How jurisdiction is determined.
When any dispute arises between individuals or corporations the lawyers who bring the suit determine whether the matter is one for the federal or the state courts to hear. This they do by considering whether the controversy comes within any of the classes named in the constitutional provision just mentioned. If they find that it does, the suit is usually commenced in the federal courts; otherwise it is begun in the state courts. Most suits begin in the lowest court, and, if the decision is not satisfactory, can be carried on appeal to the higher federal or state courts as the case may be, until finally a very small proportion of them reach the Supreme Court.[[141]] But not all cases which are heard in the lower federal courts, or in the state courts, can be brought up to the Supreme Court of the United States. If that were permitted, the Supreme Court would never be able to handle all the business which would come before it. From the lower federal courts only cases of great importance can be brought to it, and from the state courts only controversies in which some provision of the national constitution is involved.
The Lower Federal Courts.—The lower federal courts are called district and circuit courts. The country is divided into about one hundred judicial districts, in each of which there is a United States district court with a judge, a marshall, and a district attorney, all appointed by the President. Next above these courts are the circuit courts of appeals. There are nine of these courts, each having jurisdiction within a certain section of the country. A circuit court of appeals has from two to four judges, appointed by the President, and also has its own court officials. These courts derive their name from the fact that they go “on circuit”, that is, they move about from one large city to another within their respective sections of the country holding sessions in each. In most cases they have final jurisdiction.[[142]]
The Law
What is Meant by the Law.—Having outlined the organization and jurisdiction of the federal courts, the question next arises: What branches of law do American courts administer? We often speak of the courts as administering “justice ”, and it is no doubt true that their decisions usually@ possess the quality of justice; but what the courts really administer is the law. The law may be just or unjust, and it is very difficult, if not impossible, for any court to wring justice out of an unjust law. Where injustice is done, the law and not the court is in most cases to blame.
How the common law developed.
The Common Law.—Speaking broadly the system of jurisprudence which American courts administer is made up of three branches, known as common law, statutory law, and equity. Of these the common law is made up of various time-honored usages, some of which go back many hundreds of years. The common law began its growth in mediaeval England when there were very few written rules, and the courts found it necessary to decide cases in accordance with the usages or customs of the people. Gradually these decisions became uniform, one court following the example of another, until this body of usages interpreted by judicial decision became “common” or universal throughout the whole realm of England although it had never been so established by any action of parliament. Thus the rule developed that no man should be compelled to testify against himself, that mere hearsay should not (with certain exceptions) be received as evidence, that all witnesses should be put upon oath, that questions of fact should be decided by juries, that agreements to restrain trade in an unreasonable manner were punishable, and so on.[[143]] During several centuries a great body of legal rules developed in this way and the system of common law was brought by the English colonists to America, where it speedily took root and was administered by the colonial courts.[[144]] After the Revolution it was continued and it still remains the groundwork of the law in all the states except Louisiana. Of course it has been gradually modified during the past hundred or more years by court decisions and by statutes, and it still keeps on changing.
Statutory Law.—Second, there is statutory law. This is law made by definite action of the people or their representatives. Constitutions are in effect statutory law, supreme statutory law. Laws enacted by the people through the initiative and referendum are statutory law. |Statutes.| Most statutory law, however, consists of laws made by Congress, by the state legislatures, by city councils, and by other regular lawmaking bodies.[[145]] These enactments supplement or alter the common law. Until a statute is passed affecting any question, the common law prevails. Whenever a statute conflicts with a provision of the common law, the statute prevails. But when ordinary statutes conflict with the constitution, the constitution prevails. Enormous numbers of statutes are enacted each year by Congress and the legislatures of the forty-eight states. They now form the larger part of the whole system of law.
The Need for Greater Uniformity in Statute Law.—In many matters of business the fact that the statutes are different in every one of the forty-eight states is a great disadvantage. When wholesale dealers sell goods on credit to merchants in far-off states they want to know just what the laws provide in the matter of collecting debts. The only way to do this is to enquire into the statutes of each state where goods are sold. So it is with wills, contracts, notes, and so on. In some states a will must have three witnesses; in others only two. The man who endorses a note in one state assumes greater liabilities than are assumed by endorsers somewhere else. To remedy this situation there is a strong movement to secure uniformity among all the states in the case of certain important statutes (for example, the statutes relating to sales). A commission of eminent lawyers has been at work for years preparing uniform laws on various subjects and some of these have been adopted by the legislatures of many states.[states.] A uniform statute relating to negotiable instruments (notes, bills of exchange, etc.) has now been adopted by more than forty states, and a uniform sales act by about a dozen of them.
Equity.—Finally, there is the branch of jurisprudence known as equity. People think of this word as implying something that is more just than the law, something which has its roots in the conscience of the judge rather than in the statute books. But equity as actually administered in the courts is made up of formal rules which the judges apply in certain cases without having much discretion in the matter. The rules of equity are written in books just like the rules of law, and they are about as precise.