Municipal Courts Law and Legal Definition
Municipal courts refer to courts whose jurisdiction is limited to a specific municipality, county, community, or city. Most commonly, municipal courts only deal with the laws and citizens of one city or town. Municipal courts preside over cases and offenses that take place within their jurisdiction. They usually try criminal misdemeanors and civil lawsuits involving lesser amounts of money than superior courts. Traffic tickets, leash laws, building code violations, and death often involve municipal courts.
In Ex parte Gownlock, 13 Okla. Crim. 293 (Okla. Crim. App. 1917), the court held that, municipal courts include all the courts of the State of Oklahoma, organized and existing in the various towns and cities thereof which shall have and possess, under the laws of the state, original jurisdiction to hear and determine offenses against the ordinances of municipalities.
Legal Definition list
Related Legal Terms
- Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
- Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO)
- American Municipal Bond Assurance Corporation
- Article I Courts
- Article III Courts
- Assize Courts
- Consular Courts
- Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA)
- Governing Body of The Municipality or County
- Legislative Courts
