CHAPTER XX.

INTEREST AND USURY.

The legal rate of interest is twelve per cent. per annum ; but any rate that may be agreed on is legal. Judgments draw twelve per cent. from the date of their rendition.

PART IX.

MONTANA TERRITORY.

PREPARED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK BY W. E. CULLEN, HELENA.

CHAPTER I.

COURTS, THEIR JURISDICTION AND TERMS:

The Courts of the Territory are a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Court, and Justices of the Peace.

The Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction only.

The District Courts have original jurisdiction of all civil cases where the amount in controversy exceeds fifty dollars, and of all felonies; also appellate jurisdiction from the Probate and Justices' Courts.

The Probate Court, in addition to probate matters, has jurisdiction in civil actions to the amount of five hundred dollars, except where the title or right to the possession of land is in question, and in chancery and divorce cases. The Probate Court also has jurisdiction of such criminal cases arising under the laws of the Territory as do not require the intervention of a grand jury.

Justices of the Peace have jurisdiction where the title of land is not in dispute, and where the debt or sum claimed does not exceed one hundred dollars.

The District Court, when sitting at Helena, Deer Lodge, and

Bozeman, has the same jurisdiction as the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, and the first six days of each term at said places are appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the constitution and laws of the United States.

TERMS OF DISTRICT COURTS, 1876.

COUNTY.

COUNTY SEAT. DIST.

WHEN HELD.

Beaverhead... Bannack...

Deer Lodge... Deer Lodge...

2d.... First Monday in June, second Monday in October. 2d.... Second Monday in April, first Monday in September. Bozeman.. 1st First Monday in May, second Monday in October. Radersburg..... 3d... First Monday in April, first Monday in October. Virginia City.. 1st... Third Monday in March, third Monday in September. Diamond City... 3d.... Fourth Monday in May, fourth Monday in October. Meissoula ... . . . 2d.... Fourth Monday in June, Second Monday in November. Lewis & Clark. Helena.. 3d.... First Monday in March, second Monday in September, and first Monday in November.

Gallatin...

Jefferson...

Madison

Meagher..

Meissoula

...

Terms of the Supreme Court are held at the capital, Helena,. on first Monday in January and second Monday in August.

CHAPTER II.

TIME ALLOWED DEFENDANT TO ANSWER-PLACE OF TRIAL OF CIVIL ACTIONS.

TIME ALLOWED DEFENDANT TO ANSWER.

Ten days if served in the county, twenty days if served outside the county but in the district; forty days in all other cases.

PLACE OF TRIAL OF CIVIL ACTIONS.

Actions for the recovery of real estate, or for injuries thereto,

for partition thereof, or for foreclosure of mortgage thereon, must be tried in the county where the same is situated.

Actions for the recovery of a penalty or forfeiture imposed by statute, or against a public officer, must be tried in the county where the cause arose.

In all other cases the action is to be tried in the county in which the defendant may reside, or in the county where the plaintiff resides and the defendant may be found.

CHAPTER III.

LIMITATION OF ACTIONS.

Upon a judgment or decree of a United States Court, or of any State or Territory, ten years.

Upon any contract, obligation or liability, founded upon an instrument of writing, ten years.

Actions for waste or trespass upon real property; for a liability created by statute, other than a penalty or forfeiture; for taking, detaining or injuring goods or chattels, and for relief on the ground of fraud, must be commenced within three years.

Actions against a sheriff, coroner or constable, for any act in his official capacity, must be commenced within two years.

Actions upon an account, contract, obligation or liability not grounded upon an instrument of writing, must be commenced within five years.

An action for a penalty or forfeiture given by statute, or for libel, slander, assault, battery or false imprisonment, must be commenced within two years.

Actions for relief not provided for, as above, must be commenced within three years after the cause of action accrued.