§1611 — Title 48 Territories and Insular Possessions | U.S. Code

Summary

The power to hear cases in the Virgin Islands is given to a court called the District Court of the Virgin Islands and to any local trial or appeals courts that local law creates. The Virgin Islands legislature can give those local courts the authority to hear any cases that federal courts do not have exclusive control over. That local authority is subject to the shared authority given to the District Court by section 1612(a) and (c). Local law or the rules the local courts make must set court procedures and the rules for judges and court officers, including qualifications, duties, oaths, bonds, and when and where courts meet.

Title 48, §1611

Territories and Insular Possessions — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The judicial power of the Virgin Islands shall be vested in a court of record designated the “District Court of the Virgin Islands” established by Congress, and in such appellate court and lower local courts as may have been or may hereafter be established by local law.

(b)The legislature of the Virgin Islands may vest in the courts of the Virgin Islands established by local law jurisdiction over all causes in the Virgin Islands over which any court established by the Constitution and laws of the United States does not have exclusive jurisdiction. Such jurisdiction shall be subject to the concurrent jurisdiction conferred on the District Court of the Virgin Islands by section 1612(a) and (c) of this title.

(c)The rules governing the practice and procedure of the courts established by local law and those prescribing the qualifications and duties of the judges and officers thereof, oaths and bonds, and the times and places of holding court shall be governed by local law or the rules promulgated by those courts.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1984—Pub. L. 98–454 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted “established by Congress” before “and in such” and substituted “appellate court and lower local courts as may have been or may hereafter be established by local law” for “court or courts of inferior jurisdiction as have been or may hereafter be established by local law”, and added subsecs. (b) and (c).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1984 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 98–454 effective on ninetieth day following Oct. 5, 1984, see section 1005 of Pub. L. 98–454, set out as a note under section 1424 of this title.

§1611 District Court of Virgin Islands; local courts; jurisdiction; practice and procedure