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1 Etymology
2 Jurisdiction
3 Trial and appellate courts
4 Civil law courts and common law courts
5 See also
- 5.1 General
- 5.2 Types and organization of courts
6 Notes
7 External links

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For other uses, see Court (disambiguation).

A trial at the Old Bailey in London as drawn by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin for Ackermann's Microcosm of London (1808-11).

A court is a body, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes and dispense civil, criminal, or administrative justice in accordance with rules of law.[1] In common law and civil law jurisdiction, courts are the central means for dispute resolution, and it is generally understood that all persons have an ability to bring their claims before a court. Similarly, those accused of a crime have the right to present their defense before a court.

Court facilities range from a simple farmhouse for a village court in a rural community to huge buildings housing dozens of courtrooms in large cities.

A court is a kind of deliberative assembly with special powers, called its jurisdiction, or jus dicere, to decide certain kinds of questions or petitions put to it. According to William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, a court is constituted by a minimum of three parties, namely, the actor, reus, and judex[2], though, often, courts consist of additional attorneys, bailiffs, reporters, and perhaps a jury.

The term "court" is often used to refer to the president of the court, also known as the "judge" or the "bench", or the panel of such officials. For example, in the United States, and other common law jurisdictions, the term "court" (in the case of U.S. federal courts) by law is used to describe the judge himself or herself.[3]

In the United States, the legal authority of a court to take action is based on three pillars of power over the parties to the litigation: (1) Personal jurisdiction; (2) Subject matter jurisdiction; and (3) Venue.

Etymology

The word court comes from the French cour, an enclosed yard, which derives from the Latin form cortem, the accusative case of cohors, which again means an enclosed yard or the occupants of such a yard (from hortus = garden). The meaning of a judicial assembly is first attested in the 12th century, and derives from the earlier usage to designate a sovereign and his entourage, which met to adjudicate disputes in such an enclosed yard. The verb "to court", meaning to win favor, derives from the same source since people traveled to the sovereign's court to win his favor.[4][5]

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction, meaning "to speak the law," is the power of a court over a person or a claim. In the United States, a court must have both personal jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction. Each state establishes a court system for the territory under its control. This system allocates work to courts or authorized individuals by granting both civil and criminal jurisdiction (in the United States, this is termed subject-matter jurisdiction). The grant of power to each category of court or individual may stem from a provision of a written constitution or from an enabling statute. In English law, jurisdiction may be inherent, deriving from the common law origin of the particular court.

Trial and appellate courts

Courts may be classified as trial courts (sometimes termed "courts of first instance", "Original Jurisdiction") and appellate courts. Some trial courts may function with a judge and a jury: juries make findings of fact under the direction of the judge who reaches conclusions of law (called a jury trial) and, in combination, this represents the judgment of the court. In other trial courts, decisions of both fact and law are made by judges (called a bench trial). Juries are less common in court systems outside the Anglo-American common law tradition.

Civil law courts and common law courts

The two major models for courts are the civil law courts and the common law courts. Civil law courts are based upon the judicial system in France, while the common law courts are based on the judicial system in Britain. In most civil law jurisdictions, courts function under an inquisitorial system. In the common law system, most courts follow the adversarial system. Procedural law governs the rules by which courts operate: civil procedure for private disputes (for example); and criminal procedure for violation of the criminal law.

Notes

^ Walker, David (1980). The Oxford companion to law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 301. ISBN 019866110X. http://books.google.com/books?id=4GgYAAAAIAAJ&pgis=1.
^ in every court there must be at least three constituent parts, the actor, reus, and judex: the actor, or plainfiff, who complains of an injury done; the reus, or defendant, who is called upon to make satisfaction for it; and the judex or judicial power, which is to examine the truth of the fact, to determine the law arising upon that fact, and, if any injury appears to have been done, to ascertain and by its officers to apply the remedy. It is also usual in the superior courts to have attorneys, and advocates or counsel, as assistants. SeeBlackstone's Commentaries, Book III., Ch. 3., p. 25, Yale Law School, Avalon Project
^ See generally 28 U.S.C. § 1: "The Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of a Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices [ . . . ]" (italics added); : "Each court of appeals shall consist of the circuit judges of the circuit in regular active service." (italics added); (in part): "Each district court shall consist of the district judge or judges for the district in regular active service." (italics added); 28 U.S.C. § 151 (in part): "In each judicial district, the bankruptcy judges in regular active service shall constitute a unit of the district court to be known as the bankruptcy court for that district [ . . . ]" (italics added).
^ Centre National De Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales
^ Online Etymologyl Dictionary