Court
This article is about courts of law. For alternative meanings see: court (disambiguation). |
A trial at the Old Bailey in London as drawn by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin for Ackermann's Microcosm of London (1808-11). |
A
court is an official, public forum which a
sovereign establishes by lawful authority to
adjudicate disputes, and to dispense
civil, labour, administrative and
criminal justice under the
law. In
common law and
civil law states, the courts are the central means for
dispute resolution, and it is generally understood that all persons have a right to bring their claims before a court. Similarly, those accused of a crime have the right to present their defense before a court.
Each state establishes the court system for the territory under its control. This system allocates work to the courts or authorized individuals by granting both
civil and
criminal jurisdiction (in the
United States, this is termed
subject-matter jurisdiction). The grant of power to each category of court or individual may stem from a provision of a written
constitution or from an enabling
statute. In
English law, jurisdiction may be
inherent, deriving from the common law origin of the particular court. For this purpose, courts may be classified as
trial courts (sometimes termed "courts of first instance") and
appellate courts. Some trial courts may function with a
judge and a
jury: juries make findings of
fact under the direction of the judge who makes findings of law and, in combination, this represents the
judgment of the court. In other trial courts, decisions of both fact and law are made by the judge or judges. Juries are less common in court systems outside the Anglo-American
common law tradition.
In a common law system, appellate courts may be arranged in a hierarchy and their function is to review the decisions of trial courts (and of lower appellate courts) and, generally, they only address questions of law, i.e. whether the lower courts interpreted and applied the law correctly, or procedure. These hearings do not usually involve considering factual matters unless new
evidence has come to light. Such factual evidence as is admitted will only be considered for the purposes of deciding whether the case should be remitted to a first instance court for a retrial unless, in criminal proceedings, it is so clear that there has been a
miscarriage of justice that the
conviction can be
quashed.
In the United States, a court must have
personal jurisdiction over a defendant to hear a case brought by a plaintiff against that defendant. There are three kinds of personal jurisdiction:
in personam jurisdiction,
in rem jurisdiction, and
quasi in rem jurisdiction. A detailed discussion of personal jurisdiction is beyond the scope of this article; however, personal jurisdiction (in the United States) generally refers to the legal sufficiency of the connection between the defendant and the forum (the
U.S. state) in which the court is located. See, for example,
Pennoyer v. Neff. See also
Minimum contacts and
International Shoe v. Washington.
The two major models for courts are the civil law courts and the common law courts. Civil law courts are based upon the judicial system in France, while the common law courts are based on the judicial system in Great Britain. In most civil law jurisdictions, courts function under an
inquisitorial system. In the
common law system, most courts follow the
adversarial system.
Procedural law governs the rules by whichcourts operate:
civil procedure for private disputes (for example); and
criminal procedure for violation of the
criminal law.
See
arbitration.
General
*
Sanctions*
International judicial institution*
International Criminal Court*
List of people who have acted as their own attorneyCourt terminology
*
Adjudication*
Contempt of court*
Judicial economy*
Jurist*
Legal proceedings*
Quash*
Relevancy*
Rebuttal*
Subpoena*
TestimonyTypes and organization of courts
*
Appellate court*
Constitutional Court*
Court en banc*
Court of Faculties*
Court-martial*
Courts of England and Wales*
Ecclesiastical court*
Equity court*
Family court*
High Court of Justiciary*
Revolutionary Tribunal (
French Revolution)
*
Scots Law*
Scottish Courts Service*
Supreme court*
Trial court*
Court TV (coverage of major US trials)
*
Example of order on media request to permit coverage, with possible reasons for and against, and possible conditions*
Court Gestures, what role do gestures play in the legal procedure? Are they taken serious?
