Judiciary Act of 1802
The Judiciary Act of 1802 (2
The 1802 Act effectively cancelled the 1801 Act's legally-called-for reduction in the size of the
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passing of this act, the Supreme Court of the United States shall be holden by the justices thereof, or any four of them, at the city of Washington, and shall have one session in each and every year, to commence on the first Monday of February annually, and that if four of the said justices shall not attend within ten days after the time hereby appointed for the commencement of the said session, the business of the said court shall be continued over till the next stated session thereof. (bold added)
— Judiciary Act of 1802
The Act restructured the
Since the circuit courts were now to consist of only two judges, the Act permitted them to certify to the Supreme Court any question of law on which the two could not agree. Also, the district judge was not permitted to hear appeals of his own decisions, so appeals from the district courts were decided by the circuit justice alone. But the most important part of the Act was the provision that a quorum of only one judge was needed to convene a circuit court. As a result, Supreme Court justices could often rely on district court judges to convene circuit courts. With circuit riding largely optional, Supreme Court justices were no longer saddled with what they had previously felt was a tremendous burden. The Act's flexibility proved crucial to the demise of circuit riding, which essentially disappeared by 1840.
The Act also created additional
The Act established a United States District Court for the District of Columbia, although this court is not the direct predecessor of today's court bearing the same name.
The Act also postponed the dates of the Supreme Court term from the two months of June and December to the month of February of 1803. This effectively cancelled the Supreme Court term for the remainder of 1802.[2]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Landmark Legislation: Judiciary Act of 1802". Washington, D.C.: Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
- ^ "Landmark Legislation: Judiciary Act of 1802".
- Bruce Ackerman, The Failure of the Founding Fathers: Jefferson, Marshall, and the Rise of Presidential Democracy, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2005.
- Artemus Ward, Deciding to Leave: The Politics of Retirement from the United States Supreme Court, New York: SUNY Press, 2003.
Further reading
- James M. O'Fallon, The Case of Benjamin More: A Lost Episode in the Struggle over Repeal of the 1801 Judiciary Act, 11 Law & Hist. Rev. 43 (1993).