US Court System: Trial, Appellate, Highest Courts

• The judicial system in the United States is a dual system.
• It consists of the federal court system and the judicial systems of the 50 states.

Trial Courts

• Trial courts are at the bottom of the system.
• Litigation begins here.
• These courts have original jurisdiction.
• District courts belong to the federal court system.
• Trial courts exist in the state court system.

Appellate Courts

• Appellate courts sits in the middle of the court system.
• Courts of appeals exist in the federal system.
• Appellate courts sit in the state systems.

Highest Court

• High courts sit atop of each pyramid.
• Some states call the highest court, supreme court.
• New York calls its highest court the Court of Appeals.
• Oklahoma and Texas call the highest state court for criminal cases the Court of Criminal Appeals.
• The federal courts of appeals, Supreme Court and state courts of appeals and supreme courts are appellate courts.

Jurisdiction

• Jurisdiction refers to the authority to hear and decide the issues in a case.
• The jurisdiction of the federal courts is controlled by the U.S. Constitution and by stature.
• Jurisdiction is conferred based on the issues, money involved in a dispute, or the type of offense.

Original Jurisdiction

• Original jurisdiction refers to a court's authority to hear disputes as a trial court, whether on the federal or state level.
• The rape case against Laker Kobe Bryant was begun in a Colorado state trial court of original jurisdiction.
• The legal battle over the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold federal campaign finance reform law was begun in federal district court.
• Over 90% of all cases, whether state or federal, end in the court of original jurisdiction.

Appellate Jurisdiction

• Appellate jurisdiction refers to a court's ability to review cases already decided by a trial court.
• Appellate courts do not review the factual record.
• Instead, they review legal procedures to ensure that the law was applied properly to the issues presented in the case.

Criminal Law

• Criminal law regulates individual conduct.
• It is enforced by the state and national governments.
• Crimes are graded as felonies, misdemeanors, or offenses, according to their severity.
• Murder, rape, and robbery are considered crimes in all states.
• All states outlaw murder, but their penal codes treat the crime differently, so the penalty for murder differs considerably from state to state.
• Some practices, like gambling, are illegal only in some states.
• Criminal law views society itself as the victim of the illegal act.
• The government prosecutes, or brings an action, on behalf of an injured party (acting as a plaintiff) in criminal but not civil cases.
• The murder charges against Scott Peterson, who was charged with killing his wife, Laci, was styled as The State of California v. Scott Peterson.
• Criminal cases are traditionally in the purview of the states.
• A burgeoning set of federal criminal laws is contributing significantly to delays in the federal courts.

Civil Law

• Civil law regulates the conduct and relationships between private individuals or companies.
• Actions at issue in civil law do not constitute a threat to society at large.
• People who believe they have been injured by another party must take action on their own to seek judicial relief.
• Civil cases involve lawsuits filed to recover something of value, such as the right to vote, fair treatment, or monetary compensation for an item or service that cannot be recovered.

Procedure

• Individuals and companies involved in civil disputes routinely settle their disagreements out of court, sometimes minutes before the case is to be tried.
• Most legal disputes that arise never get to court.
• Many civil cases that go to trial are settled during the course of the trial, before the case can be handed over to the jury or submitted to a judge for a decision or determination of responsibility or guilt.
• Each civil or criminal case has a plaintiff, or petitioner, who brings charges against a defendant, or respondent.
• Sometimes the government is the plaintiff.
• The government may bring civil charges on behalf of the citizens of the state or the national government against a person or corporation for violating the law.
• The government always brings a criminal case.
• In Marbury v. Madison, William Marbury was the plaintiff.
• Marbury sued the defendants, the U.S. government and James Madison as its secretary of state, for not delivering his judicial commission.
• When cases are initiated, they are known first by the name of the petitioner.
• Judges interpret the intent of laws enacted by Congress and state legislatures during trials to address the issues at hand.
• To interpret the intent of laws, judges read reports, testimony, and debates on the relevant legislation and study the results of similar legal cases.
• They also rely on the presentations made by lawyers in their briefs and at trial.

Jury

• The jury acts as the ultimate finder of fact.
• It plays an important role in determining the culpability of the individual on trial.
• The composition of juries has been the subject of much controversy in the United States, including discrimination against women or African Americans.
• Today, juries are more representative of the community than in the past.
• They are capable of offering litigants in civil or criminal trial a jury of their peers.