For what did the Judiciary Act provide?

The Federal Judiciary Act of 1789 was an important law. One of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation was that it didn’t have a court system where states could resolve disputes they had with each other. This law was designed to fix that.

The Federal Judiciary Act of 1789 created a federal court system. There would be 13 district courts with one in each state. There would be three circuit courts. The circuit courts would hear appeals from decisions made by the district courts. There also would be some trials in the circuit courts. Finally, there would be the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court would hear appeals from the circuit courts. The Supreme Court’s decision in a case would be final and binding. The original Supreme Court would have five justices plus a chief justice. John Jay was the first chief justice.

The creation of a federal court system provided a way for disputes to be resolved. The passage of this law corrected a major flaw that existed when the Articles of Confederation was our plan of government.