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Structure of Courts
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Function
Below are all of the laws that govern the structure of courts that match your search criteria.
160 Results
| State | Statute | Description/Statute Name | Statutory language | Court/legal body | Function | |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 490-G:2 | Implementation of Drug Courts |
I. (a) Each superior or circuit court may establish one or more drug courts under which drug offenders may be processed to address appropriately an identified substance abuse problem. “Drug court” means a judicial intervention process that incorporates and substantially complies with the Ten Key Components listed in subparagraph (b) and may include:(1) “Pre-adjudication” where a drug offender is ordered to participate in drug court before charges are filed or before conviction;(2) “Post-adjudication” where a drug offender is ordered to participate in drug court after entering a plea of guilty or nolo contendre or having been found guilty;(3) “Reentry” where a drug offender is ordered to participate in drug court upon release from a sentence of incarceration; or(4) “Combination program” which may include pre-adjudication, post-adjudication, and/or reentry.
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Drug court | Creation of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 490-H:2 | Implementation of Mental Health Courts |
Any superior or circuit court may establish one or more mental health courts under which the courts monitor offenders with mental illnesses for compliance with individual services to change behavior which would otherwise result in criminal conduct.
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Mental health court | Creation of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 592-B:9 | Drug Courts or Alternative Drug Offender Programs |
I. (a) In any county that has implemented or which will implement the felonies first project established in this chapter within one year of commencing operation of a drug court or alternative drug offender program, the judicial branch shall fund and operate an approved drug court or alternative drug offender program separate from the statewide drug offender grant program established in RSA 490-G, and at no cost to the county.
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Drug Court | Creation of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 491:7 | Jurisdiction |
The superior court shall take cognizance of civil actions and pleas, real, personal, and mixed, according to the course of the common law, except such actions as are required to be brought in the family division under RSA 490-D, district courts under RSA 502-A, or the probate courts under RSA 547; of writs of mandamus and quo warranto and of proceedings in relation thereto; of petition and appeals relating to highways and property taken therefor and for other public use; of actions commenced in the probate or district courts where a right to jury trial is guaranteed by the constitution; of actions commenced in a district court which are transferable by statute to the superior court; of suits in equity under RSA 498:1; of petitions for new trials; of petitions for the redemption and foreclosure of mortgages; of all other proceedings and matters to be entered in, or heard at, said court by special provisions of law; and of all other proceedings and matters cognizable therein for which other special provision is not made.
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Superior Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Const. Pt. 2, art. 72a | Supreme and Superior Courts |
The judicial power of the state shall be vested in the supreme court, a trial court of general jurisdiction known as the superior court, and such lower courts as the legislature may establish under Article 4th of Part 2.
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Supreme Court | Creation of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 490-F:2 | Circuit Court; General |
The circuit court shall be a court of record with statewide jurisdiction. Each circuit court location shall have the authority to hear all cases within the subject matter jurisdiction of the circuit court. Subject to part 1, article 17 of the New Hampshire constitution, nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the reassignment of cases within the circuit court as justice or efficiency requires in the discretion of the administrative judge of the circuit court.
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Circuit Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 502-A:11 | Criminal Cases; District Court |
Each district court shall have the powers of a justice of the peace and quorum throughout the state and shall have original jurisdiction, subject to appeal, of all crimes and offenses committed within the confines of the district in which such court is located which are punishable by a fine not exceeding $2,000 or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, including all violations of the provisions of RSA 266:16 and RSA 266:25 pertaining to vehicles exceeding permitted size or weight, regardless of whether the defendant is a natural person or any other person.
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District Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 490:4 | Jurisdiction |
The supreme court shall have general superintendence of all courts of inferior jurisdiction to prevent and correct errors and abuses, including the authority to approve rules of court and prescribe and administer canons of ethics with respect to such courts, shall have exclusive authority to issue writs of error, and may issue writs of certiorari, prohibition, habeas corpus, and all other writs and processes to other courts, to corporations and to individuals, and shall do and perform all the duties reasonably requisite and necessary to be done by a court of final jurisdiction of questions of law and general superintendence of inferior courts.
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Supreme Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 591-A:1 | Superior Court |
The superior court has jurisdiction of all criminal cases and proceedings; but it may dismiss a prosecution originally begun therein which is within the jurisdiction of a circuit court. |
Superior Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 5912-B:1 | Jurisdiction |
The superior court shall have exclusive jurisdiction over felony complaints and misdemeanors and violation level charges that are directly related to those felonies. The superior court shall also have jurisdiction over de novo appeals of class A misdemeanors pursuant to RSA 599:1.
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Superior Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 502-A:17-a | Transfers to Supreme Court |
In any criminal case or civil cause in any district court, questions of law may be transferred to the supreme court in the same manner as that from the superior court under RSA 491:17; provided that the district court justice hearing the case to be transferred shall, if either party requests it, file as a part of the transferred case his findings, in writing, stating the facts found and his rulings of law.
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Supreme Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 591-A:2 | Appeals to Superior Court |
The superior court has jurisdiction of all appeals in criminal cases from district or municipal courts. |
Superior Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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North Carolina | N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 15A-1441 | Correction of errors by appellate division |
Errors of law may be corrected upon appellate review as provided in this Article, except that review of capital cases shall be given priority on direct appeal and in State postconviction proceedings.
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Appellate Division | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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North Carolina | N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 7A-26 | Appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals |
The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals respectively have jurisdiction to review upon appeal decisions of the several courts of the General Court of Justice and of administrative agencies, upon matters of law or legal inference, in accordance with the system of appeals provided in this Article.
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Supreme Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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North Carolina | N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 7A-26 | Appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals |
The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals respectively have jurisdiction to review upon appeal decisions of the several courts of the General Court of Justice and of administrative agencies, upon matters of law or legal inference, in accordance with the system of appeals provided in this Article.
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Court of Appeals | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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North Carolina | N.C. Con. Art. IV, § 2 | General Court of Justice |
The General Court of Justice shall constitute a unified judicial system for purposes of jurisdiction, operation, and administration, and shall consist of an Appellate Division, a Superior Court Division, and a District Court Division.
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Judiciary | Creation of the courts |
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North Carolina | N.C. Con. Art. IV, § 1 | Judicial power |
The judicial power of the State shall, except as provided in Section 3 of this Article, be vested in a Court for the Trial of Impeachments and in a General Court of Justice. The General Assembly shall have no power to deprive the judicial department of any power or jurisdiction that rightfully pertains to it as a co-ordinate department of the government, nor shall it establish or authorize any courts other than as permitted by this Article.
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Judiciary | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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North Carolina | N.C. Con. Art. IV, § 3 | Judicial powers of administrative agencies |
The General Assembly may vest in administrative agencies established pursuant to law such judicial powers as may be reasonably necessary as an incident to the accomplishment of the purposes for which the agencies were created. Appeals from administrative agencies shall be to the General Court of Justice.
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Administrative Agencies | Jurisdiction of the courts |
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North Carolina | N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 7A-793 | Establishment of Program |
The North Carolina Drug Treatment Court Program is established in the Administrative Office of the Courts to facilitate the creation and funding of local drug treatment court programs. The Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts shall provide any necessary staff for planning, organizing, and administering the program. Local drug treatment court programs funded pursuant to this Article shall be operated consistently with the guidelines adopted pursuant to G.S. 7A-795. Local drug treatment court programs established and funded pursuant to this Article may consist of adult drug treatment court programs, juvenile drug treatment court programs, family drug treatment court programs, or any combination of these programs.
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Drug treatment court | Creation of the courts |
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North Carolina | N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann § 7A-271 | Jurisdiction of superior court |
(a) The superior court has exclusive, original jurisdiction over all criminal actions not assigned to the district court division by this Article, except that the superior court has jurisdiction to try a misdemeanor: (1) Which is a lesser included offense of a felony on which an indictment has been returned, or a felony information as to which an indictment has been properly waived; or (2) When the charge is initiated by presentment; or (3) Which may be properly consolidated for trial with a felony under G.S. 15A-926; (4) To which a plea of guilty or nolo contendere is tendered in lieu of a felony charge; or (5) When a misdemeanor conviction is appealed to the superior court for trial de novo, to accept a guilty plea to a lesser included or related charge.
(b) Appeals by the State or the defendant from the district court are to the superior court. The jurisdiction of the superior court over misdemeanors appealed from the district court to the superior court for trial de novo is the same as the district court had in the first instance, and when that conviction resulted from a plea arrangement between the defendant and the State pursuant to which misdemeanor charges were dismissed, reduced, or modified, to try those charges in the form and to the extent that they subsisted in the district court immediately prior to entry of the defendant and the State of the plea arrangement. (c) When a district court is established in a district, any superior court judge presiding over a criminal session of court shall order transferred to the district court any pending misdemeanor which does not fall within the provisions of subsection (a), and which is not pending in the superior court on appeal from a lower court. (d) The criminal jurisdiction of the superior court includes the jurisdiction to dispose of infractions only in the following circumstances: (1) If the infraction is a lesser-included violation of a criminal action properly before the court, the court must submit the infraction for the jury's consideration in factually appropriate cases. (2) If the infraction is a lesser-included violation of a criminal action properly before the court, or if it is a related charge, the court may accept admissions of responsibility for the infraction. A proper pleading for the criminal action is sufficient to support a finding of responsibility for the lesser-included infraction. (e) The superior court has exclusive jurisdiction over all hearings held pursuant to G.S. 15A-1345(e) where the district court had accepted a defendant's plea of guilty or no contest to a felony under the provisions of G.S. 7A-272(c), except that the district court shall have jurisdiction to hear these matters with the consent of the State and the defendant. (f) The superior court has exclusive jurisdiction over all hearings to revoke probation pursuant to G.S. 15A-1345(e) where the district court is supervising a drug treatment court or therapeutic court probation judgment under G.S. 7A-272(e), except that the district court has jurisdiction to conduct the revocation proceedings when the chief district court judge and the senior resident superior court judge agree that it is in the interest of justice that the proceedings be conducted by the district court. If the district court exercises jurisdiction under this subsection to revoke probation, appeal of an order revoking probation is to the appellate division. |
Superior Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |