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United States Commerce Court

 

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United States Commerce Court



 
 
The Commerce Court of the United States was a brief-lived federal trial court
Trial court

A trial court or court of first instance is a court in which trials take place.A trial court of general jurisdiction is authorized to hear any type of Civil law or Criminal law Legal case that is not committed exclusively to another court....
. It was created by the Mann-Elkins Act
Mann-Elkins Act

The Mann-Elkins Act was a United States federal law that is among the Progressivism in the United States reforms. The Act extended the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission to include communications....
 (36 Stat. 539) of June 18, 1910 and abolished a mere three years later, by 38 Stat. 208, effective December 31, 1913. The Commerce Court was a specialized court, given jurisdiction over cases arising from orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission
Interstate Commerce Commission

The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which was signed into law by President of the United States Grover Cleveland....
 and empowered with judicial review of those orders. The United States Supreme Court was given appellate jurisdiction over the Commerce Court.

The Commerce Court also had one of the more unusual structures in United States judicial history.






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The Commerce Court of the United States was a brief-lived federal trial court
Trial court

A trial court or court of first instance is a court in which trials take place.A trial court of general jurisdiction is authorized to hear any type of Civil law or Criminal law Legal case that is not committed exclusively to another court....
. It was created by the Mann-Elkins Act
Mann-Elkins Act

The Mann-Elkins Act was a United States federal law that is among the Progressivism in the United States reforms. The Act extended the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission to include communications....
 (36 Stat. 539) of June 18, 1910 and abolished a mere three years later, by 38 Stat. 208, effective December 31, 1913. The Commerce Court was a specialized court, given jurisdiction over cases arising from orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission
Interstate Commerce Commission

The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which was signed into law by President of the United States Grover Cleveland....
 and empowered with judicial review of those orders. The United States Supreme Court was given appellate jurisdiction over the Commerce Court.

The Commerce Court also had one of the more unusual structures in United States judicial history. There were five judges serving staggered five-year terms on the Commerce Court. These judges were, nonetheless, Article III judges, and were to be reassigned to an appellate court when their term on the Commerce Court expired. Moreover, even while they served on the Commerce Court, they also served as an at-large appellate judge and could be assigned by the Chief Justice of the United States
Chief Justice of the United States

The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal courts and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States....
 to any appellate court to help relieve the workload.

Once the court was abolished, the four remaining judges of the court served out their lifetime appointment as at-large appellate judges. (The fifth judge of the court, Robert Archbald, had been impeached and removed from office.)

The modern United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is a United States court of appeals and was created by United States Congress with passage of the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982....
, created in 1982, has a purpose similar to the Commerce Court, although the Federal Circuit has broader jurisdiction.

Judges

All of the judges who served on the Commerce Court were appointed by President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, the tenth Chief Justice of the United States, a leader of the progressive conservative wing of the History of the United States Republican Party in the early 20th century, a pioneer in international arbitration and staunch advocate of world pe...
. The court had no chief judge
Chief judge

Chief Judge is a title that can refer to the highest-ranking judge of a court that has more than one judge. The meaning and usage of the term vary from one court system to another....
, and no judge on the court achieved senior status
Senior status

Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. After federal judges have reached a certain combination of age and years of service on the United States federal courts, they are allowed to assume senior status....
. All of the judges ended their service with the court upon its abolition, except for Robert Wodrow Archbald, who was impeached and convicted for corrupt practices, specifically soliciting and receiving gifts from persons doing business before the court.

JudgeStateBorn/DiedBegan active
service
Ended active
service
Martin Augustine KnappNY
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
1843 – 192319101913
Robert Wodrow ArchbaldPA
Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
1848 – 192619111913
John Emmett Carland
John Emmett Carland

John Emmett Carland , also known as John E. Carland, was a United States district attorney and District Court judge.Carland was born in Oswego County, New York....
SD
South Dakota

South Dakota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America. It is named after the Lakota people and Sioux Sioux Native Americans in the United States tribes....
1853 – 192219111913
William Henry Hunt
William Henry Hunt (judge)

William Henry Hunt was a state and federal judge and a territorial governor of Puerto Rico.Hunt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1857. He did not go to a law school, but instead read law in 1880 and immediately began a private practice at Fort Benton, Montana in the Montana Territory....
MT
Montana

Montana is a U.S. state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains....
1857 – 194919111913
Julian William Mack
Julian Mack

Julian Mack was an American jurist and social reformer.Mack was born in San Francisco, California, to William J. Mack and Rebecca M. Mack. He was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, attending the public schools there from 1873 to 1884....
IL
Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
1866 – 194319111913


Table notes


Judgeship

  • This column refers only to the judges' terms in the Commerce Court.


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