United States & German Court System



United States & German Court System

United States Court System

The American Court system is based on the English Common Law system. The basic idea is that there are two sides, the plaintiff and the defendant, who present their arguments before an impartial judge (and sometimes a jury). In a criminal case, the prosecutor acts as a plaintiff on behalf of the citizens or state.

It is the judge's duty to determine what the law is in relation to the particular case at hand. It is the jury's duty, in a jury trial (or also the judge's, in trials without a jury - a bench trial) to determine what the facts are in the case. The lawyers in the case are charged with representing their respective clients to the very best of their ability. The outcome (or at least the goal) of this process is justice.

In the United States, there are more than 51 different interpretations of this basic model. Each of the 50 states has its own rules and procedures. The federal courts also have their own rules, which are occasionally interpreted differently in different parts of the country. However, for the most part, they are all very similar.

The system is generally a three-tiered one. A case is typically brought at the lowest level or court, usually a "District" or "Trial" court. Once this case is heard and a decision, or "judgment" has been made, both the defendant and the plaintiff have the opportunity to appeal the decision to an "Appellate Court" or "Court of Appeals." In other words, if they do not like what the judge and/or jury decided, they can complain to the next higher level in the court system, and try to get the decision reversed. However they can only appeal if they believe the judge made a legal error, not just because they are disappointed in the outcome(Hanes 2005).

At the Appellate Court level, there is usually a panel of three judges who hear arguments on either side. Judges at the Appellate Court can usually only decide matters of law. In general, all of the facts in the trial record are assumed to be true. The Appellate Court has three options: it can decide that the judge was wrong and change the judgment, it can decide the judge was wrong and send the case back for the judge to change (also called a "remand"), or it can agree with or "affirm" the judgment of the lower court.

Again, if either party to the case does not like the decision (again there must be a legal error in the lower proceedings), they can appeal to the highest court, usually called the Supreme Court and usually composed of nine justices. All 50 states and the federal courts have some version of a Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decides issues in the same manner as the Appellate Court. However, there is no court higher than the Supreme Court to which to ...