Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to:
49-457: The term "circuit court" is derived from the English custom of itinerant courts whose judges periodically travelled on pre-set paths - or circuits - to hear cases from different areas. The first formal circuits were defined in 1293, when a statute was enacted which established four assize circuits. It was long assumed that these circuits originated with the eyre in common pleas during
98-524: A Court for Crown Cases Reserved in each of England and Wales and Ireland. These courts were sometimes called the "Court of Criminal Appeal", but only heard point of law appeals. In England and Wales, a Court of Criminal Appeal was established in 1907, but in Ireland the 1848 court remained in operation. A Court of Criminal Appeal was temporarily established during the Irish Land War by
147-566: A country is strongly associated with German history, where the emergence of a capital city took an unusually long time. The German itinerant regime ( Reisekönigtum ) was the usual form of royal or imperial government from the Frankish period and up to late medieval times. The Holy Roman Emperors did not rule from any permanent central residence during or after the Middle Ages. They constantly traveled, with their family and court, through
196-627: A distance of 15–19 miles (24–31 km), which corresponded to a day's journey by the royal entourage with horses and carriages. Individual riders, such as postal riders, on the other hand, covered much greater distances, up to 75 miles per day on dry ground. In 1146, Conrad III of Germany could travel as fast as 41 miles a day on his journey from Frankfurt to Weinheim . During a year, impressive distances were covered. However, these distances could not be maintained on all routes—there were large territories in which no royal pfalz or grange existed, or lacked nearby monasteries or towns. In these cases,
245-553: A judicial circuit can encompass one or more counties (see Missouri Circuit Courts ). Each circuit court can have several divisions, including circuit, associate, small claims , probate , family, or drug court. Each division hears cases within its particular area of subject-matter jurisdiction , and jurisdiction is based on the size or type of a civil claim or the severity or type of a criminal charge. Drug court , for example, hears only drug-related criminal cases. Several U.S. states have state supreme courts that traditionally "ride
294-628: A location other than Dublin . In the United States, circuit courts were first established in the Thirteen British Colonies . In 1789, the United States circuit courts were United States federal courts established in each federal judicial district . These circuit courts exercised both original (first instance) and appellate jurisdiction . They existed until 1912. The original jurisdiction formerly exercised by
343-569: A number of counties. The court consist of a President and thirty-seven judges. Although there is strictly speaking just one Circuit Court, a sitting of the Circuit Court in any particular location is referred to as name of town Circuit Court, e.g. Trim Circuit Court. The High Court also sits "on circuit" twice yearly, though this is called the High Court on Circuit rather than a circuit court. In this case, "on circuit" means sitting in
392-411: A political capital. The king often wished to be near the great city, but he claimed the same power to control the court that the citizens demanded to govern their city. The only way to avoid conflict between the household and municipal jurisdictions was for the king to keep away from the latter much of the time. He could only be in the city as a guest or a conqueror. Accordingly, he seldom ventured within
441-436: A rival economic center. They tried to find some other suitable place in the kingdom to deposit their archives , which were gradually growing too large and heavy to be transported on their unending journeys. York tended towards becoming a political capital during times of war with Scotland . The Hundred Years' War against France caused the political center of gravity to shift to the southern parts of England, where London
490-428: A single federal courthouse, while others, such as the large Ninth Circuit , are spread across many courthouses. Since three-judge federal appellate panels are randomly selected from all sitting circuit judges, Ninth Circuit judges must often "ride the circuit," though this duty has become much easier to carry out since the development of modern air travel . Under the original Judiciary Act of 1789 and subsequent acts,
539-420: A system of personal relationships rather than an administration of geographic areas. Therefore, the ruler had to "personally" deal with his subordinates. During medieval times, this "oral" culture gradually gave way to a "documentary" type of rule—one based on written communication, which generated archives , making stationary rule increasingly attractive to kings. Initially, rulers also needed to travel to meet
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#1732794240328588-542: Is estimated that he spent a quarter of his reign on the road. He made ten trips to the Low Countries , nine to German-speaking lands, seven to Spain, seven to Italian states, four to France, two to England, and two to North Africa. As he said in his last public speech, "My life has been one long journey." During his travels, Charles V left a documentary trail nearly everywhere he went, allowing historians to surmise that he spent nearly half his life (over 10,000 days) in
637-677: The Circuit Court , the Central Criminal Court , and the Special Criminal Court . The Court sat in a division of three, with one Supreme Court judge and two High Court judges. The court could hear appeals by a defendant against conviction , sentence or both. Leave to appeal was only given where there was a disagreement on a point of law, although an exception can be made when new evidence becomes available which could not have been presented before
686-615: The Federal Circuit ). There are several other federal courts that bear the phrase "Court of Appeals" in their names, but they are not Article III courts and are not considered to sit in appellate circuits. The federal courts of appeals are intermediate courts, between the district courts (the federal trial courts ) and the Supreme Court. Smaller circuits, such as the Second Circuit and Third Circuit , are based at
735-612: The Northern Territory are known as circuit courts, sometimes referred to as "bush courts". Itinerant court An itinerant court was a migratory form of government shared in European kingdoms during the Early Middle Ages . It was an alternative to having a capital city , a permanent political center governed by a kingdom. Medieval Western Europe was generally characterized by a political rule wherein
784-411: The feudalism that succeeded the more centralized Roman Empire . In Eastern Europe, Constantinople retained the characteristics of a political capital city much more than any western city. Traveling government enabled better surveillance of the realm. The king's nomadic lifestyle also facilitated control over local magnates , strengthening national cohesion. Medieval government was, for a long time,
833-616: The justices of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C. had the responsibility of "riding circuit" and personally hearing both appeals and trials in the circuit courts, in addition to their caseload back in the capital. This duty was reasonable when the United States consisted of the original Thirteen Colonies along the East Coast of the United States , but became increasingly onerous and impractical with
882-670: The 1500s, two major changes occurred. Middlesex was removed from the Home Circuit and grouped with the adjacent City of London (which was never part of the circuits), and Oxfordshire and Berkshire were transferred from the Western Circuit to the Oxford Circuit. The Welsh county of Monmouthshire was also transferred into the Oxford Circuit. After that, the circuits of England remained largely static for almost four centuries, until they were again reorganized during
931-414: The 16th century or even longer. Consequently, these pure economic benefits must have been less decisive than the political importance of traveling. The transition from a state with an itinerant court to a state ruled from a capital city was a reflection of how an "oral" way of life—wherein kings could win loyalty only by personally meeting their subjects face-to-face—gave way to a "documentary" rule in which
980-465: The 19th century. Twice each year, judges "literally rode each circuit," meaning that a pair of common law judges assigned to a circuit rode on horseback through all the county towns and several other important towns in each circuit and heard cases. On the American frontier , a judge often travelled on horseback along with a group of lawyers. Abraham Lincoln was one such attorney who regularly rode
1029-701: The Circuit Leaders. In Ireland the Circuit Court is part of the Courts of First Instance , senior to the District Court but junior to the High Court (Ireland) . It was first established as the Circuit Court of Justice under the Courts of Justice Act 1924 and replaced the County Court on the civil side, and quarter sessions and recorder's courts on the criminal side, as well as some of
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#17327942403281078-619: The Low Countries and almost one-third (6,500 days) in Spain. He spent more than 3,000 days in what is now Germany and nearly 1,000 days in Italy, with much of the remainder in France (195), North Africa (99), and England (44). For 260 days, his exact location is unrecorded, all of them being days spent at sea traveling between his dominions. Germany never developed a fixed capital city during
1127-687: The Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Act, 1882. This comprised the judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature except for the Lord Chancellor of Ireland . The 1882 Act expired after three years. The Courts of Justice Act 1924 established a new court system under the terms of the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State . These included a new Supreme Court and High Court, and a Court of Criminal Appeal comprising judges of those two courts. The courts were re-established in 1961 under
1176-460: The State's authority. Although a country's political center tends to naturally emerge at the same place as the country's economic center, the English historical example shows that this is not always the case—centralizing and centrifugal forces counteracted each other, while wealth was both an attractive and repellent force on the rulers. A migrating form of political power was an inherent feature of
1225-413: The United States circuit courts is now exercised by the United States district courts . Their appellate jurisdiction is now exercised by the United States courts of appeals , which were known as the United States circuit courts of appeals from their establishment in 1894 until 1947. The federal courts of appeals sit permanently in 13 appellate circuits (11 regional circuits as well as a DC Circuit and
1274-751: The basis for administration of the Bar in England and Wales except for Cheshire. Until 2007 for court administration purposes it formed part of the Wales and Chester Circuit. When in 2007 it became part of the Northern Circuit for court administrative purposes post devolution, the "Wales and Chester Circuit" continued to be the Circuit Bar. The Circuit Bars are represented on the Bar Council through
1323-491: The circuit in Illinois, along with Circuit Judge David Davis . In more settled areas, a stagecoach would be used. Eventually, the legal caseload in a county would become great enough to warrant the establishment of a local judiciary. Most of these local judicial circuits (that is, in terms of the actual routes travelled by judges) have been thus replaced by judges regularly stationed at local courthouses, but in many areas,
1372-627: The circuit" in the sense of hearing oral arguments at multiple locations throughout their jurisdictions each year. Among the states with circuit-riding supreme courts are Alaska , California , Idaho , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Tennessee , and Washington . Courts serving certain areas particularly in Northern Canada , such as the Nunavut Court of Justice and courts serving northern Quebec , travel as circuit courts to hear cases in remote communities. Courts serving remote areas in
1421-622: The city walls; on such occasions, he established himself either in the Tower Fortress or at his Palace of Westminster just outside the City of London. London was the natural leader among English towns. To control England, the kings needed to maintain London first. London was too powerful to handle; it took centuries before the monarchs settled there. They tried, unsuccessfully, to drive the London merchants out of business by making Westminster
1470-501: The country's rapid westward expansion during the 19th century, and was repealed by Congress with the enacting of the Judiciary Act of 1891 . The U.S. Supreme Court justices still retain vestiges of the days of riding circuit; each justice is designated to hear certain interlocutory appeals from specific circuits and can unilaterally decide them or refer them to the entire court. The court's customary summer recess originated as
1519-414: The court's financial needs, as inadequate transportation facilities simply did not allow a large group of people to stay permanently in one place. Instead of sending resources to the government, the government wandered to the resources. Food supplies and other necessities were usually transferred to the place where the court resided for the moment. In many countries, the traveling kingship persisted throughout
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1568-482: The emperor and other princes ruled by constantly changing their residences. The Merovingian kings of the Frankish Empire already practiced this system, and the subsequent Carolingian dynasty adopted both the custom and its associated palaces ( Kaiserpfalz , lit. ' royal palace ' ). During the reigns of successive emperors, these palaces were expanded, abandoned, rebuilt elsewhere (often on
1617-651: The emperors and kings often spent the night in tent camps. This also occurred during campaigns and sieges in which the kings took part. Pfalzes were often located near Roman urban remnants, which constituted the oldest cities in Germany and France. These settlements were also mostly located on navigable rivers—mainly the Rhine , Main , and Danube —which enabled quick and comfortable travel and facilitated suppling. Old bishoprics were often located in these places, another advantage in that bishops were usually more loyal to
1666-603: The empire. A key reason was certainly that—unlike in England and France—there was no hereditary monarchy in the Holy Roman Empire, but rather the electoral principle, which led to kings of very different regional origins being elected in imperial elections . The Holy Roman Empire did not have a capital city. The emperors owned their varying dynastic lands, including castles, but could not limit themselves to these if they wanted to keep control of their large empire, including its often-rebellious regional princes. Therefore,
1715-402: The highest political authorities frequently changed their location, bringing parts of the country's central government on their journey. Therefore, such a realm had no actual center or permanent seat of government. Itinerant courts were gradually replaced from the thirteenth century, when stationary royal residences began to develop into modern capital cities. The itinerant court system of ruling
1764-584: The jurisdiction of the assizes . These are heard by a judge sitting alone. It also has jurisdiction to hear appeals from the District Court. Appeals from the court lie to the High Court on the civil side and the Court of Criminal Appeal on the criminal side. The Circuit Court is so-called because of the circuits on which its judges travel, namely Dublin, Cork, Northern, Western, Eastern, South Western, South Eastern, and Midland, each of which are composed of
1813-545: The king employed a bureaucracy to communicate with his subjects. Court of Criminal Appeal (Ireland) The Court of Criminal Appeal ( Irish : An Chúirt Achomhairc Choiriúil ) was an appellate court for criminal cases in the law of the Republic of Ireland . It existed from 1924 until 2014, when it was superseded by the Court of Appeal , which can hear appeals for all types of case. The Court of Criminal Appeal heard appeals for indictable offences tried in
1862-410: The king than regional dukes , who pursued their own dynastic goals. The routes the court followed during the journeys were called itinerarium . The composition of the ruler's retinue constantly changed, depending on what area the court was passing through and which noblemen joined or left. The itinerant court is often conceived as a typical German institution. Medieval Germany was, however, not
1911-417: The kings' own estates), and often became part of the royal estates of the kings' successors. Royal pfalzes were scattered around the whole country—notably in accessible, fertile areas—and surrounded by imperial property administrated by the palace to ensure supplies. The locations of royal estates or palaces depended on several factors. Royal granges served as transit quarters and were therefore set up at
1960-528: The legacy term remains in use. England and Wales is divided into six circuits for the purposes of the administration of justice: the Midland Circuit, North Eastern Circuit, Northern Circuit , South Eastern Circuit, Western Circuit, and the Wales and Chester Circuit. The system is overseen by the Lord Chancellor . The membership consists of High Court Judges, Circuit Judges, District Judges, law practitioners and academic lawyers. The Circuits also form
2009-536: The medieval or early modern period —its alternative solution was a decentralized state ( Multizentralität , "pluricentricity") until the late modern period . England was very different in this respect. Central political power was permanently established in London approximately in the middle of the fourteenth century. Still, London's outstanding position as a financial center had been firmly established many centuries earlier. King Henry II of England (1133–1189)
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2058-494: The only kingdom ruled this way; it was also the case in most other contemporary European countries, where terms like "corte itinerante" describe this phenomenon. Kings and their companions traveled continuously from one royal palace to the next. Early historical sources describe Scotland as being ruled by an itinerant court, with the Parliament of Scotland assembling in many different places. In Saxon England , conditions were
2107-529: The original court. The Director of Public Prosecutions could also appeal against a sentence on the grounds that it was unduly lenient. A further appeal to the Supreme Court only lay when the Court of Criminal Appeal itself or the Attorney General certified that a point of law of exceptional public importance needed to be resolved. The Crown Cases Act 1848 ( 11 & 12 Vict. c. 78) established
2156-408: The reign of Henry II , but during the late 1950s, legal historians such as Ralph Pugh recognized that the eyre's "connection with later circuit justices is rather collateral than lineal", and the eyre was merely one of a number of experiments in "systematized itinerant justice" undertaken by the English crown during the late 12th century and the 13th century. The development of the assize circuits
2205-583: The same. A more centralized way of ruling did evolve during this time, but only slowly and gradually. London and Paris began to develop into permanent political centers from the late 1300s, and Lisbon showed similar tendencies. Smaller kingdoms too had a similar, but slower development. Spain , on the other hand, lacked a fixed royal residence until the late 1500s, when Philip II elevated El Escorial outside Madrid to this rank. Emperor Charles V made 40 journeys during his lifetime, traveling from country to country with no single fixed capital city. It
2254-520: The time during which the justices would leave Washington and ride circuit (since dirt roads were more passable in the summer). Many U.S. states have state courts called "circuit courts." Most are trial courts of general , original jurisdiction . In Louisiana , the intermediate appellate courts are called the Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal . There are five separate judicial circuits. In many states, such as Missouri ,
2303-498: Was attracted by the city's great wealth, but he was hesitant about taking up residence there. During his reign, London became as near to an economic capital as the conditions of the age allowed. But its very prosperity and its extensive and long-recognized liberties, the latter subsequently characterized in Magna Carta as 'ancient' , forbade it as a desirable place of residence for the king and his court, preventing it from becoming
2352-535: Was dominant. Gradually, many state institutions ceased to follow the king on his journeys and established themselves permanently in London: the Treasury , Parliament , and the court. The king himself was last to take up permanent residence in London. It was only possible for him to make London his capital city after he had become powerful enough to "tame the financial metropolis" and transform it into an obedient tool of
2401-412: Was interrupted in 1305 by the appointment of justices of trailbaston by King Edward I . Under King Edward III , two statutes were enacted in 1328 and 1330 which restored the assize circuits and reorganized the counties of England into six circuits where assizes were supposed to be held thrice yearly (but were more often held twice each year). By 1337, the six assize circuits had stabilized: During
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