Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-07-26

where the Court is not exclusively a Court of
Anneals. NAV be awarded by each Of them to
ram into any part of the State? Congress. hav.
inc the right to ~legisIate "im all cases whaiso.
eper, respecting the District Of Columbia, has
,he same power to authorize the Courts OF that
| district to send their subpGaas into every State
and Territory in the Union for witnesses in cri-
minal cases, and in civil cases where the wit.
nesses reside more than one hundred miles from
the place of trial. as they have 10 authorize the
| United States Courts 10 the States to send their
subpoenas into this District.
If the objection which the counsel has made to
the mower Of the Circuit Court OF the District of
Columbia has any weight. it applies with equal
force to the exercise of this power BY the Circuit
Courts of the United States held in the States.
He may ask with the same &c undoubting conf.
dence'i ~ for any enc law or any one act Of Viz
ginia, whereby she has. either by express conven-
ton or tacit IMPLICATION. made any concession To
Congress Of the power to extend the jurisdiction
of the United States Circuit Court of the District
of MARYLAND 8. over the territory OF Virginia. or
over her citizens abiding in that State" II the
Circuit Court Of the District OF Maryland may
l~awfully summon a citizen Of the District OF Viz
oinia abiding in that State to attend as 4 witness
befure the Grand Jury or in a case before the
Circuit Court of the District of Maryland, why
NAV not the Circuit Court of the District Of Co.
Iumbia do the same2 The law of March. 1895.
authorizing the issuing OF subpGnas tor witnesses
residing in another district. makes no dIstlnc-
,ion between the Circuit Court OF this District
and those of the other Districts OF the Unl,ed
States. The Circuit Court held in Virginia Is
called by the law creating II, " the Circuit Court
of the district of Virginia. that held in this Dis
trict is called /" the Circuit Court OF the District OF
Columbia" Where, | ask, is TO be Iound the law
which makes a difference as to the power oi the
two Courts to issue subpuenas Tor witnesses Ie'
sidins out of their respective Districts?
But the learned counsel calls the Circuit Court
of this District az I" inferior court" " COM
pletely local in its constitution and jurisdiction,
and no otherwise distinguished from other local
tribunals, but that it happened to be erected by
Congress for the local al administration OF justice IN
a small district under the exclusive government
Of Congress-" That the Circuit Court OF thus
District is, as to the Supreme Court, an inferior
court. there is no doubt; but as to the other CIR
cult Courts Of the United States, 1t Is not nile.
rior, no appeals lying from it to either OF them.
As to the subjects over which II has JurisdIc'
ton, It is much more extended than any other
Circuit Court in the United States; aud u the
extent Of jurisdiction is the criterion by which the
rank of a Court is to be judged, then the circuit
Court of this District is superior to any other
Circuit Court in the United States. An appear
lies to it from the District Court Of the District
Of Columbia, and from It to the Supreme Court
In this il is equal to the other Circuit Courts;
and il has, besides. Jurisdiction over many sub
iects which they have not. In criminal cases., 1t
has Jurisdiction from the highest crime known to
our laws, that of treason, down to the smallest
misdemeanor against the common or statute law.
What. then, is to make this Court inferior to the
Circuit Courts held iu States. But it is said to
be a Court for a " small district" And IS this
TO make il an inferior court? 1t is true it con.
sists only OF tUo counties; But the State ol De
Iaware has only three: its territory is small. IL,
however, has a Circuit Court, called the Circuit
Court If the District of Delaware; but IL its rank
is to be measured by the extent Of the State. then
it must be very inferior to the Circuit Court IN
Pennsylvania.
But it is alleged that the Circuit Court Of the
District OF Columbia is a local Court. What Is
meant BY a local Court l have always been
under the impression that it means a Court whose
Jurisdiction is confined to cases. civil and crlmI'
nal, arising within the territorial limits Of the
place over which the Court has jurisdiction; and
between parties all Of whom being residents With
in the Jurisdiction Of the Courts-such as a Court
of Hastings. This is not the case Of the Circu'!
Court of the District Of Columbia. 1t has Jur's'
diction in all civil cases where the cause OF &C
ton exceeds $50. and against any person resId, (
ing. or ,Oho may be found in the District. Bu'h
the territorial limitation Of its jurisdiction makes
it a local Court, as contradistlnsuished IRON tne
other Circuit Courts, | would ask, how can 'n'
circumstance make one Court local. and cot te
olherss Are not all the other Circuit Courts
held in the States confined, in their jur'sdiction'
to the territorial limits Of their respective us
tricts? Or is il the extent Of territory that makH
the differencel II 50, the Circuit Courts Of uS
Districts Of Delaware and Rhode Island are Local
Courts, and those Of Pennsylvania and New lon
are not. Neither the Constitution OF the Cnm'
States, nor the law Of Congress creating the ~.
cult Court of the District of Columbia, su'hof"
the distinction. would ask whether the Couni
ty Court and the Superior Court OF La" am
Chancery for Fairfax County, in Virginia. Im
less local Courts in that State. being bound =,
territorial limits in their Jurisdiction, than I"
Circuit Court of the District OF Columbia!