A historical survey published in connection with the bicentennial year of the First Judiciary Act, signed September 24, 1789. The text explains the provisions of the 1789 statute, the compromises it embodies, and the conditions and debates that led to the passage of the Evarts Act in 1891, which established the three-tiered system that characterizes federal court structure today. The publication is illustrated by 12 maps that describe the growth and evolution of the districts and circuits.

Superseded by Creating the Federal Judicial System, Second Edition (1994).