Territorial jurisdiction

“ In other words the power conferred rests upon a real, not an imaginary, base. This being true, we are of opinion that a Federal court has not jurisdiction over a person not within its territorial jurisdiction, or over property in the custody of such person, not within such territorial jurisdiction, merely because a state court may, as to such person and such property, because of some proceeding pending before it, have the authority to treat both the persons and property as constructively present and subject to its jurisdiction. ”

“ Knowledge by congress of the boundaries of a state and of its political subdivisions may reasonably be presumed, as much of its legislation is affected by them, such as relate to the territorial jurisdiction of the courts of the United States, the extent of their collection districts, and of districts in which process, civil and criminal, of their courts may be served and enforced. ”

“ They are not organized under the Constitution, nor subject to its complex distribution of the powers of government, as the organic law; but are the creations, exclusively, of the legislative department, and subject to its supervision and control. Whether, or not, there are provisions in that instrument which extend to and act upon these Territorial governments, it is not now material to examine. We are speaking here of those provisions that refer particularly to the distinction between Federal and State jurisdiction. ”

“ We cannot believe that Congress intended after territorial or state organization to require the guardian to procure the approval and order of a court before disposition of the ward's lands, and before the organization of a territory or state to permit the guardian, who was required to be appointed by the United States Court for the Indian Territory, which court had jurisdiction over the sale of the lands of the ward upon application of the guardian, to dispose of the ward's interests in lands without judicial approval. ”

“ Whenever Congress has proceeded to organize a government for any of the Territories, it has merely instituted a general system of courts therefor, and has committed to the Territorial assembly full power, subject to a few specified or implied conditions, of supplying all details of legislation necessary to put the system into operation, even to the defining of the jurisdiction of the several courts. ”

“ But when a territory is admitted into the Union as a state, upon the same footing as all the other states, the territorial government and courts cease to exist, and matters of national cognizance remain within the power and jurisdiction of the nation, but other matters come under the power and jurisdiction of the state ”

“ Our jurisdiction to review judgments of territorial courts is found in the statute approved April 7, 1874, chapter 80, entitled "An Act Concerning the Practice in Territorial Courts, and Appeals Therefrom." ”

“ Existing territories are all organized under organic acts containing similar provisions, and in most or all the Federal power is vested in a supreme court, district courts, probate courts, and justices of the peace; and the organic act of each describes the jurisdiction of the district courts in substantially the same language, which is also found in the organic acts of former territories since admitted as States. ”

“ Out of the savage tribe grew up the barbarian village community; and a new, still wider, circle of social customs, habits, and institutions, numbers of which are still alive among ourselves, was developed under the principles of common possession of a given territory and common defence of it, under the jurisdiction of the village folkmote, and in the federation of villages belonging, or supposed to belong, to one stem. And when new requirements induced men to make a new start, they made it in the city, which represented a double network of territorial units (village communities) ”

“ While the 34th section of the Judiciary Act is not applicable to territories, the arguments of policy in favor of having the state courts declare the law of the state are applicable to the question of whether or not territorial courts should declare the law of the territories with the least possible interference. ”

“ In some of the acts organizing portions of the territory under separate territorial governments, it is declared that the rights and privileges granted by the ordinance are secured to the inhabitants of those territories. Yet, from the very conditions on which the states formed out of that territory were admitted into the Union, the provisions of the ordinance became inoperative excepts as adopted by them. ”

“ Neff, 95 U.S. 714, from which it will be sufficient to quote a few sentences: 'Every state possesses exclusive jurisdiction and sovereignty over persons and property within its territory,' and 'no state can exercise direct jurisdiction and authority over persons or property without its territory.' Page 722. ”

“ Concluding, as we do, that the question whether the complainant has ever made a proper selection of land in lieu of the land relinquished, has never been decided by the Land Department, but is still properly before that department, the courts cannot take jurisdiction and proceed to decide such question themselves. The government has provided a special tribunal for the decision of such a question arising out of the administration of its public land laws, and that jurisdiction cannot be taken away from it by the courts. ”

“ And it is incongruous to consider, as the Court's holding would seem to imply, that in the 'interest of justice' Congress sought in § 1406 (a) to deal with the transfer of cases where both venue and jurisdiction are lacking in the district where the action is commenced, while neglecting to provide any comparable alleviative measures for the plaintiff who selects a district where venue is proper but where personal jurisdiction cannot be obtained. ”

“ Not to repeat what is said on this subject, in 14 How. 531, it may be added, that these incorporeal rights do not exist in any particular State or district; they are coextensive with the United States. There is nothing in any act of congress, or in the nature of the rights themselves, to give them locality anywhere so as to subject them to the process of courts having jurisdiction limited by the lines of States and districts. ”

“ In so large a territory as the jurisdiction of the general government embraces, in so many and so diversified topics as come before it, and in the nature of its supervisory powers on certain subjects, requiring action only on what is general and foreign, and to produce uniformity merely as to that, it becomes almost inevitable that many local matters and details must be left to be regulated by some local authorities. ”

“ The ordinance of 1787 guaranteed that 'judicial proceedings' in the Territory should be 'according to the course of the common law.' In 1795, the Territorial governor and judges adopted that law for the Territory. ”