The first General Assembly of this Terri tory enacted that applicants for admission to the bar should produce a certificate that they had read law four years. The first session of court for the trial of causes was opened Sept. 2, 1788, at Marietta, Ohio, with impressive ceremonies. At first the Supreme Court sat at Marietta, Cincinnati, Vincennes, and Kaskaskia; later
An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 03.pdf/247}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. |  |
Detroit was added to the circuit, and this widecircuit the judges travelled on horseback. The court had power to review the decisions of courts inferior to it, but there was, it is stated, no appeal from its own decisions. May 7, 1800, Con gress passed an act which created within the limits of the North west Territory Indiana Territory. Indiana Territory thus consti tuted included the present bounds of In diana and Illinois. William Clark (in the statutes of Indi ana Territory spelled "Clarke "), Henry WILLIAM Vanderburgh (in the statutes of Indiana Territory spelled " Vander Burgh "), and John Griffin were appointed the judges of Indiana Territory. They, with the Gov ernor, William Henry Harrison, until 1805, when the first Assembly met, had powers of legislation similar to those of the governor and judges of the Northwest Territory. Jan. 12, 1801, the governor and judges met at Vincennes and enacted laws, those of the Northwest Territory being largely adopted; and there, March 3, the first ses sion of the court was held. In 1808 an act
was passed requiring this court to deliver its opinions in writing. William Clark was a younger brother of the celebrated Gen. George Rogers Clark. After his term as judge of Indiana Territory he became a resident of St. Louis, as agent of the United States in charge of Indian af fairs, and the associate of Lewis in the famous "Lewis and Clark Expedition." He was governor of Missouri Territory from 18 13 till it became a State. Thomas Terry Davis succeeded Clark in 1803. Davis was one of the trustees named in the act incorpo rating "Vincennes University." Vanderburgh was a resident of Vincennes, and a representative from there in the first Assembly of the Northwest Territory, becoming the Speaker or President of the Upper House of that Assembly. Griffin was a native of Scot land, but came from Virginia to Indiana. He afterward became WILSON a judge of Michigan Territory. Later he returned to Scotland to enjoy a fortune left him there. Feb. 3, 1809, an act was passed by Congress, dividing Indiana Territory into the territories of Indiana and Illinois; and March 7, Alexander Stuart, Obadiah Jones, and Jesse Burgess Thomas were appointed judges of Illinois Territory. They and Ninian Edwards, the Governor until an As sembly was elected in 181 2, had legislative powers similar to those exercised by the governors and judges of the Northwest and Indiana Territories. June 16, 1809, they enacted a code of
