State Courts Usa

In the United States, state courts have jurisdiction over disputes with some connection to a U.S. state. Cases are heard before trial court, which is located in a courthouse in the county state. Evidence is presented in a trial court. If one of the participants is unhappy with the decision of the lower court, the matter may be taken up on appeal (but an acquittal in a criminal trial may not be appealed by the state due to the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy). Usually an intermediate appellate court, often called the state court of appeals, will review the decision made by the trial court. If still unhappy with the decision, the participant can appeal to the highest appellate court in the state, which is called the state supreme court. Appellate courts in the United States, unlike their civil law correspondents, are almost always not permitted to correct mistakes that concern the facts of the case on appeal, only mistakes of law, or findings of fact with no support in the trial court record. Many states have courts of inferior jurisdiction, presided over by a magistrate or justice of the peace who hears criminal arraignments and tries small civil cases and petty offenses. A few states have unified all courts of inferior and general jurisdiction to help make the whole judicial process more efficient. In these types of judicial systems, there are still departments of limited jurisdiction within the trial courts, and often these departments occupy the exact same facilities they once occupied as independent courts of limited jurisdiction. However, as mere administrative divisions, departments can be rearranged at the discretion of each trial court's presiding judge in response to changing caseloads.