Records of the US District Courts for the Eastern District of Texas
Records Available at the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Fort Worth
Introduction
The Judiciary Act of September 24, 1789 created the United States district and circuit courts. These courts operated concurrently but with jurisdiction over different types of cases. District courts generally had original jurisdiction in admiralty and bankruptcy cases, in suits for penalties and seizures under federal laws, and jurisdiction in non-capital criminal proceedings and in law suits exceeding $100 in value in which the United States was the plaintiff. Circuit courts heard appeals from the district courts and had original jurisdiction over action involving aliens or citizens of different states and law and equity suits where the matter in dispute exceeded $500 (later $2,000). Congress added to the work of the circuit courts by conferring on the courts original jurisdiction in suits relating to infringement of patents and copy rights, violations of civil rights and elective franchise, registration of trademarks, unlawful restraints of trade and monopolies, and controversies between bankruptcy trustees and claimants to property held by the trustees.
In 1812 circuit courts were authorized to appoint U.S. commissioners to assist in the taking of bail and affidavits. Their functions were expanded by subsequent legislation and court rules, and their powers have included authority to issue arrest warrants, examine persons charged with offenses against federal laws, initiate actions in admiralty matters, and institute proceedings for violation of civil rights. In 1896 authority to appoint commissioners was transferred to the district courts. The Federal Magistrates Act of 1968 replaced U.S. commissioners with U.S. magistrates who exercise basically the same powers.
Separate circuit courts did not appear in Texas until after 1866. In 1891 the appellate jurisdiction of the circuit courts was transferred to the newly created courts of appeals (see Record Group 276). Since 1891, appeals from the United States district courts in Texas have gone to the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans. The Judiciary Act of 1911 abolished the circuit courts as of January 1, 1912, and provided for the transfer of their records and remaining jurisdiction to the district courts.
Most states initially had one district and one circuit court with additional districts created as the business of the courts increased. Many of the districts were divided into divisions with the court holding sessions in various cities within the district. When Texas was admitted to the Union in 1846, it was organized as one federal judicial district with court sessions held at Galveston. In 1857 Texas was divided into Eastern and Western Districts. Court sessions for the new Eastern District were held in Galveston and Brownsville while courts for the Western District were located in Austin and Tyler.
In 1879 Congress divided Texas into a third judicial district, Northern District of Texas, with court seats at Dallas, Graham, and Waco. When the Southern District of Texas was created in 1902, the judicial boundaries within the state were realigned, and the Waco court and its records were transferred to the Western District of Texas.
The four federal judicial districts in Texas presently contain twenty-seven court divisions. Each city that has a district court is a separate division. Court sessions no longer are held in the cities of Graham and Jefferson. Fires destroyed the records of the Paris court in 1916 and the Tyler court on November 17, 1878. None of the antebellum court records have been located for Galveston or Austin. A list of court divisions and their dates of establishment or termination is given in Appendix A.
Civil cases relating to the Spindletop oil field and asbestos litigation are listed in Appendix B.
The district and circuit courts were involved with the following types of proceedings:
Admiralty
Article III, section 2, of the Constitution provides that the judicial power of the United States shall extend "to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction." The Supreme Court has interpreted this grant of authority as extending not only over the high seas but over all public navigable waters as well. The Judiciary Act of 1789 conferred original jurisdiction in admiralty and maritime cases exclusively on the district courts of the United States with provision for admiralty appeals to the circuit courts. This provision was abolished in 1891 when the newly-created courts of appeals became the final courts of jurisdiction in admiralty. American admiralty law deals with such matters as prizes, ransom, and military salvage; suits to try title to a ship; actions to recover ships to which a party is entitled by right; and a variety of maritime contracts and torts. Suits and proceedings in admiralty may be "in rem," against a thing, usually a ship, or "in personam," against an individual.
Civil
Section 2 of an act of Congress, approved June 19, 1934, gave the Supreme Court of the United States authority to unite the general rules for equity and law proceedings into one form of civil procedures. On September 16, 1938, proposed Federal Rules of Civil Procedures became effective, and thereafter, law and equity actions were filed together as civil proceedings. Admiralty cases, civil lawsuits relating to violations of federal maritime laws, were separately from other civil proceedings until 1967. Beginning filed in that year, proceedings relating to maritime laws are identified as civil cases.
Law
As courts of common law jurisdiction, the U.S. district courts have possessed exclusive original jurisdiction over all seizures on land made under federal laws (libel in rem proceedings); exclusive original jurisdiction over suits for penalties and forfeitures incurred under federal laws (scire facias proceedings); concurrent jurisdiction with state courts and U.S. circuit courts over cases where an alien sued for a legal remedy when a law of nations or a treaty of the United States had been violated; concurrent jurisdiction with U.S. circuit courts in suits at common law where the United States sued under the authority of an act of Congress; and exclusive original jurisdiction over suits against foreign consuls and vice consuls. Most law cases relate to scire facias or libel in rem proceedings. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedures, effective in 1938 after their adoption by the Supreme Court, prescribed uniform procedures for law and equity cases, with one form of action to be known as "civil action."
Equity
The basis of equity jurisdiction in the federal courts is laid in the provisions of the Constitution and the laws of the United States. This jurisdiction, as provided in section 16 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, is not exercised in any case where a "plain, adequate, and complete remedy may be had at law." This jurisdiction was in large part regulated by rules first prescribed in 1822 by the Supreme Court. The rules were replaced by additional sets of rules adopted in 1842 and again in 1913. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedures, effective in 1938 after their adoption by the Supreme Court, prescribed uniform procedures for law and equity cases, with one form of action to be known as "civil action."
Criminal
The Judiciary Act of 1798 conferred very limited criminal jurisdiction upon the United States district courts. Proceedings that might result in sentences of hard labor or death were to be tried in the United States circuit courts. On August 23, 1842, Congress amended the Judiciary Act by extending the criminal jurisdiction of the district courts to all non-capital crimes and offenses against the United States.
Naturalization
From 1790 to 1906 federal, state, and local courts were the sole administrators of naturalization laws. A major change in the naturalization laws occurred when Congress passed an act on June 29, 1906, establishing a Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization which was charged with examining all petitions for naturalization and issuing recommendations to the courts that would make final determinations of citizenship. Petitioners for citizenship were required to furnish more personal information than previously had been required.
This preliminary inventory describes approximately 1971 cubic feet of records of the United States district and circuit courts for the Eastern District of Texas that have been accessioned by the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Fort Worth. They cover a period from 1879-1981. Related records in the custody of the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Fort Worth include Records of United States Courts of Appeals (Record Group 276), Fifth Circuit, and Records of United States Attorneys and Marshals (Record Group 118). Frank R. Kemerer has written a biography of one of the Eastern District's prominent judges in William Wayne Justice: A Judicial Biography (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991).
United States District Courts
- Beaumont Division
- Jefferson Division
- Lufkin Division
- Marshall Division
- Paris Division
- Sherman Division
- Texarkana Division
- Tyler Division
United States Circuit Courts
United States District Courts
Beaumont Division
General Records
Admiralty Records
Civil Records
*Civil cases relating to the Spindletop oil field and asbestos litigation are listed in Appendix B.
Law and Equity Records
Criminal Records
Naturalization Records
Records of the United States Commissioner
Jefferson Division
General Records
Civil Records
See civil records for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. An act of Congress in 1962 (76 Stat. 247) transferred court sessions from Jefferson to a new division in Marshall. The Marshall court continued the numbering system for civil cases that was begun by the Jefferson court.
Law and Equity Records
Criminal Records
See Marshall Division for criminal dockets and case files. A congressional act in 1962 (76 Stat. 247) transferred court sessions from Jefferson to the Marshall court, which continued the numbering system begun by the Jefferson court.
Records of the Clerk
Records of the Commissioner
Lufkin Division
General Records
Marshall Division
General Records
Civil Records
Criminal Records
Paris Division
A fire in 1916 destroyed the United States courthouse in Paris and most of the records of the federal courts. There is one extant criminal docket created as early as 1911.
General Records
Civil Records
Law and Equity Records
Criminal Records
Naturalization Records
Records of the United States Commissioner
Sherman Division
General Records
Civil Records
Law and Equity Records
Criminal Records
Records of the United States Commissioner
Texarkana Division
General Records
Civil Records
Law and Equity Records
Criminal Records
Records of the United States Commissioner
Naturalization Records
Naturalization proceedings were discontinued at the Texarkana court on May 16, 1961.
Tyler Division
A fire in 1878 destroyed the earlier Tyler records.
General Records
Civil Records
Law and Equity Records
Criminal Records
Naturalization Records
Records of the United States Commissioner
Circuit Courts for the Eastern District of Texas
Beaumont Division
General Records
Jefferson Division
General Records
Law and Equity Records
Criminal Records
Sherman Division
General Records
Law and Equity Records
Texarkana Division
General Records
Law and Equity Records
Tyler Division
General Records
Law and Equity Records
Criminal Records
Records of the United States Commissioner
Appendix A
Judicial Districts of Texas
Northern District
Southern District
Western District
Eastern Division
* Headquarters for the district.