that the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia was the principal trial court in early Washington, applying Virginia law and procedures when it met in Alexandria and those of Maryland for its Washington sessions? The District Court was largely a maritime court. Cases from the Circuit Court could be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States when as little as $100 was involved. This wasn’t true for other jurisdictions, where the amount in controversy had to be much higher. This explains why the docket of the Supreme Court had so many D.C. cases in its early history.