district court

A court having cognizance of cases arising within a certain defined district, more specifically as described below. The United States is divided into 66 districts for judicial purposes, each state in the Union containing at least one district and some of them three. For each district there are a judge, a district-attorney, a marshal, and deputy marshals. They constitute the officers of the district-courts. These tribunals have charge of the initial administration of justice in cases of offense against the Federal Government, and form a link in the judicial succe ion that culminates in the Supreme Court of the United States, being as it were the Federal courts of common pleas.