What is a court?

Court, also called court of law, a person or body of persons having

judicial authority to hear and resolve disputes in civil, criminal, ecclesiastical, or
military cases. The word court, which originally meant simply an enclosed place, also
denotes the chamber, hall, building, or other place where judicial proceedings are
held.
This article deals with the operations of the judicial branch of government. It
explores some of the fundamental relationships of this branch with legislative
and executive branches and analyzes the functions, structure and organization, and
key personnel of courts, the judges. It also compares the systems of the two
predominant legal traditions of the contemporary world: common law, represented
by England, the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries deriving their
legal systems from the English model; and civil law, as represented by countries of
western Europe and Latin America and certain Asian and African countries that have
modeled their legal systems on western European patterns.

Functions of courts

Keeping the peace

The primary function of any court system—to help keep domestic peace—is so
obvious that it is rarely considered or mentioned. If there were no institution that
was accepted by the citizens of a society as an impartial and authoritative judge of
whether a person had committed a crime and, if so, what type of punishment should
be meted out, vigilantes offended by the person’s conduct might well take the law
into their own hands and proceed to punish the alleged miscreant according to their
uncontrolled discretion. If no agency were empowered to decide private disputes
impartially and authoritatively, people would have to settle their disputes by
themselves, with power rather than legitimate authority likely being the basis of
such decisions. Such a system might easily degenerate into anarchy. Not even a
primitive society could survive under such conditions. Thus, in this most basic sense,
courts constitute an essential element of society’s machinery for keeping peace.

Court structure and organization

Types of courts

There are many different types of courts and many ways to classify and describe
them. Basic distinctions must be made between criminal and civil courts, between
courts of general jurisdiction and those of limited jurisdiction, and between
appellate and trial courts. There are also constitutional, federal, and transnational
courts.

Criminal courts

Criminal courts deal with persons accused of committing a crime, deciding whether
they are guilty and, if so, determining the consequences they shall suffer. The
prosecution of alleged offenders is generally pursued in the name of the public
(e.g., The People v. …), because crimes are considered offenses not just against
individual victims but also against society at large. The public is represented by an
official such as a district attorney (often called a prosecutor), procurator,
or police officer. Although courts are also agencies of the state, they are neutral in
criminal proceedings, favoring neither the prosecution nor the defense. The
impartiality of the court is strongly reinforced where juries are used to decide the
guilt or innocence of the defendant.
The role of the criminal court in civil-law systems is quite different from its role in
common-law ones. Civil-law countries assign a more active role to the judge and a
more passive role to counsel. Instead of being passive recipients of evidence
produced by the prosecution and the defense, judges in civil-law systems often
direct the presentation of evidence and even order that certain evidence be
produced. Thus, procedure in civil-law systems is considered inquisitorial. Judges in
this system have an independent responsibility to discover the facts. In the common-
law courts, adversary procedures tend to prevail; the lawyers for both sides bear
primary responsibility for producing evidence and do most of the questioning of
witnesses. Advocates of the adversarial system hold that a just outcome is most
likely to result when all possible relevant information—good (tending to exonerate)
and bad (tending to incriminate)—is placed before an impartial adjudicator (the
judge or the jury). Self-interest motivates both the defense and the prosecution to
provide all possible evidence relevant to its side of the case. Where the jury system
is used, the jury is supposed to constitute an unbiased sample of ordinary people
predisposed to favoring neither the defense nor the prosecution, and the judge
serves as a “legal referee” who ensures that proper legal procedures are followed
(e.g., barring the introduction of illegally obtained evidence, such as coerced
confessions, or other information deemed inadmissible). The adversarial system, and
its associated conception of justice, is a pillar of the common-law tradition, as
evidenced in the U.S., British, and Canadian systems of criminal justice.
If a defendant is found guilty, he is sentenced, again according to law and within
limits predetermined by legislation. The objective of most punishment is not so
much to wreak vengeance upon the offender as to rehabilitate him and to deter
others from committing similar acts. Hence, the most common sentences are fines,
short terms of imprisonment, and probation (which allows the offender freedom
under state supervision). In extremely serious cases, the goal may be to prevent the
offender from committing further crimes, which may call for a long term of
imprisonment (e.g., life in prison without the possibility of parole) or even capital
punishment. During the last third of the 20th century, however, the death penalty
began to disappear from many criminal codes throughout the world; nonetheless, it
remains in effect and is imposed widely in several countries, including the United
States, Iran, and China.
Civil courts

Civil courts (not to be confused with the civil-law legal system) deal with “private”
controversies, particularly disputes that arise between individuals or between
private businesses or institutions (e.g., a disagreement over the terms of
a contract or over who shall bear responsibility for an automobile accident). The
public is not ordinarily a party to the litigation (as it is in criminal proceedings), for its
interest is limited to providing just and acceptable rules for making decisions and a
forum where the dispute can be impartially and peacefully resolved. These factors
are important because the use of the civil courts is voluntary.
The government may be involved in civil litigation if it stands in the same relation to
a private party as another individual might stand. If a government postal truck hits a
pedestrian, for example, the government might be sued civilly by the injured person;
or if the government contracted to purchase supplies that turned out to be
defective, it might sue the dealer for damages in a civil court. In such proceedings,
however, the government acts as a private party.
The objective of a civil action is not explicitly punishment or correction of the
defendant or the setting of an example to others but rather restoration of the parties
so far as possible to the positions they would have occupied had no legal wrong
been committed. The most common civil remedy is a judgment
for monetary damages, but there are others, such as an injunction ordering the
defendant to do—or to refrain from doing—a certain act or a judgment restoring
property to its rightful owner. For example, a celebrity might obtain an injunction
against an alleged “stalker” requiring that the person not come within a certain
distance of the celebrity at any time.
Civil claims do not ordinarily arise out of criminal acts. A person who breaks his
contract with another or who causes him a physical injury through negligence may
have committed no crime (i.e., no offense against the public has been committed)
but only a civil wrong for which he may not be prosecuted criminally by the public.
There are, however, areas of overlap, for a single incident may give rise to both civil
liability and criminal prosecution. In some countries (e.g., France), both types of
responsibility can be determined in a single proceeding under a concept known as
adhesion, by which the injured party is allowed to assert his civil claim in the criminal
prosecution, agreeing to abide by its outcome. This removes the necessity of two
separate trials. In common-law countries, there is no such procedure (even though
civil and criminal jurisdiction may be merged in a single court). Two separate actions
must be brought independent of each other. For example, in the United States in the
mid-1990s, former football star O.J. Simpson was tried in a California criminal court
on a charge of having murdered his ex-wife and her friend; although he was
acquitted in that litigation (in which a guilty verdict required proof “beyond a
reasonable doubt”), in a subsequent civil suit (in which a guilty verdict required proof
by a “preponderance of the evidence”), he was found liable and was ordered to pay
restitution to the families of the victims. In the United States, such collateral civil
lawsuits have become attractive to victims of alleged crimes, particularly because the
standard of proof in civil courts is dramatically lower than it is in criminal courts.
 Architectural programs of Court

Courthouses are used by a variety of people: judges, attorneys, witnesses, victims,

prisoners, clerks, other employees, outside social agencies, the press, and the
general public. Each functional space has unique requirements that must be
addressed during the planning stages of a courthouse construction or renovation
project.

Major proms of a court includes:

 Attorney Lounge
 Building Management and Support
 Clerk's Office
 Court Administration
 Courtrooms
 General Court Support
 Judges' Chambers
 Litigant Pro Se Support
 Lobby
 Prisoner Handling and Circulation
 Probation, Parole, Pretrial and Community Services
 Prosecuting Attorney's Office
 Public Defender's Office
 Secure Parking
 Victim-Witness Waiting Room

Functions of court programs

1.Attorney Lounge

In larger urban courthouses a lounge may be provided for use by attorneys while
waiting for trials to begin or during recesses. The area can be used for group
meetings, conferences with colleagues, making telephone calls, preparing for court,
and for reading or writing. The benefit of an attorney lounge is that attorneys are
more likely to remain in the courthouse between hearings or during recesses where
they are readily available when needed in court. It also deters attorneys from waiting
in clerical or other areas where they may interrupt the work of the court.

2. Building Management and Support

Larger courthouses require additional spaces dedicated to the operation and

maintenance of the building. Spaces required include a private office for building
administrative staff and support spaces such as storage and workrooms. Other
spaces will include general building storage rooms, janitorial closets, electrical rooms
and closets, telecommunications and computer equipment rooms, furniture and
equipment storage areas, a receiving area, trash and recycle areas, and spaces for
other similar functions. Other spaces and building functions include child care,
 elevators/escalators, first aid, lobby, mail room, public restrooms, and food service
or vending areas.

 Larger buildings will usually require an interior loading bay for the delivery of
equipment and supplies and the removal of trash and recycled materials.
 Parking space for service vehicles may be included as part of building support area.
This parking should be within the building security perimeter and may be part of the
interior loading bay.
 The service entry and service elevator should be conveniently located to the
receiving area/loading bay and accessible to the main court offices for the
movement of supplies and materials.
 All deliveries should be screened by security before being delivered to individual
offices.
 Ensure there is convenient access from the loading dock to the food service area, if
one is provided. The movement of food supplies, equipment or waste through
the public circulation system serving courtrooms and/or courtroom waiting areas is
not acceptable.
 The telephone/network equipment room and the computer server rooms are best
located adjacent to one another.

3. Clerk's Office

The clerk of court may be either elected or appointed. The clerk's office performs a
variety of functions that may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, especially in those
that have a separate court administrator.

Generally, however, there are six basic areas of responsibility:

 Care and custody of court records. The clerk's office is generally responsible for the
safety and security of all court records, documents, case files and other pleadings
filed in the office and for the storage and security of exhibits admitted into evidence.
 Calendaring and Scheduling of Cases. Most clerk's offices are responsible for
preparing court calendars, scheduling bench and jury trials, monitoring case
progress, and keeping minutes of courtroom activity.
 Jury selection and management. In some jurisdictions, the Clerk’s office is
responsible for assembling a qualified pool of jurors, subject to empanelment, and
assisting the court with voir dire.
 Judicial Functions. In some states the Clerk may be an ex-officio judge with
jurisdiction over the probate of wills and administration of decedents’ estates. The
clerk also may have jurisdiction to hear and decide special proceedings; including
adoptions, condemnations of private property according to imminent domain,
foreclosures, and procedures to administer estates of minors and incompetent
adults. The clerk can be empowered to issue subpoenas and orders to show cause,
administer oaths, issue arrest warrants, conduct initial appearances and fix
conditions of release in non-capital cases, and accept waivers of appearance and
pleas of guilty for certain misdemeanors and infractions. In some courts, the clerk
 may process small estates, handle small claims cases, and issue commitment orders.
Some or all of these function may also be performed by a court administrator or jury
commissioner.
 Statistical reporting. The clerk's office is generally responsible for producing and
distributing such information.
 Accounting and administrative functions.The clerk is generally responsible for the
collecting fees, fines, and support payments related to court activity, as well as for
paying jurors. The clerk is also responsible for managing and supervising non-judicial
staff, budgeting, and purchasing.

4. Court Administration

In many jurisdictions, a local court administration office provides administrative and

program support to the courts. This generally involves a variety of tasks, including
budget preparation, facilities and equipment management, data processing, supplies
and equipment purchases, statistical reporting, calendar management, case
management, and personnel administration. Court administration may also develop
and manage victim/witness programs, court reporters and recorders, alternative
dispute resolution (ADR) programs, and even law libraries.

5. Courtrooms

The courtroom is the focal point of courthouse activity and provides an impartial
setting for conducting most legal proceedings. The size and interior configuration of
each courtroom may be based on the specific requirements of the types of hearings
and trials to be held in that courtroom.

Appellate courtrooms: are used by a state's supreme court or court of appeals to

hear oral arguments or for ceremonial purposes, such as the swearing-in of new
attorneys. Because Appellate courts are generally used infrequently, have few
spectators and minimal public traffic, they have very different requirements than
Trial Courtrooms.

Trial courtrooms: are used for many different types of hearings, formal and informal,
including arraignments, preliminary or bond hearings, motion hearings, pretrial or
status hearings, docket or calendar calls, jury and non-jury trials, sentencing
hearings, and probation violation hearings. Additionally, specialized courtrooms may
be used for different types of cases such as criminal, civil, juvenile, etc.

6. General Court Support

There are a number of areas of the courthouse that are generally not essential to
everyday judicial operations but serve to improve the decorum, reduce congestion,
or assist litigants and others attending court. While some such as attorney-client
conference rooms should be present in any size courthouse, some such as an
attorney lounge may only be found in large urban courthouses.
  Public Waiting Areas
 Attorney-Client Conference Rooms
 Law Library
 Attorney Lounge
 Press Accommodations
 Law Enforcement Officers Workroom
 Audio-Video Control Room

7. Judge's Chambers

The group of private offices provided for the judge and his or her personal staff is
referred to as the judge's chambers or judicial suite. Personal staff may include a
judicial secretary, minute clerk or calendaring clerk, law clerk, court reporter, and
bailiff, depending upon the type and size of the court. The judges' chambers must
accommodate meetings and conferences with staff and attorneys, legal research and
study, preparation and review of case files, preparation of opinions, storage of case
files, informal hearings, reception and screening of visitors, telephone answering,
typing, and filing. Judges and judicial personnel may include justices, judges,
magistrates, commissioners, hearing officers, referees, judges pro team, visiting
judges, retired judges, or senior judges.

8. Lobby

The lobby serves as the main public entry into the courthouse.Functionally it must
accommodate large numbers of people and provide information that allows visitors
to find their destination in the building. In large, busy courthouses, a staffed
information desk should be located in a highly visible location near the main
entrance just inside the security perimeter. Interactive touch screen displays can
provide directional as well as other building or case information.

9. Prisoner Handling and Circulation

Every courthouse in which in-custody defendants appear in court should have

prisoner holding facilities.

Prisoners awaiting a hearing or trial, or who are in court to appear as witnesses,

should be kept apart from the public and staff persons. There should be a secure
holding facility within the courthouse in which to temporarily hold in-custody
defendants and witnesses while they wait the start of court or their hearing.

Common practice is to have a central holding area normally located in the basement
of the courthouse and adjacent to the vehicular sally port where in-custody
defendants can be processed and held before and after their court appearance. This
is generally supplemented with temporary court floor holding cells immediately
adjacent to each courtroom. In small courthouses with only one or two courtroom it
may not be necessary to have both the central holding and courtroom holding areas
depending upon the volume of in-custody defendants. The need for holding cells and
their capacity should be determined at the time of planning and be based upon
actual utilization.

Where prisoners must be transported from the jail or other detention center to the
courthouse by vehicle, there should be a sally port for the delivery of prisoners. In
communities where the jail is adjacent to the courthouse prisoners may be brought
to the courthouse by means of a secure walkway or tunnel.

10. Probation Parole Pretrial and Community Services

The primary goal of adult probation is to assist offenders with pretrial services and to
rehabilitate convicted individuals. Probation offices also prepare presenter reports
and recommend possible sentences to the court. The department may collect
restitution payments, place offenders in community service, conduct drug and
alcohol education and counseling programs, perform alcohol and drug screening,
and provide various levels of supervision from basic to more-intensive types, such as
house arrest and electronic monitoring.

Other community services might be included in the courthouse, such as indigent

screening, guardian ad litem, psychological testing, driving school, drug and alcohol
testing, domestic violence unit, and alternative dispute resolution programs.

11.Prosecuting Attorney's Office

The term prosecutor is one of several names used by states while prosecuting
criminal cases on behalf of the people. Other titles include district attorney, state's
attorney, and solicitor. In many jurisdictions, the prosecutor is not limited to criminal
matters and may make appearances in civil matters as well as paternity and child
support enforcement cases.

Because only a small portion of the work occurs in the courtroom, the Prosecutor
requires a great deal of flexibility and variety in the kinds of space needed. In
addition to the general office activities, attorneys need to be able to interview
witnesses and police officers, conduct legal research, maintain case files, conduct
investigations, prepare written reports and documents, and prepare for court
appearances. These activities require reception and waiting areas, interview rooms,
record storage areas, clerical offices, private attorney offices, conference rooms,
library, mail sorting and clerical workrooms, supply and equipment storage areas,
staff lounge, forensic services, and library.

12. Public Defender's Office

The advent of public defenders as a routine part of our criminal justice system is
fairly recent. Before the landmark decision of Gideon v. Wainwright(1963),
courthouse designers gave little consideration to the space needs of public
defenders. Today, the public defender system is well established as a part of the
justice system. Most of the work undertaken by the public defender is related to
 pretrial, trial, and per-sentencing. In general, space needs for the public defender's
office are similar to those of the prosecutor's office.

13. Secure Parking

Judges should be proved secure parking, preferably in an enclosed garage with direct
access to the court’s private circulation system. Ideally, judicial parking should be
located in an underground garage protected by a security gate with access controls.
If underground parking is not possible, then provide parking at grade level within a
secured compound. The gate should be monitored continually by CCTV from the
Building Security Control center. An intercom should be available to allow those who
use the parking area to communicate with staff in the Building Security Control
room.

Once inside the parking area, judges and officials should be able to reach their offices
by means of the private circulation system.

Regardless of the parking layout, the following are required to secure the parking
area:

1. Controlling access to and from secure parking.

2. Monitoring access at the Building Security Control center, including areas controlled
by access card or other electronic means of entry.
3. Preventing unauthorized vehicles from being below the courthouse at any time. The
control point for access to below-grade parking must be at, or prior to, the point
where a vehicle is at the perimeter line of the courthouse.
4. Providing direct access from the parking area to dedicated elevators and stairs with
access to private circulation and judicial chambers.
5. Ensuring parking stalls are barrier-free and conform to code and ADA requirements.

If secured parking is not feasible, provide unmarked reserved parking spaces located
as near as possible to a secure building entrance. Patrol the area frequently. Do not
use signage to identify who is parking in each space.

Prisoner transport vehicles should not use the same entrance as judicial and elected
officials.

14. Victim Witness Waiting Room

One of the most traumatic aspects of a trial for victims and witnesses is the
numerous and prolonged appearances necessary in many cases. These proceedings
normally require that all parties appear at the courthouse at the same time and
congregate in the same public areas. This often results in victims having to physically
associate with their alleged assailants and the defendant's family. The intermingling
of defendants and witnesses for prosecution always has the potential for
intimidation and conflict. The opportunity for a mistrial due to improper
communication is also increased. Most courthouses now provide space for victim-
witnesses to wait prior to testifying that is removed from the public areas of the
building. Special areas may also be provided for child victims-witnesses.

Victim-witness waiting rooms are distinct and different from witness waiting rooms
which are generally located adjacent to the courtrooms off the public corridor.

TYPES OF COURT

The Crown Court Until 1972 criminal trial by jury was carried out by the Assizes and
the Quarter Sessions. These courts had their origins in the medieval government of
the kingdom. Originally, the Assizes were held in great halls in royal castles, while
the Quarter Sessions were usually held in local town halls. Purpose-built courthouses
began to appear in the 17th century, but it was only in the second half of the 18th
century that they began to assume a distinctive plan. The increasing complexity of
the law, the higher status of the legal profession and rapidly growing urban
populations during the 19th century led to the Assize and Sessions courts becoming
larger and more complicated. In 1972 the creation of the Crown Court prompted a
wave of construction that transformed the building type. The Crown Court is a
national court which sits continuously in major towns and cities in England and
Wales. Practically all its work is concerned with cases committed for trial or sentence
from the Magistrates’ Courts, or appeals against their decisions.

County Courts

These came into existence to meet the need for the resolution of civil disputes in a
more accessible or cheaper forum than the High Court. In 1846, County Courts
replaced the previous ad hoc system of Courts of Request and Courts of Conscience
for dealing with small debts. County Courts deal with private disputes between
individuals and are quite separate from Magistrates’ Courts and Crown Courts. They
are now usually located in modern city-centre office buildings, frequently alongside
other government departments.

The Combined Court Centre

Since 1972 nearly 40 Combined Court Centres have been created to accommodate
both County Courts and Crown Courts. They contain accommodation for the Crown
Court and a smaller suite of rooms for the County Court. Both share a common
central entrance and main public spaces.

Magistrates‘ Courts
These are the people’s courts and their fundamental basis is justice delivered not by
professional judges or lawyers but by appointed representatives of the local
community. The Magistrates’ Court developed from The Petty Sessions, which were
developed to deal swiftly with minor criminal offences and were held when required
in the private houses of Justices of the Peace, in town halls and frequently in public
houses. By the mid-19th century, reforms led to a regular pattern of sittings. Town
halls continued to be the most common venue but purpose-built courthouses also
developed. Since 1949, when the name ‘Magistrates’ Court’ was adopted, they have
been independent of the police. Consequently, new buildings have been separate
from, though frequently adjacent to, a local police station.

Coroners’ Courts
These courts are specifically for the holding of inquests into the cause of death.
Inquest accommodation provided since 1965 has been in the form of court rooms in
other buildings.

The future
A current review examines the Crown Court and Magistrates’ Courts as a single
entity for the first time. The possibility of a single Criminal Justice system would be
made more efficient by introducing a single procedural code and unified information
technology. A combined Crown Court and Magistrates’ Courts system could share
court buildings. This would lead to the closure of many Magistrates’ Courts and
extensions to many Crown Courts. It would probably lead to the development of a
new type of court building housing all criminal and civil courts.

Site selection criteria

The location of the courthouse says a lot about the value society places upon the
building and the work that is done there. Many issues and criteria enter into the
equation:

 Availability of public transportation and parking

 Proximity of other governmental buildings
 Relationship to other civic and government buildings
 Impact on surrounding residential neighborhoods
 Prominence of the site in terms of image and identity
 Architectural compatibility with surrounding buildings
 Availability and cost of the site
 The site's potential for expansion
 Site amenities such as views, vistas, and landscaping potential
 Physical constraints such as topography, soil conditions, and utilities
 LDP approval
It is important that people living near a potential courthouse site be allowed to
participate in the decision to decrease the possibility of public confrontations later.
Selected Site