Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, for the pur-

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pose of trying all issues of fact, triable by a jury in the District Court of the United States for the district of Iowa, as established by the act entitled "An Act supplemental to the act for the admission of the States of Iowa and Florida into the Union," approved third March, eighteen hundred and forty-five, the said district shall be separated into three divisions, as follows, to wit: All that part of said district lying within the Dubuque land district, as altered by the "Act to establish an additional land district in Iowa," approved eighth August, eighteen hundred and forty-six, shall constitute the northern division, and a regular term of said court for said division shall be held annually at Dubuque, to commence on the first Monday in January; all that part of said district lying within the Iowa land district, as established by the "Act to establish an additional land district in Iowa," approved eighth August, eighteen hundred and forty-six, shall constitute the middle division, and a regular term of said court for this division shall be held annually at Iowa city, to commence on the first Monday in October; and the residue of the State of Iowa shall constitute the southern division, and a regular term of said court for this division shall be held annually at Burlington, to commence on the first Monday in June; and should the judge of the said district court fail to attend at the time and place of holding any one of the regular terms of the court, for either of the said divisions of the aforesaid district, before the close of the fourth day of any such term, the business pending in such court shall stand adjourned to the next regular term thereof: Provided, That whenever the judge of said court, from any cause, shall fail to hold a regular term of said court for either of said divisions, it shall be his duty, if in his opinion the business in said court shall require, to hold an intermediate term of said court, at such time as he shall, by his order, under his hand and seal, direct, addressed to the clerk and marshal of said court, at least thirty days previous to the commencement of said term, and to be published, in the several newspapers published in the bounds of said division and district, the same length of time; and, at any and all such intermediate terms, the business of any such courts, of every nature and description whatsoever, shall have reference to, and be proceeded with, in the same manner as if the same were a regular term of the said court. And all such issues of fact shall be tried at a term of said court, to be held in the division where such suit should hereafter be commenced, in accordance with the third section of this act. But nothing herein contained shall prevent the said District Court, by general rule, from regulating the venue of transitory actions, either in law or in equity, and from changing the same for a good cause to be shown.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That all issues now pending in the said District Court shall be tried at the places above prescribed for holding such court, within the division where the cause of action may have arisen, unless otherwise ordered by said court, in pursuance of the authority given in the first section of this act; and no process issued, or proceedings pending, in the said District Court shall be avoided or impaired by this change of the time and place of holding such court; but all process, bail bonds, and recognizances, returnable at the next term of the said court, shall be returnable and returned to the court next held at the appropriate place, according to this act, in the same manner as if so made returnable on the face thereof, and shall have full effect accordingly; and all continuances may be made to conform to the provisions of this act.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all suits hereafter to be brought in the said District Court, not of a local nature, shall be brought in a court of the division of the district where the defendant resides; but if there be more than one defendant, and they reside in different

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divisions of the district, the plaintiff may sue in either division, and send duplicate writ or writs to the other defendants; on which the plaintiff or his attorney shall endorse that the writ thus sent is a copy of a writ sued out of a court of the proper division of the said district; and the said writs, when executed and returned into the office from which they issued, shall constitute one suit, and be proceeded in accordingly.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the clerk of the District Court for the district of Iowa to appoint a deputy at each of the places prescribed for holding terms of the said court, who, in his absence, may exercise all the official powers of the said clerk, at the place and within the division of the said district for which he may have been appointed. And such deputy, before he enters on the discharge of his duties, shall take the usual oath for the faithful performance of his duties as such deputy. And nothing herein contained shall be held to excuse or release the said clerk from legal responsibility for acts performed by his said deputy, in behalf of said clerk in the office aforesaid.

Sec. 5. That the district attorney and marshal of the district of Iowa shall, respectively, perform the duties of district attorney and marshal of and for the northern, middle, and southern divisions of the district of Iowa, as established by this act; and the said marshal shall keep an office at each of the places where the sessions of the said District Court are directed to be held, and his charges for mileage, in the execution of the duties of his office within the said district, shall be computed from the city of Iowa.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That in addition to the ordinary jurisdiction and powers of a District Court of the United States, with which the District Court of Iowa has been invested, it be, and is hereby, invested, within the limits of said district, with the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction and power in all civil cases now exercised by the Circuit Courts of the United States; and that in all cases where said court shall exercise such jurisdiction, writs of error and appeals shall be allowed and taken from the judgment, orders, or decrees of said court to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the same manner and upon the same conditions as appeals may be taken from the Circuit Courts.

Sec.7. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Approved, March 3, 1849.