Evarts Act Day: The Birth of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals

Ross E. Davies, Evarts Act Day, Journal of Law: A Periodical Laboratory of Legal Scholarship, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2016, pp. 251-273

23 Pages Posted: 9 Jan 2017 Last revised: 10 Jan 2017

See all articles by Ross E. Davies

Ross E. Davies

George Mason University - Antonin Scalia Law School; The Green Bag

Date Written: January 5, 2017

Abstract

The Evarts Act (26 Stat. 826) altered the federal courts more extensively than any statute since the Judiciary Act of 1789 (1 Stat. 73), which set up the Supreme Court and the subordinate federal courts. The new law created an intermediate federal appellate court system (the circuit courts of appeals profiled here) and rejiggered the relationships and jurisdictions of the various parts of the new system. This article lays out the details of the new courts' first day on the job, and flags a few intriguing aspects of their early work.

Keywords: Supreme Court, Horace Gray, Samuel Blatchford, Joseph Bradley, Melville Fuller, L.Q.C. Lamar, Henry Billings Brown, John Marshall Harlan, David Brewer, Stephen J. Field, Choate, Holy Trinity, Reporter

Suggested Citation

Davies, Ross E., Evarts Act Day: The Birth of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals (January 5, 2017). Ross E. Davies, Evarts Act Day, Journal of Law: A Periodical Laboratory of Legal Scholarship, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2016, pp. 251-273, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2894403

Ross E. Davies (Contact Author)

George Mason University - Antonin Scalia Law School ( email )

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The Green Bag ( email )

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