State court (United States)
In the United States, a state court is a court of law with jurisdiction over disputes with some connection to a U.S. state. State courts handle the overwhelming majority of civil and criminal cases in the United States; the United States federal courts are far smaller in terms of both personnel and caseload, and handle different types of cases. The number of cases filed in state courts each year surpasses the number of cases filed in federal courts by a factor of over two hundred. States often provide their trial courts with general jurisdiction and state trial courts regularly have concurrent jurisdiction with federal courts. Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and their subject-matter jurisdiction arises only under federal law.
Each state "is free to organize its courts as it sees fit," and consequently, "no two states have identical court structures." Generally, state courts are common law courts, and apply their respective state laws and procedures to decide cases. They are organized pursuant to and apply the law in accordance with their state's constitution, state statutes, and binding decisions of courts in their state court hierarchy. Where applicable, they also apply federal law, or need to make a choice of law from another jurisdiction.
Generally, a single judicial officer, usually called a judge, exercises original jurisdiction by presiding over contested criminal or civil actions which culminate in trials, which may include empaneling a jury, although most matters stop short of reaching trial. The decisions of lower courts may be reviewed by a panel of a state intermediate appellate court. Generally, there is also a highest court for appeals, a state supreme court, that oversees the court system. In matters that involve issues of federal law, the final decision of the state's highest court may be appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
Types of state courts
Trial court
Cases in state courts begin in a trial court where lawsuits and criminal cases are filed and evidence is eventually presented if a case proceeds to a hearing or trial. Trials in these courts are often held only after extensive pretrial procedures that in more than 90% of cases lead to a default judgment in a civil case, an agreed resolution settling the case or plea bargain resolving a criminal case, or pretrial resolution of the case by a judge either on the merits or on procedural grounds.On the one hand, the United States has a well-deserved reputation as one of the most litigious places in the world: "American society is somewhat exceptional not only in the frequency with which Americans resort to court to settle their disputes but, more significantly, the scope and importance of social and economic issues that are confided to the private litigation process". On the other hand, very few cases actually go to a jury verdict and a final judgment, let alone an appeal that results in a published appellate opinion. A 2015 empirical study examined 8,038 cases that went to trial in state-level trial courts and found that only 24 resulted in a judicial opinion from the state supreme court. In other words, the reported case law studied in American law schools does not reflect the way the vast majority of cases are handled and resolved—by "bargain shadow of the law".
Territory outside of any state in the United States, such as the District of Columbia or American Samoa, often has a court system established under federal or territorial law which substitutes for a state court system and is distinct from the ordinary federal court system.
State trial courts are usually located in a courthouse, which is often in the county seat. Even when state trial courts include more than one county in a judicial district, it is not uncommon for the state trial court to hold regular sessions at each county seat in its jurisdiction and function from the point of view of litigants as if it were a county-based court.
Appellate court
If one of the litigants is unsatisfied with the decision of the lower court, the matter may be taken up on appeal. However, an acquittal in a criminal trial cannot be appealed by the state because of the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy. Usually, an intermediate appellate court, if there is one in that state, often called the state court of appeals, will review the decision of the trial court. If still unsatisfied, the litigant can appeal to the highest appellate court in the state, which is usually called the state supreme court and is usually located in or near the state's capital city. Appellate courts in the United States, unlike their civil law counterparts, are generally not permitted to correct mistakes concerning the facts of the case on appeal, only mistakes of law, or findings of fact with no support in the trial court record.Courts of inferior jurisdiction
Many states have courts of limited jurisdiction, presided over by, for example, a magistrate or justice of the peace who hears criminal arraignments and tries petty offenses and small civil cases. Appeals from courts of limited jurisdiction are frequently sent to state trial courts of general jurisdiction rather than to an appellate court. As of 2014, the United States had over 13,500 courts of limited jurisdiction. Most of these courts were small one-judge courts, meaning that these courts were staffed by approximately 18,500 judicial officers.Larger cities often have city courts which hear traffic offenses and violations of city ordinances; in some states, such as New York, these courts have slightly broader jurisdiction and can also handle small claims and misdemeanors. Other courts of limited jurisdiction include alderman's courts, police court, mayor's courts, recorder's courts, county courts, probate courts, municipal courts, juvenile courts, courts of claims, courts of common pleas, family courts, small claims courts, tax courts, water courts, and workers' compensation courts.
Lawrence M. Friedman has described courts of limited jurisdiction as "the bargain basement of justice," where procedures are often informal and "slapdash" and the quality of justice is poor. In states that still use justices of the peace or equivalent judicial officers, many judges of courts of limited jurisdiction are laypersons who never attended law school or passed a bar examination. As of 2020, 26 states still allowed such nonlawyers to preside as judges in courts of limited jurisdiction. The low pay and low status of such positions tends to attract candidates with terrible educational qualifications; a 1976 survey found that somewhere between one-third and one-half of judges of courts of limited jurisdiction in California had not even completed high school. There is widespread anecdotal and empirical evidence that lay judges are prone to ignoring the law and issuing arbitrary rulings.
The issues that inevitably result from the lack of a law-trained judge are compounded by the complete absence of lawyers on both sides of a case in some of the poorest states. For example, in South Carolina, "one of the poorest states in the country", a criminal defendant prosecuted in a court of limited jurisdiction in that state may be arrested, prosecuted, tried, and convicted without ever encountering a single lawyer. The police in South Carolina often act as the prosecutor.
Courts of limited jurisdiction should not be confused with the administrative courts seen in other countries. The United States does not use administrative courts, as a result of the strict separation of powers imposed by the United States Constitution. Instead, at both the federal and state levels, administrative law judges preside over tribunals within executive branch agencies. In state governments, ALJs handle matters such as driver's license revocations, workers' compensation claims, unemployment insurance claims, and land use disputes.
Superior court
All these courts are distinguished from courts of general jurisdiction, which are the default type of trial court that can hear any case which is not required to be first heard in a court of limited jurisdiction. Most such cases are civil cases involving large sums of money or criminal cases arising from serious felonies like rape and murder. Typically, felonies are handled in general jurisdiction courts, while misdemeanors and other lesser offenses are handled in inferior jurisdiction courts. Unlike most European courts, American state courts do not usually have a separate court that handles serious crimes; jurisdiction lies with the court that handles all other felony cases in a given county.Many state courts that handle criminal cases also have separate divisions or judges assigned to handle certain types of cases, known as "problem-solving courts". Problem-solving courts are part of a larger reform effort known as therapeutic jurisprudence which attempts to address underlying issues which lead to the same people repeatedly appearing in criminal courts, in order to reduce recidivism. Examples of such courts include drug court, domestic violence court, and mental health court.
All states have courts of general jurisdiction, but only some have courts of limited jurisdiction. Courts of general jurisdiction tend to be better funded, better staffed, more professional, more dignified, and more solemn than courts of limited jurisdiction. They also tend to have jurisdiction over larger geographical areas and more people. As of 2014, the United States had approximately 2,000 state trial courts of general jurisdiction. These courts were staffed by approximately 11,000 judges.
A few states like California have unified all courts of general and inferior jurisdiction to make the judicial process more efficient. In such courts, there may be divisions that specialize in hearing particular types of proceedings, but from the perspective of the judges, these are mere administrative assignments. In such courts, every judge is deemed to be "qualified to hear every type of proceeding, enhancing administrative flexibility and ending the possibility of a judgment being invalidated because it was heard in the wrong court". As of 2014, the six jurisdictions which had fully unified all trial courts and no longer used courts of limited jurisdiction were California, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.