might have gone to an extreme in creating places for holding courts;
and I suppose the judges were kept on the march a good deal of the
time. It also looks as if the remedy by congress was extreme. The
people say it is a coercive measure to drive them into a state
organization.

The administration of justice is secured by a system which is now
common to all the territories, with the exception of Kansas. The
supreme court consists of the three district judges in full bench.
They hold nisi prius terms in their respective districts, which are
called district courts. The judges have a salary of $2000 each, and
are appointed for a term of four years, subject to removal by the
President. The district courts have chancery jurisdiction in matters
where there is not a plain, adequate, and complete remedy at law.
(Stat. of Min. ch. 94, sec. 1.) There are also probate courts. Each
county has two justices of the peace, who are elected by the people.
And I cannot but remark how much better the practice is to elect or
appoint a few justices of the peace rather than to allow the office to
be degraded by wholesale appointments, as a matter of compliment,
according to the usage too common in some Eastern States. The justices
of the peace have jurisdiction in civil cases where the amount in
question does not exceed $100; and when the amount at issue is over
$20 either party may demand a jury of six men to try the case. But
there would be little demand for juries if all magistrates were as
competent as our enlightened friend Judge Russell.

Special pleading never flourished much in the West. It was never "a
favorite with the court" out this way; while the regard which the
lawyers have cherished for it has been "distant and respectful." It
has been laid on the shelf about as effectually as bleeding in the