ment as aforesaid, shall be located daring the present session of congress, by joint vote of both houses.

IRA INGRAM,

Speaker of the house of representatives.
RICHARD ELLIS,

President of the senate pro tem.

Approved, Dec. 15, 1836.

SAM. HOUSTON.

AN ACT,

Fo establish and organize the Supreme Court, and to define the powers and jurisdiction thereof.

SEE. 1. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the republic of Texas in congress assembled, That there shall be established in this republic a court, to be styled the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas, which court shall consist of one supreme judge, to be styled the Chief Justice; to be elected by joint vote of both houses of congress, and such judges as shall be elected judges of the district courts, who shall continue in office during the time prescribed by the constitution. The chief justice shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum, payable semi-annually at the treasury of the republc.

SEC. 2. The supreme court shall be held annually at the seat of government, on the first Monday in December, and a majority of all the judges shall be necessary to constitute such

court.

SEC. 3. The said supreme court shall have jurisdiction over, and shall hear and determine all manner of pleas, plaints, motions, causes, and controversies, civil and criminal, which may be brought before it from any court in this republic, either by appeal or other legal process, and which shall be cognizable in said supreme court according to the constitution and laws of this republic: provided, that no appeal shall be granted, nor shall any cause be removed into the supreme court in any manner whatever until after final judgment or decrec in the court below, cxcept in cases particularly provided for by law.

SEC. 4. When by appeal, or in any other manner permitted by law, the judgment, sentence or decree of the court below shall be reversed, the supreme court shall proceed to render such judgment, or pronounce such sentence or decree as the court beHow should have rendered or pronounced, except it be necessary,

in consequence of the decision of the supreme court, that some matter of fact be ascertained, or damages be assessed by a jury, or when the matter to be decreed is uncertain, in either of which cases the suit, action, or prosecution, as the case may be, shall be remanded to the court from which it was brought for a more. definite decision.

SEC. 5. When a final judgment or decree shall be rendered or pronounced in any cause brought before the supreme court by appeal or otherwise, it shall be the duty of the clerk of said court to certify the final judgment or decree to the clerk of the court from which such cause was brought, within twenty days after the adjournment of the supreme court at which such final judgment or decree was rendered or pronounced, together with a bill of all costs which shall have accrued, and damages, if any assessed in the said supreme court, and it shall be the duty of every clerk of the court from which such cause was removed, on receiving such certificate, to issue executions on such final judg ment for the purpose of having it carried into effect, in the same manner as though it had been rendered in the court below.

SEC. 6. The sentence of the supreme court in all criminal prosecutions brought before such court from any other courts, shall be executed in like manner in all respects as if such sentence had been rendered in the court wherein the prosecution originated, and the sheriff of the proper county shall be charged with the execution of such sentence.

SEC. 7. In all cases taken to the supreme court, in case the copy of the record in the cause below shall not be filed with the clerk of the supreme court, on or before the first day of the term to which such case was taken or returnable, it shall be lawful for the court, on motion of the defendant in appeal, and on producing a copy of the citation duly served on the defendant to dismiss the cause, but the same may be reinstated at any time during the term, if good cause be shown to the satisfaction of the court why a copy of the record was not filed in due time.

SEC. 8. The said court, or any judge thereof, in vacation, may grant writs of injunction, supersedeas, and such other writs as the laws permit to the judgements or decrees of the county or district courts, on such terms and conditions as the laws may prescribe in cases of appeals, and also to grant writs of habeas corpus, and all other remedial writs and process granted by said judges, by virtue of their office, agreeably to the principles and usages of law, returnable as the law directs, either to the supreme

court or before any judge of said court, as the nature of the case may require.

SEC. 9. In all cases of appeal to the supreme court, the trial shall be on the facts as found by the jury in the court below; and if the facts should not be stated in a manner sufficiently full and clear to enable the supreme court to give its judgment, then and in that case the said court shall remand the said cause to the proper court for a new trial, in order that the facts may be fully and clearly established, and this act shall be construed to extend to appeals taken to the superior courts of Texas, as established by the law of eighteen hundred and thirty-four, which cases remain yet undecided.

SEC. 10. For the said supreme court, one clerk shall be appointed in the following manner: in term time the appointment shall be made by an order entered of record in the procecdings of the court, and the person so appointed, before he enters on the duties of his office, shall take the oath prescribed in the constitution in open court, and shall enter into bond with two securities, to be approved by the court, payable to the president of the republic and his successors in office, in the penalty of twenty thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office; and that he seasonably record the judgments, decrees, decisions, and orders of the said court, and deliver over to his successor in office all records, minutes, books, papers, and whatever belongs to his said office of clerk, which bond shall be recorded in the clerk's office of said court, and immediately thereafter be deposited in the office of the secretary of state, and shall be void on the first recovery, but may be put in suit and prosecuted by the party injured, until the amount thereof be recovered; in vacation the appointment shall be made by the chief justice, and the person so appointed shall give bond and security, and take the oath as above prescribed, which bond shall be recorded and deposited in the same manner as though the appointment had been made in term time, and may be prosecuted and put in suit in like manner; an authenticated copy, of said bond shall be received in evidence in any court in this republic in the same manner as the original would be if it were present in court.

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SEC. 11. The said clerk shall hold his office for the term of four years from his appointment, but may be removed therefrom for neglect of duty or misdemeanor in office, by the supreme court, on motion of which, the clerk against whom complaint is made, shall have ten days previous notice, specifying the parti

cular negligence or misdemeanor in office with which he stands charged, and in every such case the said court shall determine both the law and the fact; and whenever the necessity occurs, the supreme court may appoint a clerk pro tempore.

SEC. 12. The successor in office of any clerk shall receive into his possession, all papers, books, stationary, and every thing belonging to the said office; and should the person or persons, having possession of the same, refuse to give them up on demand made, it shall be the duty of the clerk to give information thereof to the attorney general, who shall prosecute such person or persons, in the name of the republic, before any court having jurisdiction of the same, and on conviction the person so offending shall be fined in the sum of ten thousand dollars, for the use of the republic.

SEC. 13. If any clerk of the supreme court shall knowingly make any false entry or change any record in his keeping belonging to his office, every such clerk, so offending, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined and imprisoned at the discretion of the court, and shall also be liable to the action of the party aggrieved.

SEC. 14. The clerk of the said court shall carefully preserve the transcripts of records certified to his court, and all papers relative thereto, docketing all causes brought by appeal or otherwise, in the order he shall receive them, that they may be heard in the same course, unless the court, for good cause shown, direct any to be heard out of its term; and shall faithfully record the decision and proceedings of said court, and certify the same to the proper courts, and all causes shall be tried by the said supreme court at the return term, unless satisfactory cause can be shown for a continuance.

SEC. 15. The clerk of the district court shall receive and pay to the clerk of the supreme court, all costs that may have accrued in the supreme court in any cause or controversy which may have been brought into the supreme court from such district court, wherein a final judgment or decree shall be rendered, and any clerk failing to pay such costs on demand, after he shall have received the same, may be proceeded against by motion in the supreme court in the same manner that sheriffs may be proceeded against for money received on executions.

SEC. 16. A certified copy of the bond required by law to be given by the appellant or plantiff in the appeal, shall be transmitted by the clerk of the court below, with a transoript of the record of the cause in which such appeal was taken, or which

may be taken in any other way to the supreme court; and in case the judgment or decree of the court below shall be affirmed, or the appellant shall fail to prosecute the same to effect, the supreme court shall enter up judgment or decree against all the obligors in such bond, both principal and security for the debt, damages, and costs which may be adjudged to the appellee; and it shall be the duty of the court below, on the certificate of the clerk of the supreme court, to issue executions thereon accordingly.

SEC. 17. In all cases decided by the supreme court, the judgment or decree of the court shall be pronounced publicly, with the reasons of the court for the same.

SEC. 18. All writs and processes issuing from the supreme court shall bear test of the clerk of such court, and shall be under the seal of said court and signed by the clerks thereof, and may be directed to the sheriff or other proper officer of any county in the republic, and shall be by him executed according to the commands thereof, and returned to the court from which they emanated; and whenever such writ or process shall not be executed, the clerk of said court is hereby authorized and required to issue another like writ or process upon the application of the party suing out the former writ or process; and when any person, plantiff or defendant, in any suit depending in the said court, shall be dead, it shall be lawful for the clerk of the said court, during the recess of the court, upon application, to issue proper process, to enable the court to proceed to a final judgment or decree in the names of the representatives of such deceased person.

SEC. 19. The said court may adjourn from day to day, or for such longer period as they may think necessary to the ends of justice and the determination of the business before them; and there shall be no discontinuance of any suit, process, matter, or thing returned to or depending in the supreme court, although a sufficient number of judges shall not attend at the commencement, or any other day of the term; but if a sufficient number shall fail to attend at the commencement of any term, or at any time during the term, any judge of the said court, or the sheriff attending the same, may adjourn the said court from day to day for six days successively; at which time, if a majority of the judges do not attend, it shall be the duty of the judge or sheriff to adjourn the court to term in course.

SEC. 20. No judge of the supreme court shall sit in any cause wherein he is directly or indirectly interested, or if he