Englische Rechtsterminologie Skript 5 Vorlesung von Dr. Jens Bormann, LL.M. (Harvard) von Marcus Seyfarth, Universität Freiburg 1. Overview on Court Systems and Judicial Officials - 51 different judicial systems 51 verschiedene Justizsysteme 50 state plus federal court system - states have their own court of last resort eigene höchste Gerichte der Länder - on issues of federal law, either in federal or state courts, the US SCt. serves as the court of last resort 2. Trial Courts - single judge either with or without a jury - overall function to reach a decision in the first instance on all disputes, to hear the evidence and the arguments to determine the facts accordingly to apply the law - judge or jury must resolve all conflicts in the testimony the facts of a case cannot be re-litigated on appeal - apart from the trials there are many pretrial motions as well (pretrial conferences / preliminary hearings) - 1 -
3. Appellate Courts (Intermediate Appellate or Supreme Courts) - usually two layers exist: the intermediate appellate courts or usually called the Court of Appeals (three judges), the court of final resort is called the Supreme Court (five, seven or nine judges) - appeal from the CoA to the SCt lies within its discretion - only some cases qualify for review as of right in a state (states with death penalty) - different functions: CoA task of assuring that trial errors are corrected SCt. broader task of overseeing the development of the law - so-called discretionary review: party must be granted leave to appeal or must obtain a writ of certiorari (procedure for a higher court to review the decision of a lower court) potential of disagreement and conflict, but there are conflict resolving mechanisms 4. Review of Trial Court Judgements - depends on two factoros: issue of fact / issue of law - f its one of fact: whether the fact finder was a judge or a jury - a.court can review issues of law and reverses judgements for nonharmless errors - review of issues of fact is more limited - reason: superiority of immediate oral evidence over mediate written evidence - judge s findings of fact will be reersed if they are clearly erroneous - jury verdict: only if there s a complete absence of any substantial credible evidence to support it - criminal cases: largely the same; required standard of proof has been met? - civil judgement reversed if the evidence was insufficient for the jury to find (prepondereance of the evidence) = Übergewicht der Beweise - 2 -
- criminal judgement/jury verdict will be reversed on factual grounds if evidence was insufficient beyond a reasonable doubt 5. Appellate Court Procedure - basically written proceedings - issuing an order or a judgement who wins + opinion of the court They can: - affirm the judgement (of trial court) approves it - reverse the j. disagrees with it - direct entry of j. fort he opposing side (no open questions) - or vacate the j. and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings 6. Subject matter jurisdiction - federal d.ct. exclusives: bankruptcy; patent or opyright law; cases involving federal law - concurrent with states: federal question or more than $75,000 is involved - diversity jurisdiction: d.ct. cases otherwise fall within state jurisdiction - if disputes involves citizen of different states - in all other maters the state cts. have exclusive jurisdiction - removal jurisdiction brought in state but federal takes it: e.g. cases against US officials The decision about which court should actually hear the case involves the concepts of jurisdiction and venue: Jurisdiction deals with a court s authority to exercise judicial power, and venue means the place where that power should be exercised. Jurisdictional requirements are satisfied when the court has legal authority over both the subject matter and the person of the defendant. This means that several courts can have jurisdiction over the same case. Suppose, for example, that a resident of - 3 -
Dayton, Ohio, is seriously injured in an automobile accident in Tennessee when the car he is driving is struck from the rear by a car driven by a resident of Kingsport, Tennessee. Total damages to the Ohio driver and car come to about $80,000. A state trial court in Ohio has subject matter jurisdiction, and Ohio can in all likelihood obtain jurisdiction over the defendant. In addition, the state courts of Tennessee probably have jurisdiction. Federal district courts in both Ohio and Tennessee also have jurisdiction because diversityof citizenship exists and the amount in controversy is over $75,000. Assuming that jurisdiction is the only concern, the plaintiff can sue in any of these courts. 7. Federal and State Court Structure - 4 -
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Types of Cases Heard Cases that deal with the constitutionality of a law; cases involving the laws and treaties of the U.S.; ambassadors and public ministers; disputes between two or more states; admiralty law, andbankruptcy. Article I Courts Congress has created several Article I or legislative courts that do not have full judicial power. Article I courts are U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals, the U.S. Court of Military Appeals, and the U.S. Tax Court. - 7 -
Geographic Boundaries of US Courts of Appeals and US District Courts - 8 -