Judicial Code of 1911

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the laws relating to the judiciary be, and they hereby are, codified, revised, and amended, with title, chapters, head-notes, and sections, entitled, numbered, and to read as follows:

TITLE.

The Judiciary.

Chapter One.

District Courts—Organization.

Sec.

1.	District courts established; appointment and residence of judges.
2.	Salaries of district judges.
3.	Clerks.
4.	Deputy clerks.
5.	Criers and bailiffs.
6.	Records; where kept.
7.	Effect of altering terms.
8.	Trials not discontinued by new term.
9.	Court always open as courts of admiralty and equity.
10.	Monthly adjournments for trial of criminal causes.
11.	Special terms.
12.	Adjournment in case of nonattendance of judge.
13.	Designation of another judge in case of disability of judge.
14.	Designation of another judge in case of an accumulation of business.
15.	When designation to be made by Chief Justice.
16.	New appointment and revocation.
17.	Designation of district judge in aid of another judge.
18.	When circuit judge may be designated to hold district court.
19.	Duty of district and circuit judge in such cases.
20.	When district judge is interested or related to parties.
21.	When affidavit of personal bias or prejudice of judge is filed.
22.	Continuance in case of vacancy in office.
23.	Districts having more than one judge; division of business.

Sec. 1. In each of the districts described in chapter five, there shall be a court called a district court, for which there shall be appointed one judge, to be called a district judge; except that in the northern district of California, the northern district of Illinois, the district of Maryland, the district of Minnesota, the district of Nebraska, the district of New Jersey, the eastern district of New York, the northern and southern districts of Ohio, the district of Oregon, the eastern and western districts of Pennsylvania, and the western district of Washington, there shall be an additional district judge in each, and in the southern district of New York, three additional district judges: Provided, That whenever a vacancy shall occur in the office of the district judge for the district of Maryland, senior in commission, such vacancy shall not be filled, and thereafter there shall be but one district judge in said district: Provided further, That there shall be one judge for the eastern and western districts of South Carolina, one judge for the eastern and middle districts of Tennessee, and one judge for the northern and southern districts of Mississippi: Provided further, That the district judge for the middle district of Alabama shall continue as heretofore to be a district judge for the northern district thereof. Every district judge shall reside in the district or one of the districts for which he is appointed, and for offending against this provision shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor.

Sec. 2. Each of the district judges shall receive a salary of six thousand dollars a year, to be paid in monthly installments.

Sec. 3. A clerk shall be appointed for each district court by the judge thereof, except in cases otherwise provided for by law.

Sec. 4. Except as otherwise specially provided by law, the clerk of the district court for each district may, with the approval of the district judge thereof, appoint such number of deputy clerks as may be

[36 Stat. 1088–1092 omitted (5 pages)]

the Currency, or any receiver acting under his direction, as provided by said title. And all national banking associations established under the laws of the United States shall, for the purposes of all other actions by or against them, real, personal, or mixed, and all suits in equity, be deemed citizens of the States in which they are respectively located.

Seventeenth. Of all suits brought by any alien for a tort only, in violation of the laws of nations or of a treaty of the United States.

Eighteenth. Of all suits against consuls and vice consuls.

Ninteenth. Of all matters and proceedings in bankruptcy.

Twentieth. Concurrent with the Court of Claims, of all claims not exceeding ten thousand dollars founded upon the Constitution of the United States or any law of Congress, or upon any regulation of an Executive Department, or upon any contract, express or implied, with the Government of the United States, or for damages, liquidated or unliquidated, in cases not sounding in tort, in respect to which claims the party would be entitled to redress against the United States, either in a court of law, equity, or admiralty, if the United States were suable, and of all set-offs, counterclaims, claims for damages, whether liquidated or unliquidated, or other demands whatsoever on the part of the Government of the United States against any claimant against the Government in said court: Provided, however, That nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as giving to either the district courts or the Court of Claims jurisdiction to hear and determine claims growing out of the late Civil War, and commonly known as “war claims,” or to hear and determine other claims which had been rejected or reported on adversely prior to the third day of March, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, by any court, department, or commission authorized to hear and determine the same, or to hear and determine claims for pensions; or as giving to the district courts jurisdiction of cases brought to recover fees, salary, or compensation for official services of officers of the United States or brought for such purpose by persons claiming as such officers or as assignees or legal representatives thereof; but no suit pending on the twenty-seventh day of June, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall abate or be affected by this provision: And provided further, That no suit against the Government of the United States shall be allowed under this paragraph unless the same shall have been brought within six years after the right accrued for which the claim is made: Provided, That the claims of married women, first accrued during marriage, of persons under the age of twenty-one years, first accrued during minority, and of idiots, lunatics, insane persons, and persons beyond the seas at the time the claim accrued, entitled to the claim, shall not be barred if the suit be brought within three years after the disability has ceased; but no other disability than those enumerated shall prevent any claim from being barred, nor shall any of the said disabilities operate cumulatively. All suits brought and tried under the provisions of this paragraph shall be tried by the court without a jury.

Twenty-first. Of proceedings in equity, by writ of injunction, to restrain violations of the provisions of laws of the United States to prevent the unlawful inclosure of public lands; and it shall be sufficient to give the court jurisdiction if service of original process be had in any civil proceeding on any agent or employee having charge or control of the inclosure.

Twenty-second. Of all suits and proceedings arising under any law regulating the immigration of aliens, or under the contract labor laws.

Twenty-third. Of all suits and proceedings arising under any law to protect trade and commerce against restraints and monopolies.

[36 Stat. 1094–1133 omitted (40 pages)]

laws, under the copyright laws, under the revenue laws, and under the criminal laws, and in admiralty cases.

Sec. 129. Where upon a hearing in equity in a district court, or by a judge thereof in vacation, an injunction shall be granted, continued, refused, or dissolved by an interlocutory order or decree, or an application to dissolve an injunction shall be refused, or an interlocutory order or decree shall be made appointing a receiver, an appeal may be taken from such interlocutory order or decree granting, continuing, refusing, dissolving, or refusing to dissolve, an injunction, or appointing a receiver, to the circuit court of appeals, notwithstanding an appeal in such case might, upon final decree under the statutes regulating the same, be taken directly to the Supreme Court: Provided, That the appeal must be taken within thirty days from the entry of such order or decree, and it shall take precedence in the appellate court; and the proceedings in other respects in the court below shall not be stayed unless otherwise ordered by that court, or the appellate court, or a judge thereof, during the pendency of such appeal: Provided, however, That the court below may, in its discretion, require as a condition of the appeal an additional bond.

Sec. 130. The circuit courts of appeals shall have the appellate and supervisory jurisdiction conferred upon them by the Act entitled “An Act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States,” approved July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and all laws amendatory thereof, and shall exercise the same in the manner therein prescribed.

Sec. 131. The circuit court of appeals for the ninth circuit is empowered to hear and determine writs of error and appeals from the United States court for China, as provided in the Act entitled “An Act creating a United States court for China and prescribing the jurisdiction thereof,” approved June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and six.

Sec. 132. Any judge of a circuit court of appeals, in respect of cases brought or to be brought before that court, shall have the same powers and duties as to allowances of appeals and writs of error, and the conditions of such allowances, as by law belong to the justices or judges in respect of other courts of the United States, respectively.

Sec. 133. The circuit courts of appeals, in cases in which their judgments and decrees are made final by this title, shall have appellate jurisdiction, by writ of error or appeal, to review the judgments, orders, and decrees of the supreme courts of Arizona and New Mexico, as by this title they may have to review the judgments, orders, and decrees of the district courts; and for that purpose said Territories shall, by orders of the Supreme Court of the United States, to be made from time to time, be assigned to particular circuits.

Sec. 134. In all cases other than those in which a writ of error or appeal will lie direct to the Supreme Court of the United States as provided in section two hundred and forty-seven, in which the amount involved or the value of the subject-matter in controversy shall exceed five hundred dollars, and in all criminal cases, writs of error and appeals shall lie from the district court for Alaska or from any division thereof, to the circuit court of appeals for the ninth circuit, and the judgments, orders, and decrees of said court shall be final in all such cases. But whenever such circuit court of appeals may desire the instruction of the Supreme Court of the United States upon any question or proposition of law which shall have arisen in any such case, the court may certify such question or proposition to the Supreme Court, and thereupon the Supreme Court shall give its instruction upon the question or proposition certified to it, and its instructions shall be binding upon the circuit court of appeals.

[36 Stat. 1135–1158 omitted (24 pages)]

Territory has, after such judgment or decree, been admitted as a State; and the Supreme Court shall direct the mandate to such court as the nature of the writ of error or appeal requires.

Sec. 250. Any final judgment or decree of the court of appeals of the District of Columbia may be reexamined and affirmed, reversed, or modified by the Supreme Court of the United States, upon writ of error or appeal, in the following cases:

First. In cases in which the jurisdiction of the trial court is in issue; but when any such case is not otherwise reviewable in said Supreme Court, then the question of jurisdiction alone shall be certified to said Supreme Court for decision.

Second. In prize cases.

Third. In cases involving the construction or application of the Constitution of the United States, or the constitutionality of any law of the United States, or the validity or construction of any treaty made under its authority.

Fourth. In cases in which the constitution, or any law of a State, is claimed to be in contravention of the Constitution of the United States.

Fifth. In cases in which the validity of any authority exercised under the United States, or the existence or scope of any power or duty of an officer of the United States is drawn in question.

Sixth. In cases in which the construction of any law of the United States is drawn in question by the defendant.

Except as provided in the next succeeding section, the judgments and decrees of said court of appeals shall be final in all cases arising under the patent laws, the copyright laws, the revenue laws, the criminal laws, and in admiralty cases; and, except as provided in the next succeeding section, the judgments and decrees of said court of appeals shall be final in all cases not reviewable as hereinbefore provided.

Writs of error and appeals shall be taken within the same time, in the same manner, and under the same regulations as writs of error and appeals are taken from the circuit courts of appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Sec. 251. In any case in which the judgment or decree of said court of appeals is made final by the section last preceding, it shall be competent for the Supreme Court of the United States to require, by certiorari or otherwise, any such case to be certified to it for its review and determination, with the same power and authority in the case as if it had been carried by writ of error or appeal to said Supreme Court. It shall also be competent for said court of appeals, in any case in which its judgment or decree is made final under the section last preceding, at any time to certify to the Supreme Court of the United States any questions or propositions of law concerning which it desires the instruction of that court for their proper decision; and thereupon the Supreme Court may either give its instruction on the questions and propositions certified to it, which shall be binding upon said court of appeals in such case, or it may require that the whole record and cause be sent up to it for its consideration, and thereupon shall decide the whole matter in controversy in the same manner as if it had been brought there for review by writ of error or appeal.

Sec. 252. The Supreme Court of the United States is hereby invested with appellate jurisdiction of controversies arising in bankruptcy proceedings, from the courts of bankruptcy, from which it has appellate jurisdiction in other cases; and shall exercise a like jurisdiction from courts of bankruptcy not within any organized circuit of the United States and from the supreme court of the District of Columbia.

An appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States from any final decision of a court of appeals allowing or rejecting a claim under the laws relating to bankruptcy, under such rules and within such time as may be prescribed by said Supreme Court, in the following cases and no other:

First. Where the amount in controversy exceeds the sum of two thousand dollars, and the question involved is one which might have been taken on appeal or writ of error from the highest court of a State to the Supreme Court of the United States; or

Second. Where some justice of the Supreme Court shall certify that in his opinion the determination of the question involved in the allowance or rejection of such claim is essential to a uniform construction of the laws relating to bankruptcy throughout the United States.

Controversies may be certified to the Supreme Court of the United States from other courts of the United States, and the former court may exercise jurisdiction thereof, and may issue writs of certiorari pursuant to the provisions of the United States laws now in force or such as may be hereafter enacted.

Sec. 253. Cases on writ of error to revise the judgment of a State court in any criminal case shall have precedence on the docket of the Supreme Court, of all cases to which the Government of the United States is not a party, excepting only such cases as the court, in its discretion, may decide to be of public importance.

Sec. 254. There shall be taxed against the losing party in each and every cause pending in the Supreme Court the cost of printing the record in such case, except when the judgment is against the United States.

Sec. 255. Any woman who shall have been a member of the bar of the highest court of any State or Territory, or of the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, for the space of three years, and shall have maintained a good standing before such court, and who shall be a person of good moral character, shall, on motion, and the production of such record, be admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Chapter Eleven.

Provisions Common to More Than One Court.

Sec.

256.	Cases in which jurisdiction of United States courts shall be exclusive of State courts.
257.	Oath of United States judges.
258.	Judges prohibited from practicing law.
259.	Traveling expenses, etc., of circuit justices and circuit and district judges.
260.	Salary of judges after resignation.
261.	Writs of ne exeat.
262.	Power to issue writs.
263.	Temporary restraining orders.
264.	Injunctions; in what cases judge may grant.
265.	Injunctions to stay proceedings in State courts.
266.	Injunctions based upon alleged unconstitutionality of State statutes; when and by whom may be granted.
267.	When suits in equity may be maintained.
268.	Power to administer oaths and punish contempts.
269.	New trials.
270.	Power to hold to security for the peace and good behavior.
271.	Power to enforce awards of foreign consuls, etc., in certain cases.
272.	Parties may manage their causes personally or by counsel.
273.	Certain officers forbidden to act as attorneys.
274.	Penalty for violating preceding section.

Sec. 256. The jurisdiction vested in the courts of the United States in the cases and proceedings hereinafter mentioned, shall be exclusive of the courts of the several States:

First. Of all crimes and offenses cognizable under the authority of the United States.

Second. Of all suits for penalties and forfeitures incurred under the laws of the United States.

Third. Of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; saving to suitors, in all cases, the right of a common-law remedy, where the common law is competent to give it.

Fourth. Of all seizures under the laws of the United States, on land or on waters not within admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; of all prizes brought into the United States; and of all proceedings for the condemnation of property taken as prize.

Fifth. Of all cases arising under the patent-right, or copyright laws of the United States.

Sixth. Of all matters and proceedings in bankruptcy.

Seventh. Of all controversies of a civil nature, where a State is a party, except between a State and its citizens, or between a State and citizens of other States, or aliens.

Eighth. Of all suits and proceedings against ambassadors, or other public ministers, or their domestics, or domestic servants, or against consuls or vice-consuls.

Sec. 257. The justices of the Supreme Court, the circuit judges, and the district judges, hereafter appointed, shall take the following oath before they proceed to perform the duties of their respective offices: “I, ——— ———, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as ——— according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution and laws of the United States: So help me God.”

Sec. 258. It shall not be lawful for any judge appointed under the authority of the United States to exercise the profession or employment of counsel or attorney, or to be engaged in the practice of the law. Any person offending against the prohibition of this section shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor.

Sec. 259. The circuit justices, the circuit and district judges of the United States, and the judges of the district courts of the United States in Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico, shall each be allowed and paid his necessary expenses of travel, and his reasonable expenses (not to exceed ten dollars per day) actually incurred for maintenance, consequent upon his attending court or transacting other official business in pursuance of law at any place other than his official place of residence, said expenses to be paid by the marshal of the district in which such court is held or official business transacted, upon the written certificate of the justice or judge. The official place of residence of each justice and of each circuit judge while assigned to the Commerce Court shall be at Washington; and the official place of residence of each circuit and district judge, and of each judge of the district courts of the United States in Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico, shall be at that place nearest his actual residence at which either a circuit court of appeals or a district court is regularly held. Every such judge shall, upon his appointment, and from time to time thereafter whenever he may change his official residence, in writing notify the Department of Justice of his official place of residence.

Sec. 260. When any judge of any court of the United States appointed to hold his office during good behavior resigns his office, after having held a commission or commissions as judge of any such court or courts at least ten years continuously, and having attained the age of seventy years, he shall, during the residue of his natural life, receive the salary which is payable at the time of his retirement for the office that he held at the time of his resignation.

Sec. 261. Writs of ne exeat may be granted by any justice of the Supreme Court, in cases where they might be granted by the Supreme Court; and by any district judge, in cases where they might be granted by the district court of which he is a judge. But no writ of ne exeat shall be granted unless a suit in equity is commenced, and satisfactory proof is made to the court or judge granting the same that the defendant designs quickly to depart from the United States.

Sec. 262. The Supreme Court and the district courts shall have power to issue writs of scire facias. The Supreme Court, the circuit courts of appeals, and the district courts shall have power to issue all writs not specifically provided for by statute, which may be necessary for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions, and agreeable to the usages and principles of law.

Sec. 263. Whenever notice is given of a motion for an injunction out of a district court, the court or judge thereof may, if there appears to be danger of irreparable injury from delay, grant an order restraining the act sought to be enjoined until the decision upon the motion; and such order may be granted with or without security, in the discretion of the court or judge.

Sec. 264. Writs of injunction may be granted by any justice of the Supreme Court in cases where they might be granted by the Supreme Court; and by any judge of a district court in cases where they might be granted by such court. But no justice of the Supreme Court shall hear or allow any application for an injunction or restraining order in any cause pending in the circuit to which he is allotted, elsewhere than within such circuit, or at such place outside of the same as the parties may stipulate in writing, except when it can not be heard by the district judge of the district. In case of the absence from the district of the district judge, or of his disability, any circuit judge of the circuit in which the district is situated may grant an injunction or restraining order in any case pending in the district court, where the same might be granted by the district judge.

Sec. 265. The writ of injunction shall not be granted by any court of the United States to stay proceedings in any court of a State, except in cases where such injunction may be authorized by any law relating to proceedings in bankruptcy.

Sec. 266. No interlocutory injunction suspending or restraining the enforcement, operation, or execution of any statute of a State by restraining the action of any officer of such State in the enforcement or execution of such statute, shall be issued or granted by any justice of the Supreme Court, or by any district court of the United States, or by any judge thereof, or by any circuit judge acting as district judge, upon the ground of the unconstitutionality of such statute, unless the application for the same shall be presented to a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, or to a circuit or district judge, and shall be heard and determined by three judges, of whom at least one shall be a justice of the Supreme Court, or a circuit judge, and the other two may be either circuit or district judges, and unless a majority of said three judges shall concur in granting such application. Whenever such application as aforesaid is presented to a justice of the Supreme Court, or to a judge, he shall immediately call to his assistance to hear and determine the application two other judges: Provided, however, That one of such three judges shall be a justice of the Supreme Court, or a circuit judge. Said application shall not be heard or determined before at least five days’ notice of the hearing has been given to the governor and to the attorney general of the State, and to such other persons as may be defendants in the suit: Provided, That if of opinion that irreparable loss or damage would result to the complainant unless a temporary restraining order is granted, any justice of the Supreme Court, or any circuit or district

[36 Stat. 1163–1168 omitted (6 pages)]

the circuit courts of the United States, and to regulate the removal of causes from State courts, and for other purposes,’ approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-five,” approved August thirteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight.

“An Act to withdraw from the Supreme Court jurisdiction of criminal cases not capital and confer the same on the circuit courts of appeals,” approved January twentieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven.

“An Act to amend sections one and two of the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, Twenty-fourth Statutes at Large, chapter three hundred and fifty-nine,” approved June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.

“An Act to amend the seventh section of the Act entitled ‘An Act to establish circuit courts of appeals and to define and regulate in certain cases the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States, and for other purposes,’ approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and the several Acts amendatory thereto,” approved April fourteenth, nineteen hundred and six.

All Acts and parts of Acts authorizing the appointment of United States circuit or district judges, or creating or changing judicial circuits, or judicial districts or divisions thereof, or fixing or changing the times or places of holding court therein, enacted prior to February first, nineteen hundred and eleven.

Sections one, two, three, four, five, the first paragraph of section six, and section seventeen of an Act entitled “An Act to create a commerce court, and to amend an Act entitled ‘An Act to regulate commerce,’ approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, as heretofore amended, and for other purposes,” approved June eighteenth, nineteen hundred and ten.

Also all other Acts and parts of Acts, in so far as they are embraced within and superseded by this Act, are hereby repealed; the remaining portions thereof to be and remain in force with the same effect and to the same extent as if this Act had not been passed.

Sec. 298. The repeal of existing laws providing for the appointment of judges and other officers mentioned in this Act, or affecting the organization of the courts, shall not be construed to affect the tenure of office of the incumbents (except the office be abolished), but they shall continue to hold their respective offices during the terms for which appointed, unless removed as provided by law; nor (except the office be abolished) shall such repeal affect the salary or fees or compensation of any officer or person holding office or position by virtue of any law.

Sec. 299. The repeal of existing laws, or the amendments thereof, embraced in this Act, shall not affect any act done, or any right accruing or accrued, or any suit or proceeding, including those pending on writ of error, appeal, certificate, or writ of certiorari, in any appellate court referred to or included within, the provisions of this Act, pending at the time of the taking effect of this Act, but all such suits and proceedings, and suits and proceedings for causes arising or acts done prior to such date, may be commenced and prosecuted within the same time, and with the same effect, as if said repeal or amendments had not been made.

Sec. 300. All offenses committed, and all penalties, forfeitures, or liabilities incurred prior to the taking effect hereof, under any law embraced in, amended, or repealed by this Act, may be prosecuted and punished, or sued for and recovered, in the district courts, in the same manner and with the same effect as if this Act had not been passed.

Sec. 301. This Act shall take effect and be in force on and after January first, nineteen hundred and twelve.

Approved, March 3, 1911.