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.