Superior Courts of California

The Superior Courts of California are the superior courts in the U.S. state of California with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a government agency. Each of the 58 counties in California has a superior court.

Organization

The superior courts are the lowest level of state courts in California holding general jurisdiction on civil and criminal matters. Above them are the six California Courts of Appeal, each with appellate jurisdiction over the superior courts within their districts, and the Supreme Court of California. As of 2007, the Superior Courts of California consisted of over 1,500 judges, and make up the largest part of California's judicial system, which is in turn the largest in the United States fully staffed by law-trained judges (New York and Texas technically have more judicial officers, but most of them have little or no formal legal training). Superior court judges are elected by each county's voters to six-year terms. Vacancies on the court are filled by appointments made by the Governor.

Because Los Angeles County has the largest population of any county, it also has the largest Superior Court. The Los Angeles County Superior Court is organized into dozens of highly specialized departments dealing with everything from moving violations to mental health. It handles over 2.5 million legal matters each year, of which about 4,000 terminate in jury trials; this works out to about 4,300 matters per judge. Its 429 judges are assisted by 140 commissioners and 14 referees.

In contrast, many of California's smallest counties, like Alpine, Del Norte, Inyo, Lake, Lassen, Mono, and Trinity, typically have only two Superior Court judges each, who are usually assisted by a single part-time commissioner.

History

The concept of having a Superior Court of general jurisdiction in each of California's counties dates back to the ratification of the second California Constitution in 1879. Previously, the California Judiciary Act of 1851 had created multi-county District Courts of general jurisdiction which supervised County Courts and Justice of the Peace Courts of limited jurisdiction.

Notably, the superior courts did not always enjoy the unified jurisdiction that they possess now. At one point in the early 20th century, California had as many as six types of inferior courts of limited jurisdiction under the superior courts. The Municipal and Justice Courts Act of 1947 reduced the number of inferior courts to two: municipal courts and "justice of the peace" courts.

Starting in the late 1970s, California began to slowly phase out the use of justice courts (in which non-lawyers were often allowed by statute to preside as judges) after a landmark 1974 decision in which the Supreme Court of California unanimously held that it was a violation of due process to allow a non-lawyer to preside over a criminal trial which could result in incarceration of the defendant. ["Gordon v. Justice Court", [http://online.ceb.com/calcases/C3/12C3d323.htm 12 Cal. 3d 323] (1974).]

In 1998, Proposition 220 was approved by the state's voters, amending the state's Constitution to allow judges in each county to decide whether or not to retain municipal or justice courts. By 2001, every California county had consolidated its municipal and justice courts into the superior courts. Thus, at present, the superior courts are actually not "superior" to any inferior courts within the judicial branch. They "are" still superior to certain types of administrative hearings within the executive branch; dissatisfied litigants can appeal to superior courts through administrative mandamus.

Many of California's larger superior courts have specialized departments for different types of cases like criminal, civil, traffic, small claims, probate, family, juvenile, and complex litigation, but these departments are simply administrative assignments that can be rearranged at the discretion of each superior court's presiding judge in response to changing caseloads (that is, regardless of the department title, process issues in the name of the superior court). In contrast, inferior courts were creatures of statute and thus were slightly more difficult to rearrange.

Another peculiarity of California law is that traditionally, the superior courts did not own their own buildings, and the state was not required to provide them with buildings, even though the superior courts were part of the judicial branch of the "state" government. Rather, "county" governments were supposed to provide buildings and security for the superior courts out of their own local budgets.

Unfortunately, courthouse construction and maintenance were often overlooked among the enormous number of mandatory responsibilities placed upon counties by California law. After several decades of complaints about dilapidated courthouses, the California Legislature finally passed the Trial Court Funding Act of 1997 and the Trial Court Facilities Act of 2002 to launch the process of transferring courthouses from county to state ownership. The first transfer, in Riverside County, took place in October 2004; it was the first of 450 superior court facilities that will eventually come under the control of the Administrative Office of the Courts.

ee also

* Superior Court of Sacramento County
* Superior Court of Santa Clara County

References

External links

* [http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/ Judicial Council of California website]
* [http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/find.htm Locations and contact information] of all State Superior Courts, from the Judicial Council