The Judiciary Act of 1891, commonly known as the Evarts Act, restructured the federal judiciary. This law created the now-familiar circuit courts of appeals. At the time, there were nine circuit courts of appeal. Now there are twelve.
Prior to the Evarts Act, there were circuit courts in the states. For example, there was the U.S. Circuit Court for District of Maryland. (This court may seem familiar to those who've read Ex Parte Merryman). And Justice Bushrod Washington decided Corfield v. Coryell while riding circuit on the U.S. Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
I have a question, for which I cannot find the answer. Would a pre-1892 decision of the U.S. Circuit Court for District of Maryland, which was in the 4th Circuit, have been binding precedent on the U.S. Circuit Court for the Fourth Circuit after 1891?
