Courts

What is a Court?

• Structure for solving disputes

• Political entity  organized for the purpose of administering justice

• They are public facilities for private persons

• Need independence to function effectively

  • Separation of powers

• Part of the larger Justice System

  • Courts, law enforcement, corrections, etc.

Basic Court Structures

• There are two major court systems in the modern world

  • (mainly from criminal law; the US is weird because we use the same courts for criminal and civil law)

  • Adversarial Court Systems

    • Mainly associated with common law traditions

  • Inquisitorial Court Systems

    • Mainly associated with civil legal systems

• Adversarial

  • Courtroom battel

    • Neutral, passive decision matter

    • Parties define legal issues and present evidence

    • Highly structured court procedures from evidence

  • Primarily developed in common law systems

• Inquisitorial

  • Designed to answer "who did what?"

  • Primarily developed in civil legal systems

  • Largely directed by an examining magistrate/judge

  • A public investigator has the duty to investigate not just on the behalf of the prosecutor, but also on the behalf of the defendant

  • Fact finding is at the heart of this system

Inquisitorial Courts

• Examining Magistrate/Judge - completely in charge of the investigation

  • Submits a report

• Chamber of the judge to decide if it goes to trial

• The judges preside over the trial

• The judges call witness and question them

• Lawyers have little control

Comparing the two Systems

• Adversarial System

  • Rules of evidence strictly followed

  • Judge acts as an umpire

  • Object is to arrive at a possible truth

  • Judge involvement is little

  • No possibility of bias

  • Less time consuming

  • Less expensive

  • Decisions are based on set principles

  • The system is considered fair to the accused – focus on the accused

  • Investigation conducted by the policy

  • Competitive struggle to win

• Inquisitorial System

  • Rules of evidence not strictly followed

  • Judge acts as a director

  • Object is to get absolute truth

  • Judge is actively involved

  • There is possibility of bias

  • More time consuming

  • More expensive

  • Decisions depend on talent of those involved

  • The system is considered fair to the victim – focused on the victim

  • Investigation conducted by the judiciary

  • Tactical search for truth

Jurisdiction

• Authority to adjudicate a case

• Original jurisdiction -  Hear a case from its very beginning

• Appellate jurisdiction - Reviews lower court decisions

• Limited jurisdiction - Original jurisdiction, but limited

• General jurisdiction - Authority to hear any type of case

• Diversity jurisdiction - Litigants from different states

Trial vs. Appellate Courts

• Trial Courts

  • Fact finding

  • Initial proceedings in legal disputes

  • Three primary functions

    • Determine the facts of the dispute

    • Determine which rules of law should be applied

    • Apply those rules to the facts

• Appellate Courts

  • Review appeals made about trial court decisions

  • Judges rely on record established by trial court

  • No witnesses, no juries

  • Primary question: Did the lower court make a mistake that wrongly affected the outcome?

Federal Courts

• The Supreme Court - apex of the system

  • Only court mentioned in the constitution

  • 9 justices

  • Justices are nominated by president, confirmed by Senate, life tenure

  • All other Federal courts are created by Congress

• Legislative courts

  • Courts created by the legislative branch

  • Not part of the judicial branch

  • Military appeals court, tax court, veterans appeals court, territorial courts

  • Judges are nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate, serve 15 years (mostly)

Federal Court System

• The Supreme Court sits at the top

• The Supreme Court is the only court created in Article III of the Constitution

Federal Court System: District

• Every state has at least one federal trial court, know as district courts

• More populous states have more districts

• WV has two: Northern and Southern

• CA, NY, TX have 4

• Many have one: NV, AZ, CO, ME, SC, AK, HI, etc.

• There are 94 District Courts

• 677 judgeships authorized by Congress

  • Nominated by president

  • Confirmed by Senate

  • Serve for "good behavior" (usually mean for life)

  • Compensation: $243,300

  • Case load: 353,170 in 2023

• Deal with issues of federal law and the Constitution

• Diversity jurisdiction when:

  • Monetary amount over $75,000

  • Case arises under state law, but litigants are residents of different states

• Cases are decided by a single judge or jury

  • Most go unchallenged

Federal Court System: Appeals

• Country divided into Circuits

  • 11 geographical, 1 DC, 1 Federal = 13 total

  • WV is in the 4th Circuit

• Judge’s compensation: $257,900

• Case load: 40,681 in 2023, down from 46,165 in 2021, down from 57,501 in 2016

• 179 judgeships

  • Apportioned by population

  • Most cases heard by groups of 3

  • Some cases are En banc = heard by the entire bench

• Unchallenged decisions become law for that circuit

Federal Court Systems: Supreme

• Established with the Judiciary Act of 1789

• Has had between 6 and 10 members

  • Remained 9 since 1869

  • FDR threatened to “pack” the Court

• Primary responsibilities

  • Resolve disputes between states

  • Maintain uniformity of federal law

  • Maintain constitutional order and separation of powers

• Justice Compensation:

  •  $251,800 for associate justices

  • $263,300 for chief justice

• Nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate

• Meet annually, beginning on the first Monday of October

• Have almost complete control over their docket through the cert process

• Congress can impeach if needed

  • Very rare

  • 1805, Samuel Chase

    • He was impeached by the House

      • They said he let his partisan opinions influence his Court decisions

    • Acquitted by the Senate and kept his position… sound familiar?