Overview of US Legal System

Federalism and 51 Legal Systems

Overview of the Federal Court

System

Overview of State Court Systems

Overview of Federal Courts

Article III & Judiciary Act of 1789Federal Court Structure

Supreme Court Circuit Courts District Courts

Precedent and Hierarchy in Federal CourtsInfluence of Workload on Lower Federal

Courts

Article III

Section 1. The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior…

Section 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority…

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.

State Court Systems

Historical Development of State Court Systems

State Judicial Structures Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Trial Courts of General Jurisdiction Intermediate Appellate Courts Courts of Last Resort

State Supreme Courts and Workload Demands

Historical Development of State Courts

Colonial CourtsPost Revolutionary State CourtsPost-Civil War Growth and Fragmentation

Court Unification MovementWidespread Workload Increases

Limited Jurisdiction General Jurisdiction

Limited to minor civil and criminal cases

Often limited to certain types of subject matter

Qualification requirements of the judges can vary

Often are not jury trials

Handle more serious criminal and civil cases

Geographic division Naming

conventions varyHigher qualification

requirementsTypically use jury

trials

State Trial Courts