Characteristics Of The Texas Court System

The Texas court system is structured and well organized but might seem quite confusing at first. There are different types of courts in Texas, which are the municipal courts, county courts, county courts of law, district courts, appeal courts, and the highest courts. All of which contribute to the state of Texas and help the community establish a well organized place to live upon. These court systems play a huge role in the safety of the citizens.

There are Local Trial courts of limited jurisdiction called municipal courts and Justice of the Peace courts. The municipal courts are usually only involved with class c misdemeanors; they are of fine only, jurisdiction. In this case one might com in contact with a municipal court due to a traffic ticket. “Municipal courts cannot require that a defendant lay out a fine in jail at the rate no less than fifty dollars per day” (Lovett). However, if one is not financially

These Appeal courts make sure that the trial courts did the correct evaluation and followed the correct proceedings of the law. “In addition, the court of Appeals for the federal circuit has nationwide jurisdiction to hear appeals in specialized cases such as those involving patent laws, and cases decided by the U.S. court of federal claims” (Court Role and Structure). These courts do not use a jury and only have about three judges.

Lastly, the highest Appellate courts are the Supreme Court and the court of Criminal Appeals. The Supreme Court is involved with civil jurisdiction and has nine justices only. However, the court of Appeals handles criminal jurisdiction and has nine judges. “Composed of the Chief Justice and eight Justices, the Supreme Court of Texas is the court of the last resort for civil matters in the state of Texas” (The Supreme Court of Texas). Then there is the court for criminal Appeals, which is the highest one for any criminal