ted States may alter the times limited or allowed for different proceedings in the state courts, and make, by rule, such other provisions as may be necessary to adapt the said laws of procedure to the organization of such court of the United States, and to avoid any discrepancy, if any such should exist, between such state laws and the laws of the United States.
Petit jurors for the trial of all causes, civil or criminal, shall be designated, summoned, and returned in the manner that is now directed by the laws of the state.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That petit jurors, for the trial of all causes, as well civil as criminal, shall be designated, summoned, and returned in the manner that now is directed by the laws of the said state, with respect to jurors, to serve in the district courts of the said state of Louisiana, and that all the duties directed by such state laws to be performed by the sheriffs and clerks, in relation to the designation, summoning, and returning, such jurors, shall be performed by the marshal of the United States and the clerk of the court of the United States, in the district where such court of the United States shall sit, and that the petit jurors to serve in such court of the United States, shall be taken from the parish in which said court holds its sessions, but, that the grand jurors may come from any part of the district, and may be summoned and empannelled by the marshal, in the manner now prescribed, and the marshal, for the purpose of designating such petit jurors, shall take the names of all persons liable to serve as jurors, from the list made by the sheriff, for the purpose of drawing jurors for the district court of the state; and such number of jurors shall be drawn for each term of such court of the United States, or for such portion of each term, as the court may, by its rules, direct;Proviso. Provided, That nothing herein contained, shall be so construed as to prevent the judge of any of the said courts of the United States from directing a jury to be summoned from any other parish within the district, whenever it may be necessary to secure an impartial trial; but that, in all such cases, the names of the jury shall be also designated, by lot, in the manner directed by the laws of the state, for designating jurors to serve in the district courts: And provided also, That special juriesProviso. may be directed for the trial of any particular civil cause, by the consent of parties, but not otherwise.
Approved, May 26, 1824.upon the question of law, by a bill of exceptions. If there be any mistake of the facts, the court below is competent to redress it, by giving a new trial. Parsons v. Bedford et al., 3 Peters, 433.
In the district court of Louisiana, the defendant pleaded the plea of reconvention, which is authorized by the Code of Practice in Louisiana. The district court, on motion of the plaintiffs, ordered the plea to be stricken off. The Code of Practice in Louisiana was adopted in Louisiana, by a statute of that state, passed after the act of Congress of May 26, 1824, regulating the practice of the district court of the United States for the eastern district of Louisiana, and the practice according to that code has not been adopted as a part of the rules of practice of the district court, when the plea was stricken off. Held, that the plea was properly stricken off. Wilcox et al. v. Hunt, 13 Peters, 378.In the case of Livingston v. Story, which was before the court in 1835, (9 Peters, 655,) the court took occasion to examine the various laws of the United States establishing and organizing the district court of the eastern district of Louisiana, and to decide whether that court had equity powers; and if so, what should be the mode of proceeding in the exercise of those powers. The various cases which had been before the court, involving substantially the same question, in relation to states where there were no equity state courts, or laws regulating the practice in equity causes, were referred to, and the uniform decisions of the court have been, that there being no equity state courts did not prevent the exercise of equity jurisdiction in the courts of the United States; and it was accordingly decided that the district court of Louisiana was bound to proceed in equity causes, according to the principles, rules and usages, which belong to courts of equity as contradistinguished from courts of law. Gaines et al. v. Relf et al., 15 Peters, 9.When a party seeks relief, which is mainly appropriate to a court of chancery jurisdiction, in the circuit court of the United States for Louisiana, chancery practice must be followed. McCollum v. Eager, 2 Howard, 61.It is impossible to lay down any general rule as to what constitutes multifariousness in a bill in equity. Every case must be governed by its own circumstances, and the court must exercise a sound discretion. Gaines et ux. v. Relf et al., 2 Howard, 619.The exercise of chancery jurisdiction, in the courts of Louisiana, does not introduce any new or foreign principle. It is only a change in the mode of redressing wrongs and protecting rights. Ibid.