50-State Criminal Justice Debt Reform Builder Bringing transparency to areas of significant legal complexity.
Structure of Courts
Keyword search across all of the laws in the states. Subject-area tabs above allow you to narrow results. Click the advanced search for further refinement.
Every law can be saved to the Reform Builder
See conflicts of interest policy recommendations in CJPP’s Policy Guide
Function
Below are all of the laws that govern the structure of courts that match your search criteria.
23 Results
| State | Statute | Description/Statute Name | Statutory language | Court/legal body | Function | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Illinois | 730 Ill. Comp. Stat. 110/13 | Duties of director of court services department or chief probation officer; facilities and personnel |
It shall be the duty of the director of the court services department or the chief probation officer, appointed as provided in this act, to supervise and control the work of all subordinate court services or probation officers under his or her jurisdiction subject to the general administrative and supervisory authority of the Chief Circuit Judge or another judge designated by the Chief Circuit Judge, and to control and supervise, as herein provided, the conduct of probationers to such extent as the court may direct. The Chief Circuit Judge, or another judge designated by the Chief Circuit Judge to have general administrative and supervisory authority over the director of the court services department or the chief probation officer, may authorize the director or chief probation officer to appoint all subordinate court services department officers or probation officers, who shall serve at the pleasure of the director or chief probation officer.
|
Circuit Courts | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Illinois | IL Const., Art. VI, § 9 | Circuit Courts — Jurisdiction |
Circuit Courts shall have original jurisdiction of all justiciable matters except when the Supreme Court has justiciable matters except when the Supreme Court has original and exclusive jurisdiction relating to redistricting of the General Assembly and to the ability of the Governor to serve or resume office. Circuit Courts shall have such power to review administrative action as provided by law.
|
Circuit Courts | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Illinois | 730 Ill. Comp. Stat. 167/5 | Veterans and Servicemembers Court Treatment Act: Purposes |
It is the intent of the General Assembly to create specialized veteran and service member courts or programs with the necessary flexibility to meet the specialized problems faced by these veteran and service member defendants.
|
Veterans Courts | Creation of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Illinois | 730 Ill. Comp. Stat. 168/5 | Mental Health Court Treatment Act: Purposes |
It is the intent of the General Assembly to create specialized mental health courts with the necessary flexibility to meet the problems of criminal defendants with mental illnesses and co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse problems in the State of Illinois.
|
Mental Health Courts | Creation of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Illinois | 730 Ill. Comp. Stat. 166/5 | Drug Court Treatment Act: Purposes |
The Chief Judge of each judicial circuit must establish a drug court program including the format under which it operates under this Act. |
Drug Court | Creation of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Illinois | 730 Ill. Comp. Stat. 166/5 | Drug Court Treatment Act: Purposes |
It is the intent of the General Assembly to create specialized drug courts with the necessary flexibility to meet the drug problems in the State of Illinois. |
Drug Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Illinois | IL Const., Art. VI, § 4 | Supreme Court — Jurisdiction |
SECTION 4. SUPREME COURT - JURISDICTION (a) The Supreme Court may exercise original jurisdiction in cases relating to revenue, mandamus, prohibition or habeas corpus and as may be necessary to the complete determination of any case on review. (b) Appeals from judgments of Circuit Courts imposing a sentence of death shall be directly to the Supreme Court as a matter of right. The Supreme Court shall provide by rule for direct appeal in other cases. (c) Appeals from the Appellate Court to the Supreme Court are a matter of right if a question under the Constitution of the United States or of this State arises for the first time in and as a result of the action of the Appellate Court, or if a division of the Appellate Court certifies that a case decided by it involves a question of such importance that the case should be decided by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court may provide by rule for appeals from the Appellate Court in other cases.
|
Supreme Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Illinois | IL Const., Art. VI, § 6 | Appellate Court — Jurisdiction |
SECTION 6. APPELLATE COURT - JURISDICTION Appeals from final judgments of a Circuit Court are a matter of right to the Appellate Court in the Judicial District in which the Circuit Court is located except in cases appealable directly to the Supreme Court and except that after a trial on the merits in a criminal case, there shall be no appeal from a judgment of acquittal. The Supreme Court may provide by rule for appeals to the Appellate Court from other than final judgments of Circuit Courts. The Appellate Court may exercise original jurisdiction when necessary to the complete determination of any case on review. The Appellate Court shall have such powers of direct review of administrative action as provided by law.
|
Appellate Courts in 5 judicial districts | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Illinois | IL Const., Art. VI, § 7 | Judicial Circuits |
SECTION 7. JUDICIAL CIRCUITS (a) The State shall be divided into Judicial Circuits consisting of one or more counties. The First Judicial District shall constitute a Judicial Circuit. The Judicial Circuits within the other Judicial Districts shall be as provided by law. Circuits composed of more than one county shall be compact and of contiguous counties. The General Assembly by law may provide for the division of a circuit for the purpose of selection of Circuit Judges and for the selection of Circuit Judges from the circuit at large.
(b) Each Judicial Circuit shall have one Circuit Court with such number of Circuit Judges as provided by law. Unless otherwise provided by law, there shall be at least one Circuit Judge from each county. In the First Judicial District, unless otherwise provided by law, Cook County, Chicago, and the area outside Chicago shall be separate units for the selection of Circuit Judges, with at least twelve chosen at large from the area outside Chicago and at least thirty-six chosen at large from Chicago. (c) Circuit Judges in each circuit shall select by secret ballot a Chief Judge from their number to serve at their pleasure. Subject to the authority of the Supreme Court, the Chief Judge shall have general administrative authority over his court, including authority to provide for divisions, general or specialized, and for appropriate times and places of holding court. |
Circuit Courts | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Illinois | IL Const. Art. VI, § 1 | Courts |
The judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court, an Appellate Court and Circuit Courts. |
All state courts | Creation of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
New Jersey | N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2B:12-1; N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2B:12-17 | Municipal court jurisdiction |
A municipal court has jurisdiction over the following cases within the territorial jurisdiction of the court: a. Violations of county or municipal ordinances; b. Violations of the motor vehicle and + See moretraffic laws; c. Disorderly persons offenses, petty disorderly persons offenses and other non-indictable offenses except where exclusive jurisdiction is given to the Superior Court; d. Violations of the fish and game laws; e. Proceedings to collect a penalty where jurisdiction is granted by statute; f. Violations of laws regulating boating; and g. Any other proceedings where jurisdiction is granted by statute; A municipal court has jurisdiction over the following cases within the territorial jurisdiction of the court: a. Violations of county or municipal ordinances; b. Violations of the motor vehicle and traffic laws; c. Disorderly persons offenses, petty disorderly persons offenses and other non-indictable offenses except where exclusive jurisdiction is given to the Superior Court; d. Violations of the fish and game laws; e. Proceedings to collect a penalty where jurisdiction is granted by statute; f. Violations of laws regulating boating; and g. Any other proceedings where jurisdiction is granted by statute.
|
Municipal Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
New Jersey | N.J. Const. art. VI, § 3 | State superior court jurisdiction |
The Superior Court shall consist of such number of judges as may be authorized by law, each of whom shall exercise the powers of the court subject to rules of the + See moreSupreme Court. The Superior Court shall at all times consist of at least two judges who shall be assigned to sit in each of the counties of this State, and who are resident therein at the time of appointment and reappointment. The Superior Court shall have original general jurisdiction throughout the State in all causes
|
State Superior Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
New Jersey | N.J. Const. art. VI, § 3 | appellate court jurisdiction |
The Superior Court shall be divided into an Appellate Division, a Law Division, and a Chancery Division, which shall include a family part. Each division shall have such other parts, consist of + See moresuch number of judges, and hear such causes, as may be provided by rules of the Supreme Court. At least two judges of the Superior Court shall at all times be assigned to sit in each of the counties of the State, who at the time of their appointment and reappointment were residents of that county provided, however, that the number of judges required to reside in the county wherein they sit shall be at least equal in number to the number of judges of the county court sitting in each of the counties at the adoption of this amendment.
|
Appellate Division | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
New Jersey | N.J. Const. art. VI, § 1 | Supreme Court jurisdiction |
The judicial power shall be vested in a Supreme Court, a Superior Court, and other courts of limited jurisdiction. The other courts and their jurisdiction may from time to time + See morebe established, altered or abolished by law.
|
New Jersey Supreme Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Washington | Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 2.04.010 | Jurisdiction |
The supreme court shall have original jurisdiction in habeas corpus and quo warrantor and mandamus as to all state officers, and appellate jurisdiction in all actions and proceedings excepting that its appellate jurisdiction shall not extend to civil actions at law for the recovery of money or personal property when the original amount in controversy or the value of the property does not exceed the sum of two hundred dollars, unless the action involves the legality of a tax, impost, assessment, toll, municipal fine, or the validity of a statute. The supreme court shall also have power to issue writs of mandamus, review, prohibition, habeas corpus, certiorari, and all other writs necessary and proper to the complete exercise of its appellate and revisory jurisdiction. Each of the judges shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus to any part of the state, upon petition by or on behalf of any person held in actual custody, and may make such writs returnable before himself or herself, or before the supreme court, or before any superior court of the state, or any judge thereof.
|
Supreme Court | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Washington | Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 2.06.030 | General powers and authority--Transfers of cases--Appellate jurisdiction, exceptions--Appeals |
Subject to the provisions of this section, the court shall have exclusive appellate jurisdiction in all cases except:(a) cases of quo warrantor, prohibition, injunction or mandamus directed to state officials; (b) criminal cases where the death penalty has been decreed; (c) cases where the validity of all or any portion of a statute, ordinance, tax, impost, assessment or toll is drawn into question on the grounds of repugnancy to the Constitution of the United States or of the state of Washington, or to a statute or treaty of the United States, and the superior court has held against its validity; (d) cases involving fundamental and urgent issues of broad public import requiring prompt and ultimate determination; and (e) cases involving substantive issues on which there is a direct conflict among prevailing decisions of panels of the court or between decisions of the supreme court;
|
Court of Appeals | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Washington | Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 2.08.010 | Original jurisdiction |
The superior court shall have original jurisdiction in all cases in equity, and in all cases at law which involve the title or possession of real property, or the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, toll or municipal fine, and in all other cases in which the demand or the value of the property in controversy amounts to three hundred dollars, and in all criminal cases amounting to felony, and in all cases of misdemeanor not otherwise provided for by law; of actions of forcible entry and detainer; of proceedings in insolvency; of actions to prevent or abate a nuisance; of all matters of probate, of divorce and for annulment of marriage, and for such special cases and proceedings as are not otherwise provided for; and shall also have original jurisdiction in all cases and of all proceedings in which jurisdiction shall not have been by law vested exclusively in some other court, and shall have the power of naturalization and to issue papers therefor. Said courts and their judges shall have power to issue writs of mandamus, quo warrantor, review, certiorari, prohibition and writs of habeas corpus on petition by or on behalf of any person in actual custody in their respective counties. Injunctions and writs of prohibition and of habeas corpus may be issued on legal holidays and nonjudicial days.
|
Superior Courts | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Washington | Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 2.08.020 | Appellate jurisdiction |
The superior courts shall have such appellate jurisdiction in cases arising in courts of limited jurisdiction in their respective counties as may be prescribed by law. |
Superior Courts appellate jurisdiction | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Washington | Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 2.30.010(1) | Findings--Scope of therapeutic court programs |
The legislature finds that judges in the trial courts throughout the state effectively utilize what are known as therapeutic courts to remove a defendant's or respondent's case from the criminal and civil court traditional trial track and allow those defendants or respondents the opportunity to obtain treatment services to address particular issues that may have contributed to the conduct that led to their arrest or other issues before the court. Trial courts have proved adept at creative approaches in fashioning a wide variety of therapeutic courts addressing the spectrum of social issues that can contribute to criminal activity and engagement with the child welfare system.
|
Therapeutic Courts | Jurisdiction of the courts |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Washington | Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 3.66.060 | Criminal jurisdiction |
The district court shall have jurisdiction: (1) Concurrent with the superior court of all misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors committed in their respective counties and of all violations of city ordinances. It shall in no event impose a greater punishment than a fine of five thousand dollars, or imprisonment for one year in the county or city jail as the case may be, or both such fine and imprisonment, unless otherwise expressly provided by statute. It may suspend and revoke vehicle operators' licenses in the cases provided by law; (2) to sit as a committing magistrate and conduct preliminary hearings in cases provided by law; (3) concurrent with the superior court of a proceeding to keep the peace in their respective counties; (4) concurrent with the superior court of all violations under Title 77 RCW; (5) to hear and determine traffic infractions under chapter 46.63 RCW; and (6) to take recognizance, approve bail, and arraign defendants held within its jurisdiction on warrants issued by other courts of limited jurisdiction when those courts are participating in the program established under RCW 2.56.160.
|
District Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) | Jurisdiction of the courts |