Chapter 2- The Court System and Jurisdiction Flashcards
Courts of appeals
Courts above trial courts to which trial court decisions can be appealed if the appellant believes the trial court committed reversible error in its application of procedural law.
Federal district courts
District courts are trial courts in the federal court system. As trial courts, district courts serve as the finders of fact in federal court cases.
Jurisdiction
Authority over the persons and subject matter of litigation, entitling a court to hear and adjudicate a specific action.
Justiciable
A conflict that is real and of sufficient consequence to be triable. Courts refuse to hear cases that are trivial, moot, political, or merely hypothetical.
Long-arm statutes
State laws that allow states to exercise jurisdiction over non residents if certain qualifying conditions, usually the existence of minimum contacts, are met.
Minimum contacts
Indicators of whether a non resident (to a state) firm has taken advantage of the benefits of having a presence of some type within a host state, enabling the host state to exert jurisdiction over the non resident firm.
Reversible error
An error in the application of procedural law of sufficient importance in a trial to form a basis for appeal of the trial outcome.
State court systems
Paralleling the federal court system, state court systems have trial courts (generally designated as district, superior, or circuit courts), courts of appeals, and state supreme courts.
U.S. Supreme Court
The highest court in the land, serving primarily as an appeals court, but also has trial court for disputes between states.
Venue
The physical location of the courthouse where a suit will be heard.
Writ of certiorari
Official written notice of a higher court decision that it wishes to receive the lower court’s record of a case. Such as writ serves as notice that the higher court will review the identified case from the lower court.
