South Carolina Circuit Court
The South Carolina Circuit Court is the state court of general jurisdiction of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It consists of a civil division and a criminal division.
The Circuit Court is the state trial court of general jurisdiction in South Carolina. It is also a superior court, having limited appellate jurisdiction over appeals from the lower Probate Court, Magistrate's Court, and Municipal Court.
South Carolina's 46 counties are divided into 16 judicial circuits:
- First Circuit – Calhoun, Orangeburg, Dorchester
- Second Circuit – Aiken, Barnwell, Bamberg
- Third Circuit – Lee, Sumter, Clarendon, Williamsburg
- Fourth Circuit – Dillon, Chesterfield, Darlington, Marlboro
- Fifth Circuit – Kershaw, Richland
- Sixth Circuit – Chester, Fairfield, Lancaster
- Seventh Circuit – Cherokee, Spartanburg
- Eighth Circuit – Abbeville, Newberry, Laurens, Greenwood
- Ninth Circuit – Berkeley, Charleston
- Tenth Circuit – Oconee, Anderson
- Eleventh Circuit – McCormick, Edgefield, Lexington, Saluda
- Twelfth Circuit – Florence, Marion
- Thirteenth Circuit – Pickens, Greenville
- Fourteenth Circuit – Allendale, Colleton, Hampton, Beaufort, Jasper
- Fifteenth Circuit – Georgetown, Horry
- Sixteenth Circuit – York, Union
South Carolina has a statewide business court program within the circuit courts. This began as a pilot program in a limited number of circuits, created by a South Carolina Supreme Court administrative order in 2007, which the Supreme Court expanded statewide in 2014, and later made permanent in 2019.
Citizens of each circuit elect a circuit solicitor, a state prosecutor equivalent to a district attorney in many other states. Assistant solicitors are then appointed by circuit solicitor.