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From the beginning both the states and the federal government have maintained trial courts throughout the country. The network of state courts, however, remains by far the more extensive. Each state possesses several sets of trial courts.
Some state courts handle minor criminal and civil matters, such as traffic fines, local ordinance violations, and suits involving small amounts of money. These courts often exist in every large town of a county. Until very recently, the presiding official, called a justice of the peace, was an untrained layperson elected along with other county officials. Where the office of the justice of the peace still exists, he often remains in charge of these minor courts. In some states his functions have been limited to still more minor matters, and a professional magistrate or judge has been installed to hear criminal and civil suits. In most states, courts of minor jurisdiction may not hold jury trials. All matters that come before them are settled by the judge alone. If a jury trial is desired and permitted by law, the case must be transferred to another court.
Another tier of trial courts hears more important matters — felony trials where the defendant may be sentenced to a long prison term and civil suits that involve a greater sum of money, usually more than $1,000. Such courts are generally located only at the county seat. In some states several counties share a single court, which normally sits in one and visits the other counties of the circuit for short periods each year. Judges of these courts are always lawyers and normally serve for relatively long terms. All jury trials take place in these courts, although most cases are heard by the judge alone or are settled out of court.
Finally, many states have a set of specialized courts, which fit somewhere between the major and minor trial courts. Some of these — as in Ohio — deal with family matters, such as divorce and juvenile delinquency. Most larger cities have special traffic courts to handle the thousands of parking and driving violations that occur each year. Some cities also possess small-claims courts to handle monetary claims of less than $500; in small-claims courts, a lawyer is unnecessary and sometimes is not even allowed. Finally, larger cities often have special probate courts to handle the administration of wills and estates; in other locales, the major or minor trial courts handle the probate matters in addition to their other business.
No two states possess identical court structures, nor is the division of work between the courts of any state as symmetrical as would appear from the foregoing description. Without exception, the jurisdiction of lower and higher trial courts overlaps. The potential litigant is thus confronted with a maze of tribunals through which he and his lawyers must pass to attain their goals.
Federal trial courts are much more simply organized. For one thing, there are relatively few — ninety-four in the entire country. Each state has at least one. Called district courts, these courts normally operate over a large portion of a state. The court usually travels to the more important cities within its territory, visiting each for two weeks twice a year. Many district courts have several judges, each operating his own branch of the court. The court hears criminal matters involving the violation of a federal law, such as taking a stolen car across state boundaries or illegally dealing in narcotics. Civil matters heard in federal court range from large suits involving the citizens of two states to complicated antitrust complaints filed by the federal government. A single judge presides over each case. Although the Constitution guarantees the right to a jury trial for all criminal prosecutions and for many civil cases involving more than $20, only criminal trials make extensive use of juries. In 1975, for instance, litigants in civil trials waived their right to a jury in 68 percent of the trials. Criminal defendants waived a jury in only 36 percent of the trials. When no jury sits, the judge decides the case alone.
The federal government also maintains several specialized courts. Although some legal controversy exists over whether they have the same standing as constitutional courts, they operate like constitutional courts except that the jurisdiction is limited, they sit mostly in Washington, and they are assigned some quasi-legislative functions. These courts exist for custom and patent appeals and for claims against the federal government. They usually hear appeals of administrative decisions, much as the regular courts of appeals hear appeals from many regulatory agencies. The Supreme Court treats their decisions like those by courts of appeals.
Another extraordinary federal court is the three-man district court, which is an ad hoc tribunal specially convened in exceptional circumstances. Litigants who wish to use this court must make a special application to the senior judge of the district court. If he agrees to their request, the chief judge of the circuit convenes the court. It consists of three judges: at least one must be a district judge, and at least one must be a judge of the court of appeals. The court hears arguments and renders its decision. If the losing party wishes to appeal (and it usually does), the appeal goes directly to the United States Supreme Court. These three-man courts are used to hear some of the most controversial issues reaching the judiciary; they are intended to dispatch them more quickly and more authoritatively than a trial before an ordinary district court.
Trial courts settle most cases with finality, either by promoting out-of-court settlements or by a judgment resulting from a formal trial. Some litigants, however, wish to appeal the results of their trial, believing that the judge made prejudicial errors that robbed them of victory, or seek to win a change in policy through an appellate decision. For such appeals, special appellate tribunals exist in every state and in the federal court system. Twenty-four states have intermediate appellate courts as well as supreme courts; the remainder have only supreme courts to hear appeals. The federal judiciary has eleven intermediate appellate courts as well as its Supreme Court.
Where intermediate appellate courts exist, appeals usually must be directed to them before being taken to the appropriate supreme court. In almost every case the litigants have a right to one appeal. If they file their case properly, the appellate court is obliged to consider it, regardless of the legal merit of the appeal and the triviality or importance of the conflict. The intermediate appellate courts serve large portions of their state or, in the case of the federal courts of appeals, several states. Like federal district judges, the judges of appellate courts ordinarily visit several major cities of their area, although most of their business takes place at the headquarters city. Unlike trial courts, each appellate court operates with several judges. There is no jury; a panel of three or more judges decides. Unlike most trial judges, appellate judges give reasons for their decisions in a written opinion, which is often published for future reference by lawyers and other judges.
Supreme courts make the final decision in the judicial process. State supreme courts render the final verdict for all cases involving state law; the federal Supreme Court renders the final judicial decision on all matters involving federal law or the federal Constitution. Some state supreme courts must hear every case appealed to them; other courts exercise a great deal of discretion in selecting the appeals that they will decide. The United States Supreme Court is the best-known example of the exercise of discretion. The Court receives requests to hear more than 5000 cases each year and dismisses nearly 90 percent of the appeals as unworthy of review. Among the state courts, Virginia and Louisiana are almost as selective. Courts like the Wisconsin Supreme Court hear almost all cases brought before them.
Three or more justices staff each of the supreme courts. They hear cases as a group, although in some states the court divides into panels in the same way as most federal courts of appeals. In a few states — Missouri is an especially conspicuous example — the court parcels cases out to "commissioners," who are appointed by the justices to act as their alternates. Although the decision of a commissioner does not become final until adopted by the court, in practice their decisions are seldom overruled.
The courts sit at the capital or in another large city of the state. Unlike other courts that go on circuit as a convenience for litigants, supreme courts demand that litigants come to them. As a result, the lawyers practicing before supreme courts often constitute a rather specialized group, who handle cases for their less experienced colleagues when an appeal is necessary.
The principal bridge between the state and federal courts is at the supreme court level. When a case involves federal statutes or rights under the federal Constitution, the decision of a state supreme court may be appealed to the United State Supreme Court. The federal Supreme Court either affirms the state's decision or reverses it. Reversals mean that the case is sent back to the state court system for the appropriate action — a dismissal, a rehearing, or a granting of the remedy that the litigant sought originally. Although constitutionally obliged to follow Supreme Court decisions, state courts in fact sometimes ignore them. They may simply react to the Court's decision with disbelief and interpret it away, or they may rehear the case and come to the same result as before, but on slightly different grounds. It would therefore be a mistake to describe the relationship between the state courts and the United States Supreme Court as that of subordinate and superior. It is more accurate to characterize the Supreme Court's position as being first among equals. In ordinary cases the Supreme Court's judgment is respected. In highly controversial ones, its decision is sometimes evaded by legalisms; for example, the state court may distinguish between cases on the basis of highly specific fact situations.
TASK I USEFUL VOCABULARY:
1. Felony – a serious crime usually punishable by imprisonment for more than one year or by death; examples include murder, rape, arson, and burglary. – also termed major crime.
2. Juvenile delinquency – antisocial behavior by a minor; especially, behavior that would be criminally punishable if the actor were an adult, but instead is usually punished by special laws pertaining only to minors.
3. Probate court – a court with the power to declare wills valid or invalid, to oversee the administration of estates, and in some states to appoint guardians and approve the adoption of minors. – Also termed surrogate court; surrogate’s court; and (in a few states) orphan’s court.
4. Antitrust complaints – claims under antitrust law, a body of law designed to protect trade and commerce from restraints, monopolies, price-fixing, and price discrimination; the principle antitrust laws are the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act.
5. Waive – to abandon, throw away, renounce, repudiate, or surrender a claim, a privilege, a right, or the opportunity to take advantage of some defect, irregularity, or wrong. To give up right or claim voluntarily.
6. Constitutional court – a court named or described and expressly protected by Constitution, or recognized by name or definite description in constitution in contrast to legislatively created courts. Commonly referred to as “Article III” courts in reference to U.S. Constitution.
7. Quasi-legislative power/functions – the power of an administrative agency to engage in rule-making.
8. Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences – consists of Commissioner of Patents, the Deputy Commissioner, the Assistant Commissioners, and the examiners-in-chief whose responsibility is to review adverse decisions of examiners upon applications for patents and to determine priority and patentability of invention in interferences.
9. Custom appeal – an appeal arising from a custom which implies habitual practice or course of action that characteristically is repeated in like circumstances; which is more or less widespread, and prevails within a geographical or sociological area.
10. Regulatory/administrative agency – a governmental body charged with administering and implementing particular legislation. Examples are worker’s compensation commissions, Federal Trade Commission. In addition to “agency”, such governmental bodies may be called commissions, corporations, boards, departments, or divisions.
11. Ad hoc tribunals – courts of law established for a special purpose.
12. Out-of-court settlement – the phrase is used with reference to agreements and transactions in regard to a pending suit which are arranged to take place between parties or their counsels privately and without being referred to the judge or court for authorization or approval. Thus, a case which is compromised, settled, and withdrawn by private agreement of the parties, after its institution, is said to be settled “out of court.”
13. Legal merit – the elements or grounds of a claim or defense; the substantive considerations to be taken into account in deciding a case, as opposed to extraneous or technical points.
14. Judicial discretion – the exercise of judgment by a judge or court based on what is fair under the circumstances and guided by the rules and principles of law; a court’s power to act or not act when a litigant can not demand the act as a matter of right. – Also termed legal discretion.
15. Reversal – an appellate court’s overturning of a lower court’s decision.
16. Dismissal – termination of an action or claim without further hearing, and especially without trial of the issues involved.
17. Rehearing – a second or subsequent hearing of a case or an appeal, usually held to review an error or omission in the first hearing.
18. Evade – to get around by trickery.
TASK II Insert the following verbs into their proper contexts : overlap, guarantee, waive, staff, deal with, fit, share, hear, maintain, possess, handle, hold:
1) Both the state and the federal governments ___________ trial courts.
2) Each state ____________ a few sets of courts.
3) Some state courts ____________ minor civil and criminal matters.
4) Courts of minor jurisdiction may not ___________ jury trial.
5) Other trial courts ___________ more important matters.
6) Three or more justices __________ each of the supreme courts.
7) Specialized courts __________ somewhere between the major and minor courts.
8) Courts of this type __________ family matters, such as divorce and juvenile delinquency.
9) Without exception, the jurisdiction of lower and higher courts __________.
10) In some states several counties ___________ a single court.
11)The Constitution ___________ the right to a jury trial for all criminal prosecutions.
12)Criminal defendants __________ a jury trial in only 36 percent of the trials.
TASK III Make the following statements complete, use the text when necessary:
1) A justice of the peace is elected along with …
2) In some states a professional magistrate or judge has been installed to …
3) The case must be transferred to another court if …
4) The litigant and his lawyer must pass through a maze of tribunals to …
5) District courts hear criminal cases involving…
6) Civil matters heard in federal courts range from…to …
7) Although …, only criminal trials extensively use juries.
8) Although some controversy exists over …
9) If … the chief judge of the circuit convenes the court.
10)If the losing party wishes to appeal…
11)Some litigants wish to appeal …
12)Before being taken to the appropriate supreme court appeals usually…
TASK IV According to the text insert the proper court/courts/tribunal/tribunals:
a) ______________ may not hold jury trials
b) ______________ hear more important matters
c) ______________ were created to operate alongside existing state tribunals.
d) ______________ has authority to review state court decisions that had ruled against a claim based on the federal Constitution, a treaty, or a federal statute.
e) ______________ held that state courts were bound by Supreme Court decisions.
f) ______________ retained most of their autonomy.
g) ______________ handle parking and driving violations.
h) ______________ consider monetary claims of less than $500.
i) ______________ handle the administration of wills and estates.
j) ______________ are much more simply organized.
k) ______________ usually travels to the more important cities within its territory.
l) ______________ operate like constitutional courts except that that their jurisdiction is limited.
m) ______________ exist for custom and patent appeals and for claims against federal government.
n) ______________ is specially convened in exceptional circumstances.
o) ______________ consists of three judges.
p) ______________ settle most cases with finality.
q) There are eleven _____________ in the federal judiciary.
r) ______________ make the final decision in the judicial process.
s) ______________ render the final verdict for all cases involving state law.
t) ______________ is the best known example of the exercise of discretion.
u) ______________ either affirms the state’s decision or reverses it.
v) ______________ are constitutionally obliged to follow Supreme Court decisions.
TASK V Explain the table below using the verbs from the text:
| STATE COURTS | FEDERAL COURTS |
| Minor trial courts - criminal and civil matters: traffic fines, local ordinance violations, small sums of money; Justices of the peace; No jury | 94 district courts –criminal jurisdiction over: violations of federal law, taking a stolen car across state boundaries, illegal dealing in narcotics; civil jurisdiction: litigants – the citizens of two states, complicated antitrust complaints by the federal government; Jury trial under the Constitution for both criminal and civil cases |
| 2. Major trial courts– more serious matters: felony trials, cases involving over $1000; Professional judges; Jury | Specialized courts – quasi-legislative functions: custom and patent appeals, claims against the federal government; Appellate jurisdiction |
| 3. Specialized courts– family matters (divorce), juvenile delinquency | Ad hoc tribunals –civil jurisdiction,on a special application in exceptional circumstances; The chief judge of the circuit, A district judge A judge of the court of appeals |
| 4. Traffic courts –parking and drivingviolations | |
| 5. Small claim courts –monetary claims under $500 | |
| 6. Probate courts –administration of willsand estates | 11 appellate courts The US Supreme Court |
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