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<GovernmentManual>
  <accessId>GOVMAN-2014-10-06-085</accessId>
  <Entity EntityId="85" ParentId="81" SortOrder="4">
    <EntityType>SubEntityLevelOne</EntityType>
    <Category>Judicial Branch</Category>
    <IntroductoryHeader/>
    <IntroductoryParagraph/>
    <AgencyName>Territorial Courts</AgencyName>
    <Addresses/>
    <LeaderShipTables/>
    <MissionStatement>
      <Heading/>
    </MissionStatement>
    <OrganizationChart/>
    <LegalAuthority>
      <Heading/>
    </LegalAuthority>
    <OrganizationStatement>
      <Heading/>
    </OrganizationStatement>
    <ProgramAndActivities>
      <ProgramAndActivity ProgramAndActivitiesId="372" SortOrder="1">
        <FooterDetails>
          <Email/>
          <Footer/>
          <WebAddress/>
        </FooterDetails>
        <MainParagraph/>
        <PointOfContact/>
        <ProgramName/>
        <Activity ProgramAndActivitiesId="906" SortOrder="1">
          <Heading/>
          <Details>
            <Detail SortOrder="1" TypeOfProgramAndActivitiesDetailsId="1487">
              <FooterDetails>
                <Email/>
                <Footer/>
                <WebAddress/>
              </FooterDetails>
              <Heading/>
              <Paragraph>Pursuant to its authority to govern the Territories (Art. IV, sec. 3, clause 2, of the Constitution), Congress has established district courts in the territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands. The District Court of the Canal Zone was abolished on April 1, 1982, pursuant to the Panama Canal Act of 1979 (22 U.S.C. 3601 note). Congress has also established a district court in the Northern Mariana Islands, which presently is administered by the United States under a trusteeship agreement with the United Nations. These Territorial courts have jurisdiction not only over the subjects described in the judicial article of the Constitution but also over many local matters that, within the States, are decided in State courts. The District Court of Puerto Rico, by contrast, is established under Article III, is classified like other "district courts," and is called a "court of the United States" (28 U.S.C. 451). There is one judge each in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, and two in the Virgin Islands. The judges in these courts are appointed for terms of 10 years.</Paragraph>
            </Detail>
          </Details>
        </Activity>
      </ProgramAndActivity>
    </ProgramAndActivities>
    <SourceOfInformationDetails/>
    <FooterDetails>
      <Footer>For further information concerning the lower courts, contact the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, One Columbus Circle NE., Washington, DC 20544. Phone, 202-502-2600.</Footer>
      <Email/>
      <WebAddress/>
    </FooterDetails>
  </Entity>
</GovernmentManual>
