to the cause would be improved by the change. The later act of Congress provided also for the appointment of three district attorneys instead of one and likewise three marshals, one for each division of the court. The salary of each judge is $5,000 a year; of each marshal, $4,000; of each clerk, $3,500 and of each district attorney, $3,000. Appeals and writs of error may be taken to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the ninth circuit and to the Supreme Court at Washington, as in the case of the District Courts of the United States.

In recent years the third division of Alaska embracing the extreme western and most unfrequented portion of the Territory has witnessed a novel judicial innovation in the form of a floating court. This division is not only the most inaccessible by land but is nearest the seal fishing grounds over which so much international controversy has raged. The first trip of a revenue cutter made in this service was taken in the summer of 1910, and now every summer, usually in July, sees a revenue cutter leaving Valdez carrying a judge, district attorney, court officials and counsel who may be assigned to defend criminals when not otherwise provided. Four junior officers of the vessel are usually sworn in as United States Commissioners, and four others as deputy marshals. The sessions of the court are necessarily arranged by schedule. Usually they are held in a room provided at the particular port of call but often it is necessary, through want of other facilities, to hold trials and hearings on shipboard. The cutter carrying the court is expected also to bring back to Valdez for trial any Japanese seal poachers or other offenders in particular cases. One of the most frequent offences which calls for the attention of the floating court is the illicit distilling of alcoholic liquors. Not one of the least difficulties to be overcome is the finding of a sufficient number of citizens to serve as jurors. It is often necessary to supply a deficiency from the officers and men of the revenue cutters crew. If, in any event, a jury cannot be empanelled, the case is carried back to Valdez for trial. The floating court has been found to be most practical and

efficient in meeting the conditions in the milder portions of Alaska.

In Porto Rico the first court established under the American occupation was a provisional court of three judges, one civil and two military. This court had jurisdiction over all offences ordinarily cognizable in a United States court, and continued in operation for ten months dating from June, 1899. It did good work and tended to strengthen the faith of the native population in American rule. In July and August of the same year a re-organization of the local judiciary was effected by military orders. The municipal courts under the Spanish regime were retained and were given the duty of holding preliminary hearings in criminal cases. The civil jurisdiction, formerly exercised by these courts, was transferred to five newly created District Courts. An insular Supreme Court composed of five justices, was created to take the place of the Spanish Supreme Court at Madrid. The mayors' courts were retained and were given jurisdiction over all violations of a series of ordinances formulated by order of the military governor. The Organic Act of the twelfth of April, 1900, established a United States District Court which exercises the same jurisdiction as a District Court in the United States proper. In March, 1903, the Legislative Assembly very considerably enlarged the appellate powers of the Insular Supreme Court. The new law provides that the Supreme Court of Porto Rico is no longer to be restricted to errors in procedure or of law only but may take cognizance of facts and proceedings in the case as they appear in the record, in short the court became a Court of Appeals and not a court of cassation. The great reform in judicial procedure which American occupation has accomplished is the introduction of trial by jury, a privilege not hitherto enjoyed by the Porto Ricans. The first act of the Legislative Assembly which met on the third of December, 1900, was to draft a general declaration establishing trial by jury in criminal cases involving a penalty of death or imprisonment of two years or more in a penal institution of Porto Rico. A general Jury Procedure Act soon followed

and both statutes went into effect on the first of April, 1901. The importance of the reform to the Porto Ricans may be realized from the following paragraph telling of previous conditions in the island.

This sudden introduction of a system of criminal procedure totally different from anything that had previously existed in the island was viewed with much concern by the more conservative elements of the population. The Spanish government had persistently refused to extend trial by jury to the colonial provinces, on the ground that the experiments with the system in the mother country had been most unsatisfactory. Spanish statesmen were mindful of the fact that the jury system involved the participation of the native element in public affairs, and on this ground also should be discouraged. In fact, throughout the period of Spanish rule the government had impressed upon the native population the doctrine that their duty was obedience to the home government, and that it was the province of the representatives of the Crown to see to the maintenance of order and secure respect for the law. This policy was largely responsible for the tendency of the native population to regard itself as privileged to do everything that was not forbidden by the government and to feel no responsibility to co-operate with the government for the advancement of the public welfare.1

1 For Judiciary of Porto Rico see United States and Porto Rico by Prof. L. S. Rowe.

CHAPTER IX

COURTS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

There are four sets of courts in the District of Columbia,Court of Appeals, Supreme Court, Police Court and the Courts of the Justices of the Peace. As thus constituted the judiciary of the district was established by Congress in an act entitled "An Act to establish a code of law for the District of Columbia," approved the third of March, 1901, as amended by the acts approved the thirty-first of January, and the thirtieth of June, 1902, and subsequent acts to and including the third of March, 1905. Concerning the laws remaining in force, Section One of this act provides that "the common law, all British statutes in force in Maryland on the twenty-seventh day of February, eighteen hundred and one, the principles of equity and admiralty, all general acts of Congress not locally inapplicable in the District of Columbia, and all acts of Congress by their terms applicable to the District of Columbia and to other places under the jurisdiction of the United States, in force at the date of the passage of this act shall remain in force except in so far as the same are inconsistent with, or are replaced by, some provision of this code."

The justices of the peace and the police courts are classed under the general head of Inferior Courts, and the other tribunals are designated Superior Courts. The justices of the peace are six in number, and are appointed by the president for terms of four years, subject to removal by the Supreme Court of the district for incompetency or official misconduct. The appointee must have been a resident of the district for a period of not less than five years immediately preceding his appointment, and must also either have held the office of justice of the peace for two years or have

been engaged in the practice of law before the Supreme Court of the district for five years prior to his appointment. The Supreme Court is empowered to divide the district. from time to time into subdistricts and to each, assign a justice of the peace. These subdistricts may be shifted or the assignments of justices changed in the discretion of the Supreme Court of the District as the volume and convenience of the business may require. Each justice receives an annual salary of $3,000 and is allowed $250 in addition for rent, stationery and other expenses.

The justices of the peace have jurisdiction in all civil cases in which the amount claimed to be due for debt or damages arising out of contracts, express or implied, or damages for wrongs or injuries to persons or property, does not exceed $300, including all proceedings by attachment or in replevin where the amount claimed or the value of the property involved does not exceed that sum, except in cases involving the title to real estate, actions to recover damages for assault or assault and battery, or for malicious prosecution, or actions against justices of the peace or other officers for official misconduct, or actions for slander or libel, or actions on promises to marry. This jurisdiction is exclusive when the amount claimed for debt or damages or the value of personal property claimed does not exceed $50. If the amount involved exceeds $50 this jurisdiction is concurrent with the Supreme Court of the district. No case before a justice of the peace can be tried by jury. When the debt or demand or the value of personal property claimed exceeds five dollars and in actions for the recovery of real estate either party may appeal from the judgment or final order of a justice of the peace to the Supreme Court of the District. Such appeal must be taken within six days after the entering of the judgment.

The police court of the District consists of two judges who are appointed by the president, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The annual salary of each judge is $3,000 and the term is six years, or until a successor is appointed. Each judge may hold a court at the same time