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Atrial court orcourt of first instance is a court havingoriginal jurisdiction, in which trials take place.Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually heard by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). Most appellate courts do not have the authority to hear testimony or take evidence, but instead rule solely on matters of law.[1]
In the trial court,evidence andtestimony are admitted under therules of evidence established by applicableprocedural law and determinations calledfindings of fact are made based on the evidence. The court, presided over by one or more judges, makesfindings of law based upon the applicable law. In mostcommon law jurisdictions, the trial court often sits with a jury and one judge; in suchjury trials, the jury acts astrier of fact. In some cases, the judge or judges act as triers of both fact and law, by either statute, custom, or agreement of the parties; this is referred to as abench trial.
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In the United States, a trial court ofgeneral jurisdiction is authorized to hear some type ofcivil orcriminal case that is not committed exclusively to another court. TheUnited States district courts are the trial courts of general jurisdiction of thefederal judiciary; each state has a system establishing trial courts of general jurisdiction, such as thecircuit courts in Florida, thesuperior courts in California, and theNew York Supreme Court in New York state. Most trial courts arecourts of record, where the record of the presentation of evidence is created and must be maintained or transmitted to the appellate court. The record of the trial court is certified by theclerk of the trial court and transmitted to the appellate body.
Not all cases are heard in trial courts of general jurisdiction. A trial court oflimited jurisdiction is authorized to hear only specified types of cases. Trial courts of limited jurisdiction may be limited insubject-matter jurisdiction (such asjuvenile,probate, andfamily courts in many U.S. states, or theUnited States Tax Court in the federal judiciary) or by other means, such assmall claims courts in many states for civil cases with a lowamount in controversy. Other trials do not take place in courts at all, but inquasi-judicial bodies or inadministrative agencies withadjudicatory power created by statute to make binding determinations with simplified procedural practices, such asarbitration. The United States Supreme Court is primarily an appellate court,but has original jurisdiction in cases involving a diplomatic official or a state.
Because different U.S. states apply different names to their courts, it is often not evident whether a court has general or limitedjurisdiction or indeed is a trial court at all. For instance, the Maine District Court is a court of limited jurisdiction, but theNevada District Courts are courts of general jurisdiction. Likewise, theDelaware Court of Common Pleas is a court of limited jurisdiction, but thePennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas are courts of general jurisdiction. Similarly, theCalifornia Superior Courts are trial courts of general jurisdiction, but theSuperior Court of Pennsylvania is an appellate court, and theNew Jersey Superior Court is both.
