Municipal court is a lower level local court of limited or special jurisdiction (authority). As such a court, a municipal court is charged with administering the laws of a particular municipality (city or town). Its jurisdiction differs from state to state. In some states, municipal courts decide a variety of criminal and civil cases (see Law (Branches of law) . In other states, lower level courts with various names specialize in only one type of case. Generally, the cases a municipal or other lower level court decides are of a less serious nature than those decided by higher level courts. Municipal or other lower level courts may decide such cases as theft or shoplifting, simple assaults, parking or speeding violations, building code violations, landlord/tenant claims, small claims, trespassing violations, or pet licensing issues. They do not, however, handle felony cases.
In the United States, each state establishes a structure for its courts system, and not all state systems are alike. However, all states have multiple levels of courts where citizens can sue or be sued for violations of civil or criminal state law. Generally, courts can be categorized as either a trial court or an appellate court ( court of appeals ). Appellate courts review cases decided by trial courts if the losing side questions the ruling of the lower court on a matter of law. In each state, either the municipality or the state legislature has the authority to create a court that only decides cases that violate the ordinances (or laws) of the city. These courts are called municipal courts. Ordinances can forbid actions within the city limits that are also forbidden under state law and can be either civil or criminal in nature. Besides municipal courts, lower level courts may include county courts, juvenile courts , magistrate’s courts, police courts, probate courts, small-claims courts , or traffic courts, as well as justices of the peace . Magistrate’s courts handle less serious cases such as minor assaults, petty theft, and public nuisance issues. Probate courts handle wills and disputes over inheritances. Small-claims courts try cases that involve small amounts of money.
In most states, any trial that takes place in municipal court generally can only be a bench trial. A bench trial is one in which the judge makes the decision. The trial proceeding usually is not recorded by a court reporter in a municipal court. The city is represented by the city prosecutor who tries the cases that go to trial and makes plea bargaining agreements with other defendants. Plea bargaining is a practice in which the defendant in a criminal case agrees to plead guilty instead of going to trial.
Municipal judges have the power to sentence people to jail or to fine them substantial amounts of money for violating the ordinances of the city. However, people who are brought before the court for violating an ordinance generally do not hire a lawyer to represent them, especially since the highest fine that they could receive most often would be less than the cost of a private attorney. If a case from municipal court is appealed, a new trial generally takes place in the lowest trial court of the state court system.
