Circuit judges not attending, &c., courts to be adjourned.Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That if the circuit judge shall not attend on the first day of any court, or if a quorum of the court hereinafter mentioned shall not attend in like manner, such court shall stand adjourned from day to day until a court shall be made, if that shall happen before four o’clock in the afternoon of the third day.
Undetermined causes may stand continued until next term.Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That if either a circuit court, or the court hereinafter mentioned shall not sit in any term, or shall not continue to sit the whole term, or before the end of the term shall not have heard and determined all matters ready for its decision, all such matters and things depending in court, and undetermined, shall stand continued until the next succeeding term.
Temporary impediments after the courts are opened, not to prevent sittings to the end of the term.Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That if from any cause either of the said courts shall not sit on any day in a term after it shall have been opened, there shall be no discontinuance, but so soon as the cause is removed, the court shall proceed to business until the end of the term, if the business depending before it be not sooner despatched.
Term to consist of six days.Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That the judicial term of the said circuit courts shall consist of six days in each county, during which time the court shall sit, unless the business before it shall be sooner determined.
Clerk to be appointed by the circuit court.
Duties.Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That a clerk shall be appointed by the said circuit courts respectively in each county, whose duty it shall be to issue process in all cases originating in his county, to keep and preserve the records of all the proceedings of the court therein, and to do and perform in the county all the duties which may be enjoined on him by law.
Cases depending in the courts of common pleas to proceed in the usual legal manner.Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That in the cases that were on the thirty-first day of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, depending in the courts of common pleas in the respective counties, the parties or their attorneys shall be permitted to take all such measures for bringing them to trial that might have been taken if no change had taken place, and the said circuit courts respectively shall as far as possible proceed to the trial thereof in the same manner that the said courts of common pleas might legally have done, has no other change than a mere alteration of the terms taken place.
The judges, or a majority of them, to constitute a court.Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That the said judges appointed as aforesaid, or a majority of them, shall constitute a court, to be styled the court of appeals for Illinois territory, and shall hold two sessions annually at the town of Kaskaskia, which shall commence on the first Mondays in March and August, in every year, and continue in session until the business before them shall be completed, which court shall have appellate jurisdiction only, and to which appeals shall be allowed, and from which writs of error according to the principles of the common law, and conformably to the laws and usages of the said territory, may be prosecuted for the reversal of the judgments and decrees as well of the said circuit courts, as of any inferior courts which now are or may hereafter be established by the laws of the said territory.
Court of appeals to appoint a clerk.Sec. 16. And be it further enacted, That a clerk shall be appointed by the said court of appeals, whose duty it shall be to issue process in all cases brought before the said court where process ought to issue, and to keep and preserve the records of all the proceedings of the said court therein, and to do and perform all such duties as may be enjoined on him by law.
Cases depending in the general court to be decided in the usual manner.Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That in all cases that were on the said thirty-first day of December, eighteen hundred and fourteen, depending in the general court of said territory, the parties or their attorneys shall be permitted to take all such measures for bringing them to a final decision that might have been taken if no change had taken place, and the said court of appeals shall, as far as practicable, proceed to the final determination thereof in the same manner that the said general court