Court Structures: The Florida Court System

The Florida court system is composed of four different court structures. First, there is the Supreme Court, which is the highest court system in Florida and according to Florida Courts website, “Decisions stemming from Florida’s highest court have helped shape, certainly, the state itself, but the nation as a whole.” (FL Courts, n.d.) The Supreme Court is comprised of seven Justices and at least five of those Justices must contribute in every case and four must agree so a resolution can be reached. Secondly, there is the District Courts of Appeal which provides the chance for a thoughtful review of decisions of lower hearings by a multi-judge panel. “District Courts of Appeal correct harmful errors and ensure that decisions are consistent with

The Circuit Court is where most criminal and civil court cases take place. There are twenty Circuit Courts in the state of Florida. According to the Florida Courts website, “The Constitution provides that a circuit court shall be established to serve each judicial circuit established by the Legislature. Within each circuit, there may be any number of judges, depending upon the population and caseload of the particular area.” (FL Courts, n.d.) Lastly, the final court system, and the second of two Trial Courts in Florida, is the County Courts. There is a County Court in each of Florida’s sixty-seven counties. County Court judges serve a six-year term and may be assigned to help out in Circuit Court cases if needed. The number of judges in a County Court varies because the populations of each county are different, some being larger than others. Florida Courts website states, “The county courts are sometimes referred to as "the people's courts," probably because a large part of the courts' work involves voluminous citizen disputes, such as traffic offenses, less serious criminal matters (misdemeanors), and relatively small monetary disputes.” (FL Courts,

There are some similarities between the Federal Court and the Florida Court. One similarity is that they are both broken down into different categories, each dealing with a different problem. Another similarity is that both the Federal level and the State level each have a Supreme Court. The difference between Federal Court and the Florida Court is that in the Court of Appeals, the Federal judicial district is broken down into twelve circuits, whereas in Florida, it in broken down into five. The task of the Court of Appeals on the Federal level is to make sure that laws are applied appropriately in the trial court. Another difference between the Federal Court and Florida’s Court is that the Federal Courts have a bankruptcy court system, whereas the Florida Court does not. According to the United States Courts website, “Federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases involving personal, business, or farm bankruptcy. This means a bankruptcy case cannot be filed in state court.” (Court Role & Structure, n.d.) Lastly, another difference between the Federal Court and the Florida Court is that the Federal Court has an Article I court, where Florida does not. The Article I Court is one that reviews agency’s decisions before they are finalized. Article I Courts are broken down into the U.S. Court of Appeals