Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The courts of common pleas are the trial courts of general jurisdiction in the state. The name derives from the medieval English court of Common Pleas. Pennsylvania established them in 1722. [1] They hear civil cases with a significant amount in controversy and trials for serious crimes.
Judges of the courts of common pleas are elected to 10-year terms. Philadelphia Municipal Court judges must be lawyers. Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas may serve as part-time senior judges upon retirement. The compensation of senior judges is $545 per day. [15]
A citizen's right to a trial by jury is a central feature of the United States Constitution. [1] It is considered a fundamental principle of the American legal system. Laws and regulations governing jury selection and conviction/acquittal requirements vary from state to state (and are not available in courts of American Samoa), but the fundamental right itself is mentioned five times in the ...
Criminal trials in the High Court are by jury. The juries are generally made of seven members, who can return a verdict based on a majority of five. [43] There are no jury trials in the District Court, which can impose a sentence of up to seven years' imprisonment. This is despite the fact that all court rooms in the District Court have jury boxes.
The right to a speedy trial is enshrined in the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. If light of that, why do criminal cases sometimes take years to go to trial?
Jury duty or jury service is a service as a juror in a legal proceeding.Different countries have different approaches to juries: [1] variations include the kinds of cases tried before a jury, how many jurors hear a trial, and whether the lay person is involved in a single trial or holds a paid job similar to a judge, but without legal training.
The Court's jurisdiction includes nine counties in eastern Pennsylvania: Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and Philadelphia counties. The district is a part of the Third Circuit , and appeals are taken to that Circuit, except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act ...
A number of countries that are not in the English common law tradition have quasi-juries on which lay judges or jurors and professional judges deliberate together regarding criminal cases. However, the common law trial jury is the most common type of jury system. [1] [2] In civil cases many trials require fewer than twelve jurors. Juries are ...