local nature, shall hereafter be brought to the court of the district, &c.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That all suits hereafter to be brought in either of said courts not of a local nature, shall be brought in the court of the district where the defendant resides; but if there be more than one defendant, and they reside in different districts, the plaintiff may sue in either, and send a duplicate writ against the defendant, directed to the marshal of the other district, on which the plaintiff or his attorney shall endorse that the writ thus sent is a copy of a writ sued out of the district court of the proper district; and the said writs, when executed and returned into the office from which they issued, shall constitute one suit, and be proceeded in accordingly.
The judge of said courts to appoint a clerk for the northern district—his duties, fees, &c.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the judge of the said courts shall appoint a clerk of the district court of the northern district, who shall reside and keep his office, and the records and documents appertaining thereto, at the place of holding said courts; said clerk shall be entitled to the same fees allowed by law to the clerk of the other district of the State of Mississippi, perform the like duties, and be subject to the same liabilities and penalties.
A marshal and dist. atty. to be appointed for the northern dist.—their duties and liabilities.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That a marshal and district attorney shall be appointed in the northern district of the State aforesaid, having the same duties and liabilities, in all respects, as are now possessed by the marshal and district attorney, respectively, in the State of Mississippi; and the said marshal is hereby required to give the same bonds that other marshals are required to give under the laws of the United States, to be approved of and recorded as now directed by law.
Marshal and dist. atty. of the northern dist. to have the same salaries, &c.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the marshal and district attorney for the northern district, shall have the same salaries, fees and compensation, as are allowed and paid to the other marshal and district attorney for the State of Mississippi, under the laws of the United States.
Approved, June 18, 1838.