to another.  Such would be a dispute over a boundary line between the properties of two individuals, or over the payment of a debt; or a personal injury due to the carelessness of some one, or an injury to property or to health through maintaining a nuisance of some kind.  In such cases the court, after ascertaining the facts, merely sees that justice is done, as by the payment of damages to the injured party by the one doing the injury.  A criminal case is one in which a person is charged with having violated a law of the community.  The injury is one against the community as a whole, and not merely against an individual.  It is the community that appears in court against the accused person, and not merely one of his neighbors.  In such cases the court first ascertains the guilt or innocence of the accused person; and if he is guilty, imposes a punishment upon him, such as a fine, or imprisonment, or even death, according to the nature of the crime.

The judicial branch of government, then, is that part of the governmental organization that seeks to adjust, by peaceful and just means, the inevitable conflicts that arise in community life.

JUSTICES’ COURTS

The lowest in the series of state courts are the justices’ courts, of which there is at least one in every township.  They are presided over by justices of the peace.  Only cases of small moment come before justices’ courts:  civil cases involving very small amounts, and cases of minor infractions of the law punishable by small fines or by short terms in jail.  Persons accused of more serious crimes may have a preliminary examination in a justice’s court and, if the evidence warrants it, be committed to jail to await the action of the grand jury (see below).  Most cases in a justice’s court are disposed of by the justice of the peace alone; but a jury trial may be demanded in all criminal cases, and in civil suits “where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars” (Const., Amendments vi, VII).

COUNTY COURTS

More serious cases, civil or criminal, are tried in the county, or district, courts before a judge and a jury.  Cases that have been tried in a justice’s court may be appealed to the county or district court, where there is sure to be a jury trial, and where the judge is more learned in the law than is a justice of the peace.  It is the business of the jury to decide on the facts in the case on the evidence furnished in the trial, and in civil cases to award the amount of damages, if any, to be paid; while the judge sees that the procedure is in accordance with the law, instructs the jury as to the law in the case, and in criminal cases fixes the penalty within the limits permitted by the law.

THE COMMUNITY IN COURT