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November 7, 2000 | ||||||||||
Arkansas Constitutional Amendment 80 | ||||||||||
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 County results
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Arkansas Constitutional Amendment 80 (known asReferred Amendment 3 prior to passage) amended theConstitution of Arkansas to comprehensively change thejudiciary of Arkansas by essentially replacing Article VII of theConstitution of Arkansas. The amendment was referred by theArkansas General Assembly (legislative referral) to voters, and was approved during the November 7, 2000 election.
The judicial department of Arkansas state government was created by the1836 Constitution of Arkansas during statehood. The initial constitution created theArkansas Supreme Court, which had three judges, elected by the Arkansas General Assembly, and vested remaining judicial power in circuit courts (courts of record), in county courts (paternity and estate), and in justices of the peace (inferior courts). Matters of law or equity jurisdiction were both heard by the circuit judge, "sitting either in chancery or equity".
In the1861 Constitution of Arkansas, corporation courts (municipal court) and probate courts were created, and the General Assembly was allowed to create separate courts of chancery. However, chancery courts were only created piecemeal as needed, with circuit courts retaining dual law/equity jurisdiction until a chancery court was established. This system remained unchanged but was codified by the1874 Constitution of Arkansas (the current Constitution) in Article VII.
In 1903, Arkansas created a statewide system of chancery courts. A juvenile court system was created in 1911, but found unconstitutional and abolished in 1987 and merged into chancery court. Amendment 58, approved by the voters in 1978, created the Arkansas Court of Appeals to assist with the Supreme Court's appellate caseload.
Several efforts to reform this unwieldly court system had failed to earn voter approval, including the failed proposed Arkansas Constitutions of 1970 and 1980, an amendment that failed to earn legislative referral 1991, and a failed call for a constitutional convention in 1995.
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | For | Against | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mason-Dixon[4] | October 2000 | 22% | 24% | 54% | ||
| Mason-Dixon[6] | November 2000 | 625 | 4% | 31% | 26% | 43% |
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 Yes | 431,137 | 57.12 |
| No | 323,647 | 42.88 |
| Total votes | 754784 | 100.00 |
The amendment:
