Civil & Criminal Procedure Mark Pollitt Associate Professor

Federal Courts Supreme Court established by the Constitution Congress created lower courts Two basic kinds of Federal Courts – General jurisdiction – Specialized (limited jurisdiction) Courts Two functions: – Trial Courts (courts of original jurisdiction) – Appellate Courts

Hierarchy of Federal Courts U. S. District Court – District Court Judges – Magistrate Judges Circuit Court of Appeals – Panels – En Banc U. S. Supreme Court

Other Federal Courts U.S. Bankruptcy Court U.S. Court of Federal Claims U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces U.S. Tax Court U.S. Court for International Trade

Civil Procedure FRCP – es/rules/2010%20Rules/Civil%20Procedure.pdf es/rules/2010%20Rules/Civil%20Procedure.pdf –

Civil Process From:

Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure FRCrP – es/rules/2010%20Rules/Criminal%20Procedure.p df es/rules/2010%20Rules/Criminal%20Procedure.p df –

Criminal Process From:

The Courtroom From:

Number of Cases From:

It is important to remember: Courts have physical, legal, and geographical jurisdiction There are trial and appellate courts Civil and criminal cases have similar processes, but have different sets of rules The vast majority of trials are state and local