ARTICLE XXXVII.––OF THE DISTRICT COURTS.

 

§912.  For judicial purposes the Kingdom is divided in districts, the boundaries of which are the same as those of the taxation districts, more particularly described in section 498.

 

§913.  The respective Governors, by and with the advice of the Justices of the Supreme Court, or a majority thereof, shall appoint one or more District Justices not exceeding two for each of the districts in their respective jurisdiction, but in case a foreigner is appointed he must be proficient in the Hawaiian language.

 

§914.  Said District Justices shall hold office for the term of two years from the date of their appointment; provided, however, that any District Justice against whom a complaint may be made by the Attorney General of the Kingdom, or any duly authorized Deputy of the Attorney General, or by any Governor of an Island, for good cause shown, may be removed by the Justices of the Supreme Court, or a majority of them at any time, or by the Circuit Court of the Judicial Circuit in which the District of the Justice so complained of may be situated.

 

§915.  Each of said District Justices shall have jurisdiction, subject to appeal, to hear and determine all civil cases wherein the property involved in controversy or the amount of plaintiff‚s demand does not exceed two hundred dollars, in which the party defendant is resident or for the time being is found within his district, whether the parties be natives or foreigners, except that in any district where there is a Police Justice, the District Justice shall not have jurisdiction in any case in which either party is a foreigner by birth.

 

§916.  Each of said justices shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine, subject to appeal, all cases of offenses against any law of this Kingdom wherein the fine shall not exceed one hundred dollars, in which the party prosecuted is resident, or for the time being is found, within his district, except that in any districts where there is a police justice, the district justice shall not have jurisdiction in any case wherein the party accused is a foreigner by birth.  Nothing in this section contained shall be held to alter or extend the jurisdiction conferred upon district justices by the fifty-third chapter of the Penal Code.

   

The several police and district justices throughout the Kingdom shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine, subject to appeal, all complaints for any violation of the license laws, without limit in respect to the amount of penalty to be imposed for such violations.

  

Note––See Act of 1882 Chapter XXVII following Sec.924.

 

§917.  Every district justice shall have power to issue a warrant, for the arrest and examination of any person charged with an offense not within his jurisdiction, where the party accused is resident, or for the time being is found, within his district, and upon satisfactory evidence of the probably guilt of such person, to commit him to prison for trial at the ensuing term of the Supreme Court, or the Circuit Court of the island.

 

§918.  In all cases of commitment for trial by an district justice, he shall forward without delay, to the district attorney of the island where the trial is to take place, a transcript of the evidence upon which the commitment is found.

 

§919.  Every district justice shall have all the necessary powers in and for the administration of justice, in all cases coming within his jurisdiction.  He shall not be confined to forms, nor shall he be compelled in any case to preserve any other record of his proceedings than the mere conclusion, determination, or judgment, at which he may arrive.

 

§920.  The district justices shall not have power to try actions for slander, libel, defamation of character, malicious prosecution, breach of promise of marriage, false imprisonment, or seduction;* and all the provisions of Section 903, shall be applicable to said district justices as well as to police justices.

   

*See Act following section 903.

 

§921.  Said justices shall have power to cite parties by oral message or in writing, and in like manner to cite witnesses from any place within their respective judicial circuits, and taking equitable consideration of the controversy depending before them, to render judgment according to law.  They shall also have the like power to grant adjournments, as is conferred by law upon police justices.

 

§922.  The several district justices shall receive for their services, such compensation as the Legislature shall from time to time determine and appropriate; provided, however, that hereafter, upon the appointment of any district justice, it shall be lawful for the governor appointing him, with the approval of the Justices of the Supreme Court, to provide that such justice shall receive as compensation, in lieu of a fixed salary, all the costs of the court accruing and collected in cases tried before him.

 

§923.  In case of the illness, or temporary absence of any district justice, some other person may be appointed in the manner prescribed in Section 913, to perform his duties for the time being.

 

TO REPEAL SECTION 924 OF THE CIVIL CODE.

 

WHEREAS, it is injurious to the public interest that one person should be appointed as judge for two districts widely separated; therefore,

 

Be it Enacted by the King and the Legislative Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands, in the Legislature of the Kingdom assembled:

   

Section 1.    That Section 924 of the Civil Code be and the same is hereby repealed.  For judicial purposes, the provisions of Section 498 of the Civil Code, as amended by the Act, approved on the 1st day of August, A.D. 1878, shall be observed.

 

TO AMEND SECTIONS 913 AND 922 OF THE CIVIL CODE.

 

Section 1.    That Section 913 of the Civil Code be and the same is hereby amended by striking out the words “by and with the advice of the justices of the Supreme Court,” so that the said section shall read as follows:

 

“Section 913.    The respective governors shall appoint one or more district justices not exceeding two for each of the districts in their respective jurisdiction.”

   

Section 2.    That section 922 of the Civil Code be and the same is hereby amended by striking out the words “with the approval of the Justices of the Supreme Court,” so that the said section shall read as follows:

 

“Section 922.    The several district justices shall receive for their services such compensation as the Legislature shall from time to time determine and appropriate; provided, however, that hereafter upon the appointment of any district justice, it shall be lawful for the governor appointing him to provide that such justice shall receive as compensation in lieu of a fixed salary all the costs accruing and collected from cases tried before him.”

 

TO PROVIDE FOR REPORTS OF JUDICIAL BUSINESS.

 

It shall be the duty of the circuit judges and district justices, on or before the first Monday of January in each year, to make reports to the clerk of the Supreme Court, of the amount and kind of public business done in their respective courts.  Such reports shall set forth particularly the amount and kind of official business done in each circuit and district during the year preceding, the number of persons prosecuted, the crimes and misdemeanors for which such prosecutions were had, and the results thereof and the punishments awarded against any person convicted thereon.  The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall direct the form in which such reports shall be made, and the clerk of said court shall issue blanks in conformity with such direction.

 

TO EXTEND THE CIVIL JURISDICTION OF THE DISTRICT JUSTICE OF NORTH HILO.

 

The district justice of North Hilo is hereby authorized to exercise all such jurisdiction in civil cases, as is by law conferred on the police justice at Hilo, to be exercised within such territorial limits as shall from time to time be prescribed by the Governor of Hawaii: provided, however, that this Act shall not be construed as permitted said justice to arrest and imprison in civil cases.

 

 

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