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State Courts

State Courts. Chapter 4. Courts & Court Systems. U.S. has a Dual Court system. Federal Courts State Courts. State Courts. Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction. Referred to as Lower Courts or Inferior Courts. There are more than 13,500 trial courts nationally.

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State Courts

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  1. State Courts Chapter 4

  2. Courts & Court Systems • U.S. has a Dual Court system. • Federal Courts • State Courts

  3. State Courts • Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction. • Referred to as Lower Courts or Inferior Courts. • There are more than 13,500 trial courts nationally. • Mostly Misdemeanors, minor civil actions.

  4. Lower Courts • Restricted range of cases (mostly minor criminal and civil) • Variety of names: • District Courts • Justice Courts • Justice of the Peace • City Courts • Magistrate Courts • Municipal Courts

  5. Caseload of lower courts • Over 61 million matters a year. • 41 million of those are traffic related cases. • They also conduct preliminary hearings for felonies. • Try misdemeanor, traffic and small claims cases.

  6. Florida Court Structure Insert Figure 4-1, page 90 here.

  7. Trial Courts • General Jurisdiction • These of the trial courts of the state system. This is where murder cases and robbery cases are tried. • 2,000 major trial courts in the 50 states. • Common names of trial courts include: • District court • Circuit court • Superior court

  8. Civil Cases • Domestic relations constitutes the single largest category of cases filed: • Divorce • Child Custody • Child or Spousal Support • Domestic cases are fastest growing part of civil caseload

  9. Other Civil Cases • Torts • Estate cases or Probate cases • Personal Injury cases • Contract cases • Property Rights • Variety of Commercial cases • Wrongful death cases

  10. Court Unification • Centralizing Court Structure: • Administration • Rule Making • Judicial Budgeting • Streamlining court structure • Statewide financing vs Local financing

  11. Intermediate Courts of Appeals • 39 States have Appellate Courts • Those who do not are sparsely populated with low volume of appeals • Some ICA’s are statewide jurisdiction, and others are regional based largely on population.

  12. State Supreme Courts • Courts of last resort. • Not all states call their court of last resort a Supreme Court. • State Supreme Court judges are usually elected by the people. • State Supreme Courts vs U.S. Supreme Court.

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