Judicial System 司法系统

1JudicialSystem司法系统BackgroundKnowledge背景知识美国法院系统的突出特点是“双轨制”，即由联邦法院和州法院这两个相互独立且平行的体系组成。联邦法院行使美国宪法授与联邦政府的司法管辖权。在刑事领域中，联邦法院负责审理那些违犯联邦法律的刑事案件；在民事领域中，联邦法院负责审理以合众国为一方、涉及“联邦性质的问题”，以及发生在不同州的公民之间且有管辖权争议等种类的民事案件。州法院的司法管辖权较为广泛。按照美国宪法的规定，凡是法律未明确授与联邦法院的司法管辖权，均属于州法院。在实践中，绝大多数刑事案件和大多数民事案件都是由各州法院审判的。联邦法院是一个统一的系统。它由联邦最高法院(theSupremeCourt)、13个联邦上诉法院(CourtsofAppeals)和94个联邦地区法院(DistrictCourts)组成。此外还有索赔法院(theCourtofClaims)、关税法院(theCustomsCourt)、关税及专利上诉法院(theCourtofCustomsandPatentAppeals)等联邦特别法院(SpecialCourts)。各州的法院系统并不完全相同，但一般也都包括三级法院：基层法院多称为审判法院(TrialCourt)或巡回法院(CircuitCourt)；中级法院多称为上诉法院(AppellateCourtorCourtofAppeals)；高级法院多称为最高法院(SupremeCourt)，但在纽约等州，高级法院称为上诉法院。许多州也有一些专门法院，如遗嘱检验法院(ProbateCourt)、青少年法院(JuvenileCourt)、家庭关系法院(CourtofDomesticRelations)和小额索赔法院(SmallClaimsCourt)等。此外，每个城市还有自己的法院，主要负责审理交通违法、青少年犯罪、家庭纠纷及其他与城市法令有关的案件。美国的联邦法官都是由总统任命的；各州的法官多经选举产生，但也有些是由地方行政长官(如州长或市长)或地方立法机关(如州议会或市议会)任命的。一般来说，联邦和州最高法院的法官称为大法官(Justice)，上诉法院和审判法院的法官则称为法官(Judge)。此外，有此基层法院的审判人员还称为治安法官(JusticeofthePeace)或司法官(Magistrate)。美国的法官虽没有职称级别之分，但人们有时也会看到“副”(Associate，或译“助理”)法官的称谓。例如，美国联邦最高法院的9名大法官中，除首席大法官(ChiefJustice)外，其他8人均可称为副(或助理)大法官(AssociateJustice)；而一些州审判法院的巡回法官(CircuitJudge)之下也设有副(或助理)法官(AssociateJudge)。在美国，一审案件一般由一名法官独立审判，上诉案件则由若干名法官组成合议庭(CollegiatePanelorCollegiateBench)共同审判。Text课文OverviewoftheJudicialSystemintheUnitedStatesPartOneCourtsTherearefifty-twoseparatecourtsystemsintheUnitedStates.Eachstate,aswellastheDistrictofColumbia,hasitsownfullydeveloped,independentsystemofcourtsandthereisaseparatefederalcourtsystem.Thefederalcourtsarenotsuperiortothestatecourts;theyareanindependent,coordinatesystemauthorizedbytheUnitedStatesConstitution,Art.Ⅲ,§2,tohandlemattersofparticularfederalinterest.Thepresenceoftwoparallelcourtsystemsoftenraisesquestionsconcerningtherelationshipofthestateandfederalsystems,presentingimportantissuesoffederalism.TheUnitedStatesSupremeCourt,composedofninejustices,sitsasthefinalandcontrollingvoiceoverallthesesystems.2Althoughafewstates,suchasNebraska,haveatwo-tieredsystem,moststates,aswellasthefederalcourts,arebasedonathree-tieredmodel.Thatmeansthatforanylitiganttherewillbetheopportunitytopleadhiscasebeforeatrialcourtandthen,shouldhelose,therearetwolevelsofappealatwhichheultimatelymaysucceed.Forexample,inthefederalsystemthetrialcourtistheUnitedStatesDistrictCourt,ofwhichthereisatleastoneineverystate.Manylargerstatesaredividedintotwo,threeorevenfourjudicialdistricts,dependingonpopulation,geographyandcaseload.Thereareninety-fourdistrictsintheUnitedStatesandeachdistrictcourthasonejudge,ormorecommonlytwoormore.Afteranadversejudgmentinthedistrictcourt,alitigantmayappealtotheUnitedStatesCourtofAppealsforthecircuitinwhichthedistrictcourtislocated.Thereareelevennumberedintermediateappellatecourtsinthefederalsystem,eachincludinganywherefromthreetotenstatesandterritories.Additionally,thereisaCourtofAppealsfortheDistrictofColumbia,hearingappealsfromthefederaldistrictcourtthere,andonefortheFederalCircuit,takingappealsfromvariousspecializedfederaltribunals,suchastheClaimsCourt.Eachcourtofappealshasfourormorejudgeswhositinpanelsofthreetoreviewdistrictcourtdecisions,aswellassomedecisionsofadministrativeagencies.Alosinglitigantinthecourtofappealsmay,insomecases,beabletoobtainreviewbytheUnitedStatesSupremeCourt.Casesinthestatecourtssimilarlymayproceedthroughatrialcourt,astateappellatecourt,andthenthestatesupremecourt.IfafederalconstitutionalquestionisinvolvedthedecisionofthestatesupremecourtmaybereviewedbytheUnitedStatesSupremeCourt.Since1988,reviewbytheSupremeCourtincivilcasesisdiscretionary;virtuallyallcivilappealsasofrighttothehighestcourthavebeenabolished.Three-tieredsystemsvaryontherolewhichthehighestcourtplays.Theapproachestakenreflectdifferingphilosophieswithregardtowhatthehighestcourtshoulddo.Forexample,inCaliforniaonlycriminalcasesinwhichcapitalpunishmenthasbeenimposedareappealableasofrighttothestatesupremecourt.Similarly,inthefederalcourts,exceptinafewverylimitedcircumstances,appealstotheUnitedStatesSupremeCourtarediscretionary,bywritofcertiorari.TheCourtdecidesforitselfwhatarethemostimportantquestionsthatdeserveitsattentionandwillrefusetoreviewdecisionsraisingissuesthatitfeelsarenotascrucial.Inthiswayitsupervisestheadministrationoflawbythelowercourtsonanadhocbasis.Attheotherendofthespectrum,suchasinNewYork,appealstothestate’shighestcourtareasofrightinagreatmanycasesprovidedforbystatute.TheprimaryfunctionofthehighestcourtinNewYorkappearstobetoassurethatcasesarecorrectlydecided.Itisnecessarytocheckcarefullythestatutesofthesysteminwhichyouareappearingtodeterminethespecificrulesregardingreviewbythoseappellatecourts.PartTwo：JudgesFewerthanoneintwentyofthoseadmittedtopracticelawisafederal,state,county,ormunicipalcourtjudge.Exceptforsomeinferiorcourts,judgesaregenerallyrequiredtobeadmittedtopracticebutdonotpracticewhileonthebench.Thereissolittleuniformitythatitisdifficulttogeneralizefurtherthantopointoutthreesalientcharacteristicsthatrelatetotheranksfromwhichjudgesaredrawn,tothemethodoftheirselection,andtotheirtenure.Judgesaredrawnfromthep