Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

provided, however, That justices of the peace shall not have jurisdiction of any matter of controversy, when the title of boundaries of land may be in dispute, or where the debt or sum claimed, exceeds fifty dollars. And the said supreme and district courts, respectively, shall possess chancery as well as common law jurisdiction. Each district court shall appoint its clerk, who shall keep his office at the place where the court may be held, and the said clerks shall also be the registers in chancery; and any vacancy in said office of clerk happening in the vacation of said court, may be filled by the judge of said district, which appointment shall continue until the next term of said court. And writs of error, bills of exception, and appeals in chancery causes, shall be allowed in all cases from the final decisions of said district courts to the supreme court, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law; but in no case removed to the supreme court, shall a trial by jury be allowed in said court. The supreme court may appoint its own clerk, and every clerk shall hold his office at the pleasure of the court by which he shall have been appointed. And writs of error and appeals from the final decisions of the said supreme court shall be allowed and taken to the supreme court of the United States, in the same manner, and under the same regulations, as from the circuit courts of the United States, where the value of the property, or the amount in controversy, to be ascertained by the oath or affirmation of either party, shall exceed one thousand dollars. And each of the said district courts shall have and exercise the same jurisdiction, in all cases arising under the constitution and laws of the United States, as is vested in the circuit and district court of the United States. And the first six days of every term of the said courts, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the said constitution and laws. And writs of error, and appeals from the final decisions of the said courts, in all such cases, shall be made to the supreme court of the territory, in the same manner as in other cases. The said clerks shall receive, in all such cases, the same fees which the clerk of the district court of the United States, in the northern district of the state of New York, receives for similar services.

SECTION 10. And be it further enacted, That there shall be an attorney for the said territory appointed, who shall continue in office four years unless sooner removed by the president, and who shall receive the same fees and salary as the attorney of the United States for the Michigan territory. There shall also be a marshal for the territory appointed, who shall hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the president, who shall execute all process issuing from the said courts, when exercising their juris

diction of circuit and district courts of the United States. He shall perform the same duties, be subject to the same regulations and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees, as the marshal of the district court of the United States for the northern district of the state of New York; and shall, in addition, be paid the sum of two hundred dollars, annually, as a compensation for extra services.

SECTION 11. And be it further enacted, That the governor, secretary, chief justice and associate judges, attorney and marshal, shall be nominated, and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appointed by the president of the United States. The governor and secretary, to be appointed as aforesaid, shall, before they act as such, respectively take an oath or affirmation before some judge or justice of the peace, in the existing territory of Michigan, duly commissioned and qualified to administer an oath or affirmation, to support the constitution of the United States, and for the faithful discharge of the duties of their respective offices; which said oaths, when so taken, shall be certified by the person before whom the same shall have been taken, and such certificate shall be received and recorded by the said secretary among the executive proceedings. And, afterwards, the chief justice, and associate judges, and all other civil officers in said territory, before they act as such, shall take a like oath or affirmation before the said governor or secretary, or some judge or justice of the territory who may be duly commissioned and qualified, which said oath or affirmation shall be certified and transmitted by the person taking the same to the secretary, to be by him recorded as aforesaid; and afterwards, the like oath or affirmation shall be taken, certified and recorded, in such manner and form as may be prescribed by law. The governor shall receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars for his services as governor, and as superintendent of Indian affairs. The said chief justice and associate judges, shall each receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars. The secretary shall receive an annual salary of twelve hundred dollars. The said salaries shall be paid quarter-yearly, at the treasury of the United States. The members of the legislative assembly shall be entitled to receive three dollars each per day, during their attendance at the sessions thereof; and three dollars each for every twenty miles travel in going to and returning from the said sessions, estimated according to the nearest usually travelled route. There shall be appropriated annually, the sum of three hundred and fifty dollars, to be expended by the governor to defray the contingent expenses of the territory; and there shall also be propriated, annually, a sufficient sum, to be expended by the sec

ap

retary of the territory, and upon an estimate to be made by the secretary of the treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of the legislative assembly, the printing of the laws, and other incidental expenses; and the secretary of the territory shall annually account to the secretary of the treasury of the United States for the manner in which the aforesaid sum shall have been expended.

SECTION 12. And be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of said territory shall be entitled to, and enjoy, all and singular, the rights, privileges and advantages, granted and secured to the people of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, by the articles of the compact contained in the ordinance for the government of the said territory, passed on the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven; and shall be subject to all the conditions and restrictions and prohibitions in said articles of compact imposed upon the people of the said territory. The said inhabitants shall also be entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities heretofore granted and secured to the territory of Michigan, and to its inhabitants, and the existing laws of the territory of Michigan shall be extended over said territory, so far as the same be not incompatible with the provisions of this act, subject, nevertheless, to be altered, modified, or repealed, by the governor and legislative assemby of the said territory of Wisconsin; and further, the laws of the United States are hereby extended over, and shall be in force in said territory, so far as the same, or any provisions thereof, may be applicable.

SECTION 13. And be it further enacted, That the legislative assembly of the territory of Wisconsin shall hold its first session at such time and place in said territory as the governor thereof shall appoint and direct; and at said session or as soon thereafter as may by them be deemed expedient, the said governor and legislative assembly shall proceed to locate and establish the seat of government for said territory, at such place as they may deem eligible, which place, however, shall thereafter be subject to be changed by the said governor and legislative assembly. And twenty thousand dollars, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, is hereby given to the said territory, which shall be applied by the governor and legislative assembly to defray the expenses of erecting public buildings at the seat of gov

ernment.

SECTION 14. And be it further enacted, That a delegate to the house of representatives of the United States, to serve for the term of two years, may be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the legislative assembly, who shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as have been granted to the delegates from

the several territories of the United States to the said house of representatives. The first election shall be held at such time and place or places, and be conducted in such manner, as the governor shall appoint and direct. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected, and a certificate thereof shall be given to the person so elected.

SECTION 15. And be it further enacted, That all suits, process, and proceedings, and all indictments and informations, which shall be undetermined on the third day of July next, in the courts held by the additional judge for the Michigan territory, in the counties of Brown and Iowa; and all suits, process, and proceedings, and all indictments and informations, which shall be undetermined on the said third day of July, in the county courts of the several counties of Crawford, Brown, Iowa, Du Buque, Milwaukee and Desmoines, shall be transferred to be heard, tried, prosecuted, and determined in the district courts hereby established, which may in

clude the said counties.

SECTION 16. And be it further enacted, That all causes which shall have been, or may be removed from the courts held by the additional judge for the Michigan territory, in the counties of Brown and Iowa, by appeal or otherwise, into the supreme court for the territory of Michigan, and which shall be undetermined therein on the third day of July next, shall be certified by the clerk of the said supreme court, and transferred to the supreme court of said territory of Wisconsin, there to be proceeded in to final determination, in the same manner that they might have been in the said supreme court of the territory of Michigan.

SECTION 17. And be it further enacted, That the sum of five thousand dollars be and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended by and under the direction of the legislative assembly of said territory, in the purchase of a library for the accommodation of said assembly, and of the supreme court hereby established.

JAMES K. POLK, Speaker of the H. of Representatives.

Approved 20th April, 1836.

M. VAN BUREN,

Vice President of the U. S and
President of the Senate.

ANDREW JACKSON.

PROCLAMATION

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF THE TERRITORY OF WISCONSIN.

To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:

Know ye, that I, HENRY DODGE, governor of the territory of Wisconsin, by virtue of the power in me vested by the act of congress, passed on the 20th day of April, 1836, for the organization of the said territory of Wisconsin, having caused the census of said territory to be taken according to the provisions of said actTherefore, I do hereby proclaim and declare, that I have apportioned the members of the council and house of representatives, amongst the several counties of the territory, as follows, viz:

To the county of Des Moines, seven members of the house of representatives, and three members of the council.

To the county of Du Buque, five members of the house of representatives, and three members of the council.

To the county of Iowa, six members of the house of representatives, and three members of the council.

To the county of Brown, three members of the house of representatives, and two members of the council.

To the county of Milwaukee, three members of the house of representatives, and two members of the council; and

To the county of Crawford, two members of the house of representatives.

And, I do further order and direct that the first election of the said members of the house of representatives and council, shall be held on the second Monday of October next ensuing—and that the sheriffs of the several counties within said territory, shall, within their respective counties, give at least ten days previous notice of the holding said election, by publishing the same in one or more newspapers, in each of said counties, if any there be, or by putting up at least five written or printed notices in each and every precinct hereinafter established in each of said counties.

And it is also further ordered, that for the more orderly conducting of said election, the electors present, on the day and at the place of election, may elect any three persons (who shall be

« AnteriorContinuar »