The Michigan Territory, constituting the area between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, was created in 1805.1 When Illinois was admitted as a state, the Michigan Territory was extended to include the areas of the present states of Wisconsin and the part of Minnesota east of the Minnesota River.2 In 1832, President Andrew Jackson appointed Ross Wilkins to the three-member Michigan Territorial Supreme Court.3 By 1834, the Michigan Territory had been extended out to the Missouri River.4 When Michigan was admitted to the union, it was reduced to its present boundaries.
By the Act of July 1, 1836,5 Congress created the District Court of Michigan. After Michigan became the twenty-third state on January 26, 1837, President Jackson appointed Wilkins the first federal district judge.6 Michigan was consituted as one judicial district and the court was to hold two sessions at the seat of the government which was then in Detroit. The district judge was to exercise full federal jurisdiction as that given to the judge of the District Court of Kentucky under the Judiciary Act of 1789.7
Very shortly thereafter, Michigan joined Ohio, Indiana and Illinois as part of the Seventh Circuit and its Circuit Court jurisdiction was abolished.8 In 1866, Congress restored the geographical boundaries of the Sixth Circuit to Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.9 The Act of February 24, 1863,10 divided Michigan into two Districts with Grand Rapids designated as the judicial center of the Western District and Detroit as the center for the Eastern District. District Judge Ross Wilkins, who was serving as the District Judge for the entire state, became the first judge for the Eastern District of Michigan.; On March 11, 1863, President Lincoln appointed Solomon L. Withey the first judge for the Western District of Michigan.
In 1878, the Western District of Michigan was divided into two divisions, Southern and Northern. Grand Rapids was designated the court seat of the Southern Division and Marquette for the Northern Division.11 At the same time the Judge for the Eastern District was authorized to hold court in Port Huron at his discretion. Nine years later, he was required to hold court in Bay City as well as Detroit and Port Huron.12The Eastern District was not divided into divisions until 1894, when the Northern and Southern Divisions were created. The term of court for the Northern Division was held at Bay City and that for the Southern Division at Detroit and Port Huron. The judge was also required to hold special terms in Bay City for the hearing of admiralty cases.13
In 1930,14 the divisions of the court were rearranged. At that time, Port Huron was transferred to the Northern Division of the Eastern District, but in 1954, was transferred back to the Southern Division.15 The term of court for the Southern Division of the Western District was held at Grand Rapids until 1954 when court was authorized to be held in Kalamazoo and Mason.16 An unusual thing about Michigan is the fact that not until 1961 was a session of court authorized to be held in the state capital, Lansing.17 At that time, the term in Mason was eliminated.
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