U.S. District Court for the Indian
Territory
Oklahoma and Indian Territorial Act of May
2, 1890 (26 Stat.81)
Established additional federal courts for
the Indian Territory
–
First
Division at Muskogee-jurisdiction over the Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole
Nations
–
Second
Division at South McAlester-jurisdiction over the Choctaw Nation
–
Third
Division at Ardmore-jurisdiction over the Chickasaw Nation
Indian Territory Act of March 1, 1895 (28
Stat. 693)
•
Ended
all jurisdiction over the Indian Territory by federal courts in Arkansas,
Kansas, and Texas
•
Designated the Indian Territory divisions as districts.
–
Northern District-Muskogee
–
Central
District-South McAlester
–
Southern District-Ardmore
LAW JURISDICTION
As courts of common law jurisdiction, U.S.
district courts possessed exclusive jurisdiction over all seizures on land
made under federal laws; exclusive original jurisdiction over suits for
penalties and forfeitures incurred under federal laws; concurrent
jurisdiction 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 in suits at common law where the U.S. sued under the authority
of an act of Congress; and exclusive jurisdiction over suits against foreign
consuls and vice consuls.
EQUITY JURISDICTION
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.” Equity jurisdiction was,
in large part, regulated by rules adopted in 1842 and again in 1913.
EQUITY CASE 7071
Bettie Ligon, et.al. V. Douglas
H. Johnson, et.al.; Green McCurtain, et.al.; and James R. Garfield,
secretary of the Interior
“Et.al” means “an others”
•
Equity
case 7071 relates to attempt by Choctaw-Chickasaw Freedmen to be enrolled as
tribal citizens by blood.
•
The
applications filed in the “Joe and Dillard Perry Cases,” Choctaw-Chickasaw
Freedmen applicants, can be located applications F-1 through F-254, in entry
90C of the Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, Five Civilized Tribes Agency and Muskogee Area Office.
Complaint
Filed April 13, 1907
