( Alabama to Missouri , Montana to Wyoming )
83-607: (Redirected from State Court ) State court may refer to: Courts of constituent states of English-speaking federated states [ edit ] State court (United States) Judiciary of Australia#State and territory courts Courts of English-speaking unitary states [ edit ] State Courts of Singapore Non-English names that may be translated as "state court" [ edit ] Landesgericht (Germany) Judiciary of Brazil#State courts See also [ edit ] Provincial court Topics referred to by
166-422: A jury , although most matters stop short of reaching trial. The decisions of lower courts may be reviewed by a panel of a state court of appeals . Generally, there is also a highest court for appeals, a state supreme court , that oversees the court system. In matters that involve issues of federal law, the final decision of the state's highest court (including refusals to hear final appeals) may be appealed to
249-480: A civil case, an agreed resolution settling the case or plea bargain resolving a criminal case, or pretrial resolution of the case by a judge either on the merits or on procedural grounds. Although the United States is supposedly a highly litigious society, very few cases actually go to a jury verdict and a final judgment , let alone an appeal that results in a published appellate opinion. In other words,
332-701: A conviction in a habeas corpus proceeding after all state court remedies (usually including a state court habeas corpus proceeding) have been exhausted. Some rights of criminal defendants that apply in federal court do not exist in state court. For example, in many states there is no constitutional right to be indicted by a grand jury before facing a criminal prosecution for a felony or infamous misdemeanor. Oregon does not require unanimous juries in non-capital criminal cases. Unlike non-criminal cases, criminal proceedings in state courts are primarily conducted orally, in person, in open court. In most, but not all states ( California and New York are significant exceptions),
415-472: A county-based court. If one of the litigants is unsatisfied with the decision of the lower court, the matter may be taken up on appeal (but an acquittal in a criminal trial may not be appealed by the state due to the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy ). Usually, an intermediate appellate court, if there is one in that state, often called the state court of appeals, will review
498-448: A handful of federal laws under which lawsuits can be pursued only in state court, such as those arising under the federal "junk fax" law. There have been times in U.S. history where almost all small claims, even if they arose under federal law, were required to be brought in state courts. State court systems usually have expedited procedures for civil disputes involving small dollar amounts (typically under $ 5,000 to $ 25,000 depending upon
581-552: A judge. The judiciary is not a separate profession in the American legal system as it is in many civil law jurisdictions. While in many civil law jurisdictions a common judicial career involves an entry-level assignment in an inferior court followed by promotions to more senior courts over the course of a career, no U.S. court system makes experience in an inferior judicial position a prerequisite to higher judicial office. While many countries consider criminal prosecutors to be part of
664-453: A jury trial in cases that would arise at law in colonial England, which generally includes most cases seeking simple money damages and no other relief. In practice, about three-quarters of all civil jury trials involved personal injury cases, and most of the rest involve breaches of contracts. In states where a state constitution provides for a right to a jury trial, or a right to open courts, this has sometimes been interpreted to confer not only
747-735: A legal code. The earliest attempt at codification occurred in Massachusetts with a 1648 publication. Naturally, there is much diversity in the structure of the state codes, reflecting the diversity of the statutory law on which they were built. New York 's codes are known as "Laws". California and Texas simply call them "Codes". Other states use terms such as "Code of [state name]", "Revised Statutes", or "Compiled Statutes" for their compilations. California, New York, and Texas use separate subject-specific codes; Maryland's code has, as of 2016, been completely recodified from numbered articles into named articles; virtually all other states and
830-402: A multifactor balancing test usually consisting of four to eight factors, but there are 23 various incarnations because so few states use exactly the same test, and consolidating those into a single list results in 42 unique factors. Naturally, the laws of different states frequently come into conflict with each other, which has given rise to a huge body of law regulating the conflict of laws in
913-581: A non-U.S. name, marriage and divorce related name changes are normally handled elsewhere). A large share of the balance of civil cases in courts of general jurisdiction involve divorces, child custody disputes, child abuse cases, uncontested probate administrations, and personal injury cases that do not involve workplace injuries (which are usually handled through a non-judicial workers' compensation process). Many state court civil cases produce quick default judgments or pretrial settlements, but even considering only cases that actually go to trial, state courts are
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#1732765647589996-527: A particular codified statute). In contrast, in jurisdictions with uncodified statutes, like the United Kingdom , determining what the law is can be a more difficult process. One has to trace back to the earliest relevant Act of Parliament, and then identify all later Acts which either amended the earlier Act or expressly or impliedly repealed it. For example, when the UK decided to create a Supreme Court of
1079-464: A particular legal question and (2) currently in force. The process of organizing the law, called codification, was borrowed from the civil law through the efforts of American lawyer David Dudley Field . Field, in turn, was building upon early (but wholly unsuccessful) foundational work by the English legal philosopher Jeremy Bentham , who actually coined the verb "to codify" for the process of drafting
1162-554: A petition for writ of certiorari . State courts regularly have concurrent jurisdiction with federal courts and, where applicable, apply or are also bound by federal law. State laws have dramatically diverged in the centuries since independence, to the extent that the United States cannot be regarded as one legal system (as to the majority of types of law traditionally under state control), but instead as 50 separate systems of tort law , family law , property law , contract law , criminal law , and so on. Nonetheless developments in
1245-435: A plaintiff can bring a matter either to state court or to federal court, because it arises under federal law, or involves a substantial monetary dispute (in excess of $ 75,000 as of October 26, 2007) arising under state law between parties that do not reside in the same state. If a plaintiff files suit in state court in such a case, the defendant can remove the case to federal court . There is no federal constitutional right to
1328-493: A previous civil law system that governed the state). Another example of civil law influence in these states can be seen in the California Civil Code , where the law of contracts is treated as part of the law of obligations . Many of the western states , including California, Colorado , New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming use a system of allocating water rights known as the prior appropriation doctrine , which
1411-469: A private party to pursue a claim for a small dollar amount. Unlike state courts, federal courts are courts of "limited jurisdiction", that can only hear the types of cases specified in the Constitution and federal statutes (primarily federal crimes, cases arising under federal law, cases with a United States government party, and cases involving a diversity of citizenship between the parties). Often,
1494-406: A procedural right to a certain type of trial, but also a substantive right to have redress through the courts for the kinds of injuries that were compensable at common law. Prior to trial, most proceedings in non-criminal courts are conducted via papers filed in the court, often through lawyers. In limited jurisdiction courts, it is not uncommon for an initial appearance to be made in person at which
1577-569: A request for relief from the state's highest appellate court, if the Court believes that the case involves an important question of federal law. Because of the aforementioned silence in the Constitution (as well as Section 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and successor sections), the Court cannot and never reviews decisions of state courts that depend entirely on the resolution of a state law issue; there must be an issue of federal law (such as
1660-690: A result of the strict separation of powers imposed by the United States Constitution . Instead, at both the federal and state levels, administrative law judges (ALJs) preside over tribunals within executive branch agencies (although their decisions can usually be appealed to real judges in the judicial branch). In state governments, ALJs handle matters such as driver's license revocations, workers' compensation claims, unemployment insurance claims, and land use disputes. All these courts are distinguished from courts of general jurisdiction (also known as "superior jurisdiction"), which are
1743-688: A separate court that handles serious crimes; jurisdiction lies with the court that handles all other felony cases in a given county. But, many state courts that handle criminal cases have separate divisions or judges assigned to handle certain types of crimes such as a drug court , sometimes also known as a "problem-solving court". Courts of general jurisdiction tend to be better funded, better staffed, more professional, more dignified, and more solemn than courts of limited jurisdiction. They also tend to have jurisdiction over larger geographical areas and more people. A few states like California have unified all courts of general and inferior jurisdiction to make
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#17327656475891826-434: A settlement is often reached. In general jurisdiction state courts, it is not uncommon for all pre-trial matters to be conducted outside the court, with attorneys negotiating scheduling matters, pre-trial examinations of witnesses taking place in lawyer's office through depositions , and a settlement conference conducted by a private mediator at the mediator's office. As of 2019, about 1,255,689 people currently behind bars in
1909-454: A single court). Courts are described below in the plural when they are defined by state law as a set of separate courts, each exercising jurisdiction only over a specifically defined territory within the state. In some states, the number of county-based courts does not exactly match the number of actual counties in the state. This occurs when a single court has jurisdiction over more than one county. State law (United States) In
1992-479: A trial by jury in a state civil case under the Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution , and not all states preserve a right to a civil jury in either their state constitution or state statutes. In practice, however, civil jury trials are available, generally on a similar basis to their availability in federal court, in every state except Louisiana . In these states, there is a general right to
2075-494: Is a conflict between federal and state law, state courts are not subordinate to federal courts. Rather, as instruments of separate sovereigns (under the U.S. system of dual sovereignty), they are two parallel sets of courts with different but often overlapping jurisdiction. As the U.S. Supreme Court recognized in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins (1938), no part of the federal Constitution actually grants federal courts
2158-411: Is another way to illustrate the relative size of the two criminal justice systems. In Colorado, in 2002, there were approximately 40 criminal trials in federal court, and there were 1,898 criminal trials (excluding hundreds of quasi-criminal trials in juvenile cases, municipal cases and infraction cases) in state courts, so only about 2% of criminal trials took place in federal court. Most jury trials in
2241-1282: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages State court (United States) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] In the United States, a state court is a law court with jurisdiction over disputes with some connection to a U.S. state . State courts handle the vast majority of civil and criminal cases in the United States; the United States federal courts are far smaller in terms of both personnel and caseload, and handle different types of cases. States often provide their trial courts with general jurisdiction (the hearing of all matters in which personal jurisdiction exists and which are not committed to another court) and state trial courts regularly have concurrent jurisdiction with federal courts. Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and their subject-matter jurisdiction arises only under federal law . Each state "is free to organize its courts as it sees fit," and consequently, "no two states have identical court structures." Generally, state courts are common law courts, and apply their respective state laws and procedures to decide cases. They are organized pursuant to and apply
2324-403: Is distinct from the ordinary federal court system. State trial courts are usually located in a courthouse , which is often in the county seat . Even when state trial courts include more than one county in a judicial district, it is not uncommon for the state trial court to hold regular sessions at each county seat in its jurisdiction and function from the point of view of litigants as if it were
2407-409: Is no death penalty under state law, but the federal government rarely utilizes this right. Many rights of criminal defendants in state courts arise under federal law, but federal courts only examine if the state courts applied those federal rights correctly on a direct appeal from the conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, after state court direct appeals have been exhausted, or in a collateral attack on
2490-409: Is no statute in most states which one can consult for answers on basic issues like the essential elements of a contract. Rather, one must consult case law, with all the complexity and difficulty that implies. Major exceptions include the states of California, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota as well as the territory of Guam, all of which largely enacted Field's proposed civil code even though it
2573-542: Is notorious for a confused approach to the interpretation and application of codified statutes: "California judges wandered between expansive construction and traditional strict construction, lingering at every point in between—sometimes all in the course of the same opinion." In other states, there is a tradition of strict adherence to the plain text of the codes. Efforts by various organizations to create uniform acts to be adopted by multiple states have been made but only partially successful. The two leading organizations are
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2656-508: Is that such subordinate entities generally have original jurisdiction over lawyer admissions and discipline, nearly all de facto lawyer regulation takes place through such entities, and the state supreme court becomes directly involved only when petitioned to not ratify the decisions made by some subordinate entity in its name. Although the United States Constitution and federal laws override state laws where there
2739-489: Is usually limited to less serious offenses. Federal crimes on federal property in a state are often defined with reference to state criminal law. Federal courts disproportionately handle white-collar crimes , immigration-related crimes and drug offenses (these crimes make up about 70% of the federal docket, but just 19% of the state court criminal docket). Federal courts have the power to bring death penalty charges under federal law, even if they arise in states where there
2822-434: The de jure primary regulatory body for all lawyers in their state and determine who can practice law and when lawyers are sanctioned for violations of professional ethical rules, which are generally also put in place as state court rules. In all states, such powers have been delegated either to the state bar association or various committees, commissions, or offices directly responsible to the state supreme court. The result
2905-779: The American Bar Association with minor modifications. A minority of states, however, have idiosyncratic procedural rules, often based on the Field Code in place in many states before the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were adopted. Importantly, neither California nor New York state follow federal models. Typically, state trial courts of limited jurisdiction have generally similar rules to state trial courts of general jurisdiction, but are stripped of rules applicable to special cases like class actions and many pretrial procedures (such as out-of-court discovery in
2988-646: The American Law Institute (ALI) and the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), formerly known as the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL). Uniform acts are proposed by private organizations like ULC to cover areas of law traditionally governed by the states where it would be useful to have a consistent set of rules across the various states. The most successful and influential uniform acts are
3071-505: The District of Columbia and the federal territories also have their own separate legal systems analogous to state legal systems, although they do not enjoy state sovereignty.) A typical example of the diversity of contemporary state law is the legal test for finding a duty of care , the first element required to proceed with a lawsuit for negligence (the basis for most personal injury lawsuits). A 2011 article found that 43 states use
3154-427: The U.S. Senate serving life terms of office, the vast majority of states have some judges who are elected, while some judges are appointed. The methods of judicial appointment vary widely. The American habit of electing state court judges originates with Alexander Hamilton and Federalist No. 78 , in which Hamilton brought about a fundamental reconceptualization of the idea of separation of powers with respect to
3237-634: The Uniform Commercial Code (a joint ALI-ULC project) and the Model Penal Code (from ALI). However, uniform acts can only become the law of a state if they are actually enacted by the state legislature. Many uniform acts have never been taken up by state legislatures, or were successfully enacted in only a handful of states, or enacted in part, thereby limiting their uniformity function. Upon its founding in 1923, ALI promptly launched its most ambitious and well-known enterprise:
3320-524: The United States , state law refers to the law of each separate U.S. state . The fifty states are separate sovereigns , with their own state constitutions , state governments , and state courts . All states have a legislative branch which enacts state statutes, an executive branch that promulgates state regulations pursuant to statutory authorization, and a judicial branch that applies, interprets, and occasionally overturns both state statutes and regulations, as well as local ordinances. States retain
3403-486: The United States Supreme Court (which also has the discretion to refuse to hear them). Cases in state courts begin in a trial court where lawsuits and criminal cases are filed and evidence is eventually presented if a case proceeds to a hearing or trial. Trials in these courts are often held only after extensive pretrial procedures that in more than 90% of cases lead to a default judgment in
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3486-419: The police power to make laws covering anything not otherwise preempted by the federal Constitution , federal statutes, or international treaties ratified by the federal Senate . Normally, state supreme courts are the final interpreters of state institutions and state law, unless their interpretation itself presents a federal issue, in which case a decision may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by way of
3569-468: The reported case law studied in American law schools does not reflect the way the vast majority of cases are handled and resolved—by "bargain[ing] [in the] shadow of the law ". Territory outside of any state in the United States, such as the District of Columbia or American Samoa , often has a court system established under federal or territorial law which substitutes for a state court system and
3652-538: The telephone , the steamship , and the railroad . Many lawyers during the Gilded Age complained about how the diversity and volume of state law hampered interstate trade and introduced complexity and inconvenience into virtually any interstate transaction (commercial or otherwise). This widespread frustration was evident at the founding of the American Bar Association in 1878; one of the ABA's original founding purposes
3735-467: The Restatements are merely persuasive authority. This means that state courts (especially at the appellate level) can and have deviated from Restatement positions on a variety of issues. Much of Louisiana law is derived from French and Spanish civil law, which stems from its history as a colony of both France and Spain. Puerto Rico , a former Spanish colony, is also a civil law jurisdiction of
3818-601: The United Kingdom , lawmakers had to identify every single Act referring to the House of Lords that was still good law, and then amend all of those laws to refer to the Supreme Court. In most U.S. states, certain areas of the law, especially the law of contracts and torts, continue to exist primarily in the form of case law, subject only to limited statutory modifications and refinements. Thus, for example, there
3901-546: The United States (roughly five out of six jury trials conducted in any U.S. Court) take place in criminal cases in state courts. State courts do not have jurisdiction over criminal cases arising on Indian reservations even if those reservations are located in their state. Less serious crimes on Indian reservations are prosecuted in tribal courts. A large share of violent crimes that are prosecuted in federal court arise on Indian reservations or federal property , where state courts lack jurisdiction, since tribal court jurisdiction
3984-472: The United States . As of the mid-2010s, American federal and state courts were deciding around 5,000 conflict-of-laws cases each year—far more than in any other country or even any other continent. The diversity of U.S. state law first became a notable problem during the late 19th-century era known as the Gilded Age , when interstate commerce was nurtured by then-novel technologies like the telegraph ,
4067-601: The United States. However, the criminal law of both jurisdictions has been necessarily modified by common law influences and the supremacy of the federal Constitution. Furthermore, Puerto Rico is also unique in that it is the only U.S. jurisdiction in which the everyday working language of court proceedings, statutes, regulations, and case law is Spanish . All states, the federal government, and most territories use American English as their working language. Some states, such as California, do provide certain court forms in other languages (Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Vietnamese) for
4150-581: The United States—or 87.7% out of a total of 1,430,805 prisoners—had been convicted in state court for violating state criminal laws, rather than in federal court for violating federal criminal laws. The proportion of criminal cases brought in state court rather than federal court is higher than 87.7% because misdemeanor and petty offense prosecutions are disproportionately brought in state courts and most criminal prosecutions involve misdemeanors and petty offenses. The number of trials conducted in each system
4233-458: The absence of a court order). Most state supreme courts also have general supervisory authority over the state court system. In this capacity they are responsible, for example, for making budget requests and administrative management decisions for the court system as a whole. In most states, such administrative authority has been transferred or delegated to a state judicial council which includes members of lower courts. All state supreme courts are
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#17327656475894316-408: The bench. But a small number of state court judges, particularly in limited jurisdiction trial courts in rural areas or small towns, are nonlawyers, who are often elected to their posts. A disproportionate share of state court judges previously served as prosecutors, or less commonly as criminal defense attorneys or trial lawyers, although no particular background as an attorney is required to serve as
4399-433: The convenience of immigrants and naturalized citizens. But American law as developed through statutes, regulations, and case law is always in English, attorneys are expected to take and pass the bar examination in English, judges hear oral argument, supervise trials, and issue orders from the bench in English, and testimony and documents originating in other languages are translated into English before being incorporated into
4482-409: The courts in the states and territories of the United States. Listed are the principal trial courts of general jurisdiction, the principal intermediate appellate courts, and the state supreme courts. Courts are described below in the singular when state law defines only one statewide court of that name (whose judges may be assigned to particular counties, circuits, or districts, but still remain part of
4565-541: The courts of inferior jurisdiction were debt collection and eviction cases, while in the court of general jurisdiction, about 60% of all civil cases (other than domestic relations and probate cases) were debt collection, foreclosure, and tax collection cases. A large share of the balance of civil cases in courts of limited jurisdiction involve temporary restraining orders, typically in non-marital domestic relations contexts, and name change petitions (generally for child custody reasons or related to taking an American alternative to
4648-475: The creation of Restatements of the Law which are widely used by lawyers and judges throughout the United States to simplify the task of identifying and summarizing the current status of the common law. Instead of listing long, tedious citations of old cases that may not fit very well together (in order to invoke the long-established principles supposedly contained in those cases), or citing a treatise which may reflect
4731-462: The decision of the trial court. If still unsatisfied, the litigant can appeal to the highest appellate court in the state, which is usually called the state supreme court and is usually located in or near the state capital . Appellate courts in the United States, unlike their civil law counterparts, are generally not permitted to correct mistakes concerning the facts of the case on appeal, only mistakes of law, or findings of fact with no support in
4814-532: The default type of trial court that can hear any case which is not required to be first heard in a court of limited jurisdiction. Most such cases are civil cases involving large sums of money or criminal cases arising from serious felonies like rape and murder. Typically, felonies are handled in general jurisdiction courts, while misdemeanors and other lesser offenses are handled in inferior jurisdiction courts. Unlike most European courts (in both common law and civil law countries), American state courts do not usually have
4897-625: The dominant forum for civil cases. In Colorado, in 2002, there were 79 civil trials in federal court (41 jury and 38 non-jury), and 5950 civil trials in state court (300 jury and 5650 non-jury). Essentially all probate and divorce cases are also brought in state court, even if the parties involved live in different states. In practice, almost all real property evictions and foreclosures are handled in state court. State courts systems always contain some courts of "general jurisdiction". All disputes which are capable of being brought in courts, arising under either state or federal law may be brought in one of
4980-410: The federal constitutional right to due process) implicit in the state case before the Court will even agree to hear it. Since there really is no such issue in the vast majority of state cases, the decision of the state supreme court in such cases is effectively final, as any petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court will be summarily denied without comment. The following table notes the names of
5063-411: The federal government use a single code divided into numbered titles or other top-level divisions. Louisiana is a unique hybrid in that it has five subject-specific codes and a set of Revised Statutes for everything else. A poorly drafted 1864 anti-corruption amendment to Pennsylvania's constitution prevented its legislature from starting comprehensive codification until 1970 (after the state constitution
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#17327656475895146-438: The judicial branch, in the United States, all criminal prosecutors are considered part of the executive branch. The fact that all attorneys admitted to the practice of law are somewhat confusingly called "officers of the court" in U.S. legal practice is a legal fiction that calls attention to the special professional ethical obligations that all lawyers have to the court, and does not mean that all lawyers are employees or agents of
5229-451: The judicial branch. State court judges are typically paid less, have smaller staffs, and handle larger caseloads than their counterparts in the federal judiciary. The foregoing summary is only a very rough generalization. There are a great many "oddities" and "extra wrinkles" from one state court system to the next, although the tendency in most states has been towards rationalization and simplification: "the further back in history one goes,
5312-520: The judicial process more efficient. In such judicial systems, there are still departments of limited jurisdiction within the trial courts, and often these departments occupy exactly the same facilities they once occupied as independent courts of limited jurisdiction. However, as mere administrative divisions, departments can be rearranged at the discretion of each trial court's presiding judge in response to changing caseloads. Unlike federal courts, where judges are presidential appointees confirmed by
5395-423: The judiciary. Before Hamilton, both English and American people had thought of judges as mere appendages of royal authority, and that a government had only two branches, the executive and the legislative. Hamilton implied and others later developed the idea that American judges were coequal to legislatures and executives in their responsibility to carry out the people's will ( popular sovereignty ), which extended to
5478-463: The law in accordance with their state's constitution , state statutes , and binding decisions of courts in their state court hierarchy. Where applicable, they also apply federal law , or need to make a choice of law from another jurisdiction. Generally, a single judicial officer, usually called a judge , exercises original jurisdiction by presiding over contested criminal or civil actions which culminate in trials , which may include empaneling
5561-951: The law in one state may influence the development of law in other states. In the United States, most cases are litigated in state courts and involve claims and defenses under state laws. In a 2018 report, the National Center for State Courts ' Court Statistics Project found that state trial courts received 83.8 million newly filed cases in 2018, which consisted of 44.4 million traffic cases, 17.0 million criminal cases, 16.4 million civil cases, 4.7 million domestic relations cases, and 1.2 million juvenile cases. In 2018, state appellate courts received 234,000 new cases (appeals). By way of comparison, all federal district courts in 2016 together received only about 274,552 new civil cases, 79,787 new criminal cases, and 833,515 bankruptcy cases, while federal appellate courts received 53,649 new cases (appeals). The law of most of
5644-636: The more confused the situation gets". The vast majority of non-criminal cases in the United States are handled in state courts, rather than federal courts. For example, in Colorado, roughly 97% of all civil cases were filed in state courts and 89% of the civil cases filed in federal court were bankruptcies in 2002, a typical year. Just 0.3% of the non-bankruptcy civil cases in the state were filed in federal court. A large share of all civil cases filed in state courts are debt collection cases. For example, in Colorado in 2002, about 87% of all civil cases filed in
5727-509: The official record of a case. Many states in the southwest that were originally Mexican territory have inherited several unique features from the civil law that governed when they were part of Mexico. These states include Arizona , California, Nevada , New Mexico , and Texas. For example, these states all have a community property system for the property of married persons ( Idaho , Washington , and Wisconsin have also adopted community property systems, but they did not inherit them from
5810-473: The power to directly decide the content of state law. Clause 1 of Section 2 of Article Three of the United States Constitution describes the scope of federal judicial power, but only extended it to "the Laws of the United States" and not the laws of the several or individual states. The U.S. Supreme Court can but is not required to review final decisions of state courts, after a party exhausts all remedies up to
5893-544: The power to make law (through case law ). Therefore, if the judiciary was a coequal third branch of government, and the judges were the people's agents, then like the other branches, they ought to be elected by the people. However, problems with partisan judicial elections led many states to later adopt judicial appointment systems, while also using retention elections as a check on appointed judges. State court judges are usually distinguished attorneys who have had some political involvement, who are pursuing second careers on
5976-409: The quality of justice is poor. In states that still use justices of the peace or equivalent judicial officers, many judges of courts of limited jurisdiction are laypersons who never attended law school or passed a bar examination . Courts of limited jurisdiction should not be confused with the administrative courts seen in other countries. The United States does not use administrative courts, as
6059-419: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title State court . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=State_court&oldid=1165434767 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
6142-458: The state court in question), most of which involve collection of small contractual debts (such as unpaid credit cards) and landlord-tenant matters. Many states have small claims divisions where all parties proceed in civil cases without lawyers, often before a magistrate or justice of the peace. Federal courts do not have parallel small claims procedures and apply the same civil rules to all civil cases, which makes federal court an expensive venue for
6225-448: The state courts, except in a few narrow case where federal law specifically limits jurisdiction exclusively to the federal courts. Some of the most notable cases exclusively in federal jurisdiction are suits between state governments, suits involving ambassadors , certain intellectual property cases, federal criminal cases, bankruptcy cases, large interstate class action cases, and most securities fraud class actions. There are also
6308-615: The state supreme court or a related administrative body has the power to write the rules of procedure that govern the courts through a rulemaking process. In a minority of the states, criminal and civil procedure are largely governed by state statutes. Most states model their general jurisdiction trial court rules closely upon the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure with modifications to address types of cases that come up only in state practice (like traffic violations), and model their professional ethics rules closely upon models drafted by
6391-529: The states is based on the common law of England ; the notable exception is Louisiana , whose civil law is largely based upon French and Spanish law . The passage of time has led to state courts and legislatures expanding, overruling, or modifying the common law; as a result, the laws of any given state invariably differ from the laws of its sister states. Thus, as noted above, the U.S. must be regarded as 50 separate systems of tort law, family law, property law, contract law, criminal law, and so on. (In addition,
6474-1262: The trial court record. Many states have courts of limited jurisdiction (inferior jurisdiction), presided over by, for example, a magistrate or justice of the peace who hears criminal arraignments and tries petty offenses and small civil cases . Appeals from courts of limited jurisdiction are frequently sent to state trial courts of general jurisdiction rather than to an appellate court. Larger cities often have city courts (also known as municipal courts) which hear traffic offenses and violations of city ordinances ; in some states, such as New York , these courts have slightly broader jurisdiction and can also handle small claims and misdemeanors. Other courts of limited jurisdiction include alderman 's courts, police court, mayor 's courts, recorder's courts , county courts , probate courts , municipal courts, juvenile courts , courts of claims, courts of common pleas, family courts , small claims courts , tax courts, water courts (present in some western states such as Colorado and Montana), and workers' compensation courts (Rhode Island). Lawrence M. Friedman has described courts of limited jurisdiction as "the bargain basement of justice," where procedures are often informal and "slapdash" and
6557-405: The view of only one or two authors, they can simply cite a Restatement section (which is supposed to reflect the consensus of the American legal community) to refer to a particular common law principle. The Restatements are often followed by state courts on issues of first impression in a particular state because they correctly state the current trend followed by most states on that issue. However,
6640-540: Was enacted before his civil code, but he was unaware of the Georgia codification project because of the breakdown in interstate communications that preceded the American Civil War . In some states, codification is often treated as a mere restatement of the common law, to the extent that the subject matter of the particular statute at issue was covered by some judge-made principle at common law. California
6723-411: Was finally amended to add the necessary exception in 1967). The advantage of codification is that once the state legislature becomes accustomed to writing new laws as amendments to an existing code, the code will usually reflect democratic sentiment as to what the current law is (though the entire state of the law must always be ascertained by reviewing case law to determine how judges have interpreted
6806-418: Was repeatedly rejected and never enacted by his home state of New York. Idaho partially enacted the contract portions of Field's civil code but omitted the tort sections. Georgia initiated its own full codification independent of Field, which resulted in the enactment of the oldest ancestor of the modern Official Code of Georgia Annotated in 1861. As Field belatedly conceded in an 1889 article, Georgia's code
6889-462: Was to promote "uniformity of legislation throughout the Union." There have been three major reactions to this problem, none of which were completely successful: codification, uniform acts, and the Restatements. The United States, with the exception of Louisiana , originally inherited a common law system in which the law was not organized and restated such that it could be identified as (1) relevant to
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