As to the action of the court overruling defendant's motion on the evidence to compel the district attorney to elect, the bill of exceptions does not contain the evidence, and it is impossible for this court to know the ground on which the circuit court proceeded. The exception in that regard need not, therefore, be considered.
In respect of the other exceptions, they all present the same objection in different forms, namely, that the state of South Carolina was divided into two judicial districts, and that an indictment could not be lawfully found in the circuit court of the United States held in the Eastern district, or a trial be therein had, for a criminal offense committed in the Western district.
The constitution provides that the trial of crimes shall be had in the state 'where the crime shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the congress may by law have directed' (article 3, § 2, cl. 3); and by amendment 6 that 'in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law.'
This indictment was found December 3d; the trial had December 6th to 11th; and the defendant sentenced December 12, 1894, in the circuit court in session at Columbia. Were there at that time two judicial districts in South Carolina, within the intent and meaning of the constitution and the acts of congress in that behalf?
The circuit court of each judicial district sits within and for that district, and its jurisdiction, as a general rule, is bounded by its local limits. Toland v. Sprague, 12 Pet. 300, 328; Ex parte Devoe Mfg. Co., 108 U.S. 401, 2 Sup. Ct. 894. At the same time courts may be required to be held at different places in a judicial district, and prosecutions for offenses committed in certain counties may be required to be tried, and writs and recognizances to be returned, at each place; but this does not affect the power of the grand jury sitting at either place to present indictments for offenses committed anywhere within the district. Logan v. U.S., 144 U.S. 263, 12 Sup. Ct. 617. As to where trials shall be had in a judicial district depends entirely on the legislation upon the subject. Rosecrans v. U.S., 165 U.S. 257, 17 Sup. Ct. 302; Post v. U.S., 161 U.S. 583, 16 Sup. Ct. 611.
By the judiciary act of September 24, 1789, the then United States were divided into thirteen districts, of which New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Georgia, and South Carolina each constituted one district, called by the name of the state, as, for instance, 'South Carolina District'; while a part of the state of Massachusetts was erected into a district called 'Maine District,' and a part of the state of Virginia into a district called 'Kentucky District'; the remaining part of the state of Massachusetts being made a district called 'Massachusetts District,' and the state of Virginia, except so much thereof as was thereby made the district of Kentucky, a district called 'Virginia District.' 1 Stat. 73, c. 20.
The plan was to make each of the states a judicial district, and to direct the appointment of a judge, a clerk, to be appointed by him, a district attorney, and a marshal, for each district. But that part of Massachusetts now constituting the state of Maine and that part of the state of Virginia now forming the state of Kentucky were erected into independent districts under the names of 'Maine District' and 'Kentucky District,' and the district court established in each was invested with the powers of a circuit court.
By the fourth section these districts, 'except those of Maine and Kentucky,' were divided into three circuits, called the 'Eastern,' the 'Middle,' and the 'Southern' circuits; and it was provided that circuit courts should be held 'in each district of said circuits' by two of the justices of the supreme court and 'the district judge of such districts.'
North Carolina having ratified the constitution November 21, 1789, congress, by the act of June 4, 1790 (1 Stat. 126, c. 17), gave effect to the judiciary act of 1789 in that state, erecting it into a district to be called 'North Carolina District,' establishing a district court with one judge, and annexing the district to the Southern circuit. Rhode Island having ratified the constitution May 29, 1790, a similar act to give effect to the judiciary act was passed June 23, 1790 (1 Stat. 128, c. 21), by which Rhode Island was annexed to the Eastern circuit.