Limited Jurisdiction Essay

For my court observation I visited the Frank A. Sedita City Court, which is a court of limited jurisdiction (320-321). The cases were on April 7th at 2 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. with Judge Betty Calvo-Torres. The court was a very crowed and defense attorneys congregated in the front section trying to discuss their cases with the prosecution. When the court proceedings began it became silent as the Judge came in and sat down, but went back to being as loud a few minutes later. The noise continued, at this point it was only Defense Attorneys that were still in the front, but Judge Torres finally got annoyed a told everyone that there shouldn’t be any speaking during proceedings. The DAs quickly filed out of the front section and went to their

    Limited jurisdiction courts only have jurisdiction in specific in only well-defined areas of law. General jurisdiction courts have general jurisdiction over all subject matters within their local jurisdiction.

General jurisdiction may be present when a court has jurisdiction over a defendant in that state regardless of the kind

By way of contrast, courts of general jurisdiction hear both civil and criminal cases. Typically, these courts include cases involving felony or misdemeanor charges or criminal appeals from limited jurisdiction cases. Unlike courts of limited jurisdiction, these courts include court

In this lesson, we learn that state and federal courts are made up of certain branches which only can hear certain kinds of cases, called Jurisdiction. There are different acceptable kinds of cases such as constitution cases, violation of Federal laws such as tax evasion, counterfeiting money, or kidnapping, and cases between two states (remember that every state in the U.S. has their own court system that handles these cases). Other ones could be disputes between individuals of different states, lawsuits involving the Federal/Foreign Government, and treaty cases. One may also have a case based on maritime laws, or ones involving U.S. diplomats. The website ( ) covers in detail what Jurisdiction is, and different types of Jurisdiction as well.

The four levels of state and local governments are courts of limited jurisdiction, major trial courts, appellate courts, and courts of last resort. Courts in limited jurisdiction are also called minor trial courts and they hold probate courts, traffic courts, county courts, and family courts. Magistrates, police judges, and justices of the peace are in charge of minor trial courts even if they are not skilled in the law. These courts are more concerned with smaller issues but occasionally deal with hearings involving someone who committed a misdemeanor or felony. Major trial courts also called trial courts of general jurisdiction hold criminal courts, district courts, and circuit courts among others. They handle serious criminal and civil

The court system was comprised of various courts with different levels of jurisdiction. These courts were the trial courts, appellate courts, and a supreme court. The trial courts were known as Teccalli courts, and heard civil and criminal cases involving commoners; civil judgments by this court were considered final, but criminal sentences could be appealed

Because the public has suffered as a result of a crime committed by an individual or group breaking the law, the United States brings criminal action and they are represented in court by a public official who is known as, as a district attorney, public prosecutor, or United States Attorney. The jurisdiction of each court affects the types of crimes that are presented there. Courts that have limited jurisdiction prosecute lesser crimes (misdemeanors) and courts of general jurisdiction try more serious offenses (felonies).

Accordingly, the courts of limited jurisdiction refer to courts where judges hear minor crimes in summary trials (Meyer, & Jesilow, 1997). The general jurisdiction courts (circuit courts) at the state level have the ability to deal with all cases including trial via jury (Bohm, & Haley, 2014). Although not all states possess intermediate appellate courts those that do deal with possible violations of rights or due process like its federal counterpart. Lastly, the states supreme court is the final authority on any matter concerning state law and are part of the process of appealing a case to the U.S. supreme

The state trial courts of general jurisdiction are the district courts. The district court has exclusive jurisdiction on felony cases, as well as divorce cases, cases involving title to land, and election contest cases. It shares jurisdiction with the county courts, and in some case justice of the peace courts, for civil cases the lowest limit for hearing a case is a mere $200 in controversy, while in Justice of the Peace courts can hear cases up to $5,000. In a "catchall" provision it hears all cases in which jurisdiction is not placed in another trial court.

They deal with cases like murder, rape, and robbery plus cases that are passed up from magistrate’s court.

In the U.S. judicial system, a defendant found guilty in a trial court can normally appeal to a higher federal court. These federal courts, or appellate courts, review decisions made by trial courts (Neubauer, 2010). Appellate courts can be on the federal and state level, but do not hold trials or hear new evidence. These courts consist of a judge, or a lawyer, or a group of either one, who read the transcript of the trial and whether the previous decision correctly or incorrectly followed the law (Neubauer, 2010). Similar to trial courts, the federal government and most states have made two different types of appellate courts: intermediate, which hear all cases, and supreme courts, which can pick and choose the cases heard (Neubauer, 2010). Even though there are many different types of courts within the judicial system of the United States, the role of the judge stays constant throughout the majority of branches.

also seen as that he is under 'duty to observe that law and assume a

Courts of general jurisdiction include circuit courts, superior courts, district courts, or courts of common pleas. They hear lawsuits that involve greater amounts of money or more serious types of crimes than the cases heard in trial courts of limited jurisdiction.

Federal and State judicial systems have Pyramid Structures (Careers in the Court System 10). Base of the pyramid are the Federal district, and General trial courts (Careers in the Court System 10). The General trial court is basically where most cases take place. Above these courts are the Federal and State appellate courts. Appellate courts are for individuals that have already been convicted for a crime and they are trying to appeal the verdict; in other words overturn the decision to either reduce the time or release them from