46. It is apparent from the acts heretofore cited that the principal duty of the circuit courts is to enforce those obligations which are incumbent upon the people of the United States from their national character, or which result from the laws of congress or treaties. They are excluded from ,jurisdic tion of all controversies between citizens of the same state, except those arising under an act of congress, the constructions of which it has been supposed to be the peculiar right and duty of the federal tribunals to give. Therefore the jurisdiction of the circuit courts includes cases which arise under the laws relating to patents and copyrights ; bankruptcy, when a bankrupt law ie in force ; the revenue ; the Indians ; the slave-trade, or piracy ; the post office ; cases where the United States or its officers sue ; of steamboat regulations ; of laws for the enforcement of our neutral du ties ; offences against the United States, and cases arising under the grant by the consti tution of admiralty and maritime jurisdic tion. See the notes to Little & Brown's edi tion of the Statutes and Law, U. S. Courts.
47. The confirmation of imperfect land titles in the country which was acquired by treaties from France, Spain, and Mexico, is also a branch of the jurisdiction of these courts. In the Louisiana and Florida trea ties, clauses were inserted which were in tended to apply to claims to land whose va lidity depended on the performance of con ditions in consideration of which the conces sion had been made, and which must have been performed before those governments were bound to perfect the titles. The United States were bound, after the cession of the territories, to the same extent that those governments had been bound before the rati fication of the treaties, to perfect them by legislation and adjudication. Previous to the passage of the act of May 26, 1824, 4 Stat. at Large, 52, the political power dealt with these claims by legislation, through the medium of hoards of commissioners and acts of congress. By that act jurisdiction was conferred on the courts to adjudge incipient titles as far as Missouri and Arkansas were concerned. And this power was extended to Florida by act of May 22, 1828. 4 Stat. at Large, 285. Afterwards the act of June 17, 1844, 5 Stat. at Large, 676, renewed the ju risdiction as to Missouri, and extended it to Louisiana and Arkansas, and to so much of the states of Mississippi and Alabama as is included in the district of country south of the thirty-first degree of north latitude and between the Mississippi and Perdido rivers, as to land-claims originating with either the Spanish, French, or British authorities.
After the acquisition of California, con gress established a board of commissioners, and submitted the claims of each and every person in California, by virtue of any right or title derived from the Spanish or Mexican government, to their determination, and that of the courts of the United States, on appeal. 9 Stat. at Large, 632; 10 id. 99 ; 21 How. 447. The principles adopted by the supreme court in deciding the cases which were brought before it under all these acts are too numerous to be stated here.
The Character of the Parties.
4S. The United States may sue on all con tracts in the circuit courts where the sum in controversy exceeds, besides costa, the sum of five hundred dollars ; but in cases of penalties the action must be commenced in the district court, unless the law gives expressjurisdiction to the circuit courts. 4 Dall. 342. Under the act of March 3, 1815, sect. 4, the circuit court has jurisdiction concurrently with the district court of all suits at common law where any officer of the United States sues under the authority of an act of congress: as, where the postmaster-general sues under an act of con gress for debts or balances due to the general post-office. 12 Wheat. 136. See 1 Pet. 318; 2 id. 447.
The circuit court has jurisdiction on a bill in equity filed by the United States against the debtor of their debtor, they claiming priority under the statute of March 2, 1798, c. 28, sect. 65, though the law of the state where the suit is brought permits a creditor to pro ceed against the debtor of his debtor by a peculiar process at law. 4 Wheat. 108.
49. In suits between citizens of different states, one of the parties must be a citizen of the state where the suit is brought under the act of Sept. 24, 1789, sect. 1]. 1 Mas. C. C. 52); 2 id. 472. 1 Pet. C. C. 431; 3 id. 185 ; 4 Wash. C. C. 84, 482, n., 595 ; 1 Pet. 238 ; 5 Cranch, 51, 57, 288; 6 Wheat. 450; 8 id. 699.
Under this section the division of a state into two or more districts does not affect the jurisdiction of the circuit court on account of citizenship. The residence of a party in a different district of a state from that in which the suit is brought does not exempt him from the jurisdiction of the court: if he is found in the district where he is sued, he is not within the prohibition of this section. .11 Pet. 25. A territory is not it state for the purpose of giving jurisdiction; and therefore a citizen of a territory cannot sue a citizen of a state in the circuit court. 1 Wheat. 91.