CHAPTER XIV.

 

OF THE CIRCUIT COURTS.

 

§870.  The Kingdom shall be divided into four judicial circuits, as at present constituted, that is to say:
    

The first circuit shall consist of the Island of Oahu, whose seat of justice shall be at Honolulu; (a)
    

The second circuit shall consist of the Islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe, whose seat of justice shall be at Lahaina, on the Island of Maui; (a)
    

The third circuit shall consist of the Island of Hawaii, whose seat of justice shall be at Hilo and Waimea;
    

The fourth circuit shall consist of the Islands of Kauai and Niihau, whose seat of justice shall be at Nawiliwili, on the Island of Kauai.

 

§871.  The terms of the respective circuit courts shall be held as follows, that is to say:

 

Section 1.  A term of the Circuit Court shall be holden at Waimea, in the Island of Hawaii, within and for the Third Circuit of the Kingdom, on the first Tuesday of November in each year.

 

Section 2.  The term of the Circuit Court now appointed by law to be holden on the first Tuesday of September, within and for the said Third Circuit, shall hereafter be holden at Hilo, on the first Tuesday of May of each year.
 

Section 3.  Either term may be adjourned to the other seat of justice in Island of Hawaii, appointed for holding said Circuit Court, whenever, in the opinion of the Justice of the Supreme Court presiding at the same, the interest of public justice shall require such adjournment.

 

The term of the Circuit Court now appointed by law to be holden at Nawiliwili, within and for the fourth circuit of this Kingdom, on the first Tuesday of May in each year, shall be holden hereafter at Nawiliwili, on the first Tuesday of August, in each year.

 

A term of the Circuit Court within and for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, as shall be holden at Nawiliwili on the first Tuesday of February in each year in addition to the term now prescribed by law.

 

Note––The result of amendments is as follows:  There is no term of the first circuit.  Seven circuit terms are held: first Tuesday of February at Nawiliwili, Kauai; first Tuesday of May at Hilo, Hawaii; first Tuesday of June at Wailuku, Maui; first Tuesday of August at Nawiliwili, Kauai; first Thursday of September at Waiohinu, Hawaii; first Tuesday of November at Waimea, Hawaii; first Tuesday of December at Lahaina, Maui.

TO AMEND SECTION 870 OF THE CIVIL CODE, AND PROVIDING TWO PLACES FOR HOLDING THE TERMS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SECOND JUDICIAL CIRCUIT.

 

Section 1. The terms of the Circuit Court for the Second Judicial Circuit, provided for in Section 870 of the Civil Code, consisting of the Islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe, the seat of justice of which to be at Lahaina, shall hereafter be held at Lahaina on the first Tuesday of December, and at Wailuku in the Court House thereat on the first Tuesday of June in each year.

 

TO PROVIDE FOR THE HOLDING OF AN ADDITIONAL TERM OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE THIRD JUDICIAL CIRCUIT.

Section 1.  There shall be held on the first Thursday of September in every year, at Waiohinu, in the District of Kau, Island of Hawaii, a term of the Circuit Court of the Third Judicial Circuit of the Kingdom.

 

Section 2.  Only cases arising within the Districts of Puna, Kau, North and South Kona, of the said Island of Hawaii, shall be heard at said term of the Court, but cases arising within other Districts of the said Island of Hawaii may be heard by consent of parties.

 

Section 3.  If there shall be only five cases or a lesser number to be tried at the term of the Court by this Act established, then it shall be lawful for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to order, giving due publication of the same, that the said term be not held, and that the said cases be transferred to be tried at the regular term of the Circuit Court to be holden at Waimea, in the Island of Hawaii, in November. 

 

Section 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its passage.

 

Approved this 21^st day of July, A. D. 1882. 

 

§872.  It shall be the duty of one of the Justices of the Supreme Court to attend and preside over each term of the Circuit Courts; and the expenses of any Justice of the Supreme Court in attending, holding, and returning from any such court, shall be paid from the annual appropriation for the expenses of said courts.

 

TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADJOURNMENT OF COURTS IN THE ABSENCE OF THE PRESIDING JUSTICE.

 

Section 1.  If no Justice of the Supreme Court shall attend any Circuit Court at the time which it is appointed to be holden, the Circuit Judge, or if no Circuit Judge be in attendance, the sheriff may open the Court and adjourn the same from day to day, and from time to time, until the attendance of some Justice of the Supreme Court; but no such adjournment shall be for a longer time than three days, unless there shall be produced and recorded by the clerk, at the time of such adjournment, a written order by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, fixing the day to which said Circuit Court shall stand adjourned.

 

Section 2.  The 873d Section of the Civil code is hereby repealed, and so much of the 885^th Section of said Code as provides that the sessions of the Circuit Courts shall not extend, during any one term, beyond the period of fourteen days, is also repealed.

 

§874.  All persons bound to appear at any circuit court, which shall have failed, as mentioned in the last preceding section, shall be bound to appear at the next term of said court.

 

§875.  The seals of the several circuit courts shall be those already devised, and now in use by said courts.

 

§876.  His Majesty the King, (by and with the advice of the Privy Council,) shall appoint a sufficient number of circuit judges, not exceeding three for each judicial circuit.  Said circuit judges shall hold office (during good behavior,) subject, however, to removal as provided in the Constitution. ‘

 

TO REGULATE THE TERM OF SERVICE OF JUDGES OTHER THAN THOSE OF THE SUPREME COURT.

 

Section 1.  That all Circuit Judges, who now are, or may hereafter be appointed, shall hold their offices for the term of four years from the date of their several appointments.

 

Section 2.  All District Justices shall hold their offices for the term of two years from the date of their several appointments.

 

§877.  The Circuit Judge of the First Circuit shall receive an annual salary of six hundred dollars.  That of the Second Circuit shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars, and those of the Third Circuit shall receive nine hundred dollars each per annum:  Provided that only two judges be appointed for the Third Circuit; but if three judges be appointed for the Third Circuit, the salary of each shall be six hundred dollars per annum.  These salaries shall be paid by monthly payments out of the Treasury of the Kingdom. 

 

§878.  The Circuit Judges shall have power in their respective circuits, to hear and determine, at chambers, all appeals made to them by any party from the decision of any district or police justice, within their jurisdiction.

 

§879.  To constitute a Circuit Court, in either of the judicial circuits, at least one Circuit Judge of such circuit shall be associated on the bench with a justice of the Supreme Court: provided, however, that in case of the inability of all the circuit judges of the circuit to attend, the Justice of the Supreme Court in attendance may hold the court alone.

 

§880.  The respective Circuit Courts shall have original jurisdiction to hear and determine all civil suits between individuals, or in which the Government is plaintiff, involving a greater amount of indebtedness or claim than one hundred dollars, and appellate jurisdiction in all such suits when the amount claimed does not exceed one hundred dollars.  They shall have power to hear and determine all private actions arising within their jurisdiction, sounding in consequential injury or damages, without limit as to amount of claim.  They shall also have power to partition real estate; to grant writs of ejectment and of possession; to admeasure dower; to affiliate bastards; to grant warrants of summary arrest and imprisonment; to restrain by writes of ne exeat, injunction and attachment; to issue commissions for the examination of foreign or domestic witnesses; to depute the power of administering oaths; to change the venue of trial at the request of either party to any cause depending before them, to some other circuit; to grant continuances and postponements; to grant writs of habeas corpus; to enlarge prisoners on bail; to decree the annulment of the marriage contract, and grant (divorces and) separations, for legal causes, and decree alimony; and to decree the foreclosure of mortgages upon real estate or chattel property.

 

§881.  The criminal jurisdiction of the circuit courts shall be co-extensive with the circuits for which they are created.  It shall be appellate from the district and police courts thereof in all cases cognizable before those courts, and original in all other cases.

 

§882.  The jurisdiction of the circuit courts shall not extend to the enforcement of maritime liens and hypothecations; but in all such cases the said courts, or any judge thereof at chambers, may grant process of attachment, seizure or arrest, returnable before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court sitting as a court of admiralty, and may summon the respondent to appear before the said Chief Justice to show cause.  Neither shall the jurisdiction of said circuit courts extend to actions instituted against the Hawaiian Government.

 

§883.  The respective circuit judges, in the Second, Third and Fourth Judicial Circuits, shall have power at chambers, to grant writs of habeas corpus; to appoint guardians and administrators, and again to compel all guardians, administrators and executors, to perform their respective trusts, and to account in all respects for the discharge of their official duties.  They may, in case of moral unfitness, or other good and sufficient cause, remove any administrator, guardian or executor, appointed by will or otherwise.  The said judges shall severally have power to admeasure dower, and partition real estate, having the like discretion therein as is given to the Justices of the Supreme Court, in Section 852.  They shall also have cognizance of the probate of wills, and of the affiliation of bastards.

   

The several Circuit Judges throughout the Kingdom shall be, and they are hereby empowered, to certify and legalize the adoption of children, in like manner with the Justices of the Supreme Court.

 

§884.  The respective circuit courts shall have power, from time to time, to make rules for regulating the practice and conducting the business of said courts, and for regulating the practice and conducting the business of the circuit judges of their several circuits, in all cases not expressly provided for by law; and thereafter to revise said rules at their discretion.

 

§885.  (The sessions of the several circuit courts shall not extend during any one term beyond the period of fourteen days, and all causes not reached upon the calendar, or not within that period disposed of, shall be continued to the next term of said court): provided, however, that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court may order a special term of any circuit court to be held, whenever he may deem it essential to the promotion of justice.

 

 

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