Questions & Answers

In the Category: Courts, States, and Constitutional Order

#JUD229 What are we to understand by a Court? A court is a legal institution wherein a duly constituted Judge sits to hear and determine disputes, or cases according to the law. A courthouse with courtrooms are the locales wherein this usually ta...
#JUD230 Are courts necessary? Certainly. Wherever laws are made and are to be enforced, there must be some mechanism of determining when and by whom they have been disobeyed, and of inflicting punishment upon those who disobey the...
#JUD231 Are there Courts in every State of the United States? Yes. Each State appoints Judges of its own to see that its state laws are enforced.
#JUD232 Are there also other Courts belonging to no particular State but to the United States? Yes.
#JUD233 Are all these Courts equal, or is one superior to another? They are not all equal but in each State, some of the State Courts are set over others; and so it is with the Courts of the United States.
#JUD234 Why are they not all equal? Some are set over others, in order that if one makes any mistake it may be corrected by the court above it. When a citizen claims he has been wronged in a lower court, he may take his cause to a highe...
#JUD235 Can he take his cause from the State Courts to the Courts of the United States? No, not unless his complaint is related to a law made by a State, which he supposes to be contrary to the Constitution of the United States. That matter can be settled only by the Supreme Court of the...
#JUD236 Suppose his complaint is in regard to a law of the United States and not a State law? He must in this case go at once to the Courts of the United States.
#JUD237 Which courts are these? They consist of one Supreme Court (the highest of all), and of such lower federal courts, as Congress may from time to time establish.
#JUD238 Has Congress established such courts? Yes, it has, which are called Circuit or Appellate Courts of the United Stats; and others, below these, which are called District Courts of the United States.
#JUD239 What Judges sit on the Circuit or Appellate Courts of the United States? The thirteen U.S. Appellate courts are presided over by a panel of judges ranging from six to twenty-nine depending on the circuit, though usually a panel of three decides an individual appeal.
#JUD240 What Judges sit in the District Courts of the United States? There are 94 federal judicial districts in the United States court system presided over by hundreds of district judges, though each district must have at least one federal judge appointed by the Presi...
#JUD241 What kind of cases are tried in the Courts of the United States? A case must be tried in federal court when there is a dispute concerning the true United States constitutionality of a lower courts decision.
#JUD242 Are there other cases to be tried in the Courts of the United States? All cases under the federal laws of the United States. A federal court cannot adjudicate a case of state law unless that law itself or the application thereof is itself being challenged as contrary to...
#JUD243 Any others? Yes, all which depend upon treaties between the United States and other nations. All in which Ambassadors or other public Ministers, or Consuls, sent to the United States by other governments, are par...
#JUD244 What other cases are tried in the Courts? All disputes in which the United States is a party; all disputes between one State and another State; all in which one of the States files suit against any person that is the citizen of another State;...
#JUD245 Must all cases of these several kinds be filed in one of the inferior courts of the United States first, or may any of them be commenced at once in the Supreme Court? All cases which have to do with ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls; and all those in which one of the States is a party, may be filed directly to the Supreme Court; the others, after being aju...
#JUD246 How are the Judges of the Courts of the United States appointed? By the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.
#JUD247 How long do they remain in office? A federal presidential judicial appointment is for life or until the justice resigns or is removed by due process for some form of corruption.
#JUD248 Why are not Judges elected from time to time, like Members of the House of Representatives and Senators? And why may they not be removed from their offices unless they are proved to be guilty of great offenses? If Judges held their benches at the mere good pleasure of the people, they would be greatly tempted to act in a partial and improper manner in order to please those who elected them to office, and to...
#JUD249 Why should not Legislators hold their office in the same way? Because they make the laws, while Judges only explain and apply them; it would be very dangerous to liberty to give our law makers power for life; they require restraint lest they should become our ty...
#JUD250 How do the Courts determine when laws have been disobeyed and determine their punishment? When a person is charged with having acted illegally to his neighbor, or to the State, whether he is guilty of the charge or not is determined a citizen Jury of his peers.
#JUD251 What is a Jury? A jury is a company of citizens, chosen by lot, and who have no personal interest in the matter, who hear both the evidence brought against the accused, and that for his defense, who through deliberat...
#JUD252 Is this a wise regulation. Certainly. The trial by jury is a most precious privilege as it secures to every man a fair hearing, and is the best safe-guard of his liberty, property and life; all which might be taken from him by...
#JUD253 Does a Jury decide in civil suits as well as in criminal prosecutions? Depending on the case, a jury can decide in both.
#JUD254 May an accused person be tried in a different State from that where the criminal act was committed? No.
#JUD255 Suppose the act was committed at sea, or in some other place not within any one of the States, her territories or possessions. Where is such a trial held? Where Congress shall have appointed by law.
#JUD256 Ought all the public acts of a State and its courts and officers be recorded in writing? Certainly; this must be done in order to preserve a remembrance of them and for those affected to show proof of them and if injured, to obtain redress.
#JUD257 When such a record is made in one of the states, and a copy of it duly proved and given, must that record be received as proof by all the other States? Yes, but Congress may determine by law in what manner the record shall be proved for that purpose.
#JUD258 When a citizen of one state travels to any other state of the Union, may he be treated as if he were a foreigner? That is, may any difference be made between his privileges and those of the citizens of that state? No. He shall enjoy every privilege enjoyed by the citizens of that state.

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