Puerto Rico Court Structure - Essay Example

Puerto Rico Court Structure Puerto Ricans recently chose hood and the US congress ratified Puerto Rico making it the 52nd State of the United States of America. This paper discusses a proposed design of the New Puerto Rico Judicial system based on the recent ratification. In choosing the set up of the Puerto Rico’s new State Court system, this paper borrows from the court hierarchy concepts from the States of South Carolina, Tennessee and the State of Florida. The paper gives the proposal for creating the new Circuit Courts, Municipal Courts, family courts, Courts of Appeal and the highest court in the State which is the Supreme Court. In addition, the paper gives a summary of the geographical structure of the proposed court system, processes of choosing judges and the structure and enforcement of judicial and attorney ethical standard in the new State of Puerto Rico Introduction The State of Puerto Rico consists of the Main Island and smaller island like Vieques, Culebra, Desecheo, and Mona (Puerto Rico 2007).Of the five Islands only four are inhabited throughout the year. Mona is not always inhabited and it is mostly occupied by the National Environmental Reserves Agency (Puerto Rico, 2007). This means that it is only the Main Island, Vieques, Desecheo and Culebra that are inhabited all year round. Other smaller Islands like Coja de Mirtois are also part of the State of Puerto Rico. The Headquarter of the State of Puerto Rico is San Juan. The state of Puerto Rico has an area of about 9,104 inclusive of its waters. According to Kurtzleben, the new state has a population of 3.667 m people (2013). Current Judicial System, in Puerto Rico Before designing the new court system for the New State of Puerto Rico, it is important to understate the state’s current judicial system and structure. The current judicial structure of the State of Puerto Rico is not very different from the structure of many of the current states of the United States of America (Puerto Rico, 2007). Currently, Puerto Rico is made up of 8 senatorial Districts. The Senatorial Districts are further divided into 40 representative Districts. The State has a total of 78 Municipalities (Sanchez, 2013).The Judicial system in Puerto Rico is comprised of the Supreme Court followed by the Court of Appeals. Below the Appeal Court is the District Courts .The lowest court in the current structure is the Municipal Courts. The new State has 12 judicial Districts and 78 Municipal divisions. At the top of the current Puerto Rican judicial hierarchy is the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is led by seven justices that are appointed by the Governor of the state. After the Supreme Court there is the Court of Appeals. Currently, 39 judges sit in the court of Appeals. Next are the District courts. There are twelve District Courts in Puerto Rico, one in each of the 12 judicial districts. After the District courts are the Municipal Courts with each of the 78 municipalities having at least one (Sanchez, 2013) Proposed Judicial Divisions Puerto Rico currently has 78 municipalities. This proposed judicial system however is going to divide the State of Puerto Rico into 20 Municipals. This is based on the proposal that was put forward by the Puerto Rico Representative Erick Rivera Conera (Magaly, 2014).The State of Puerto Rico will therefore have 20 Judicial Municipalities in the judicial structure. The structure will also have four Judicial Circuits. Each judicial circuit will be made up of five municipalities. The Court System The proposed design for the new judicial system is discussed starting from the highest court moving down to the lowest court. The Supreme Court The proposed Supreme Court is modeled and structured after the judicial structure of the State of Florida. The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico is the highest court in the state. It will be based in San Juan. The Supreme Court will have a total of seven judges. Out of the seven judges of the Supreme Court, five must participate in the reviewing of a case. In this court, four votes will be required for a decision to be made by the court on a case. The supreme court of Puerto Rico will be headed by the Chief Justice. One out of the seven judges will be elected by means of a majority votes to act as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The position will however be rotating after every two years. This means that the Chief Justice serves for two years and then his or her term expires and another judge is elected to serve as the next Chief Justice. In the absence of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a senior judge will occupy the position in an acting capacity (Florida, n.d.). Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court He States Constitution identifies the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will be mandated with reviewing of the Circuit Court decisions that declare State statutes or any other part or section of the State constitution invalid. Majority of decisions that will be reviewed by this court will be from the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico can at its discretion review decisions made by the Court of Appeals, the Circuit Courts, Municipal courts or Family Courts. The proposed supreme court of Puerto Rico will have constitutional authority “issue the extraordinary writs of prohibition, quo warranto, and to issue all other writs necessary to the complete exercise of its jurisdiction” (Florida, n.d.).The Court will also advice on the constitutional duties of the Governor as well as elaborate on the powers of the Governor if he or she requests. In addition, this court will have the full responsibility of promulgation the practices and procedure rules for the lower courts of the State (Florida, n.d) Courts of Appeal The proposed Court of Appeals is modeled using ideas from the State of Tennessee and the State of Oregon. The new state of Puerto Rico will therefore have two Courts of Appeals. The Courts of Appeal will be the second highest courts in the judicial hierarchy of the State. The two Courts of Appeals shall be the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Court of Civil Appeals (Tennessee State Courts, n.d). The Court of Criminal Appeal The Court of Criminal Appeals shall deal with cases touching criminal laws. They shall deal with cases on laws that define the rights and duties of a person to preserve peace and safety in the society. The court of civil Appeal This court shall deal with matter related to civil laws. The Court of Civil Appeal deals with statutes and case laws that define individuals and organization’s private rights in relationships and disputes that involve property, personal injury, contacts, tax, and government rule and regulations. The Court of Criminal Appeal shall rely on court made laws know as common laws in its decisions (Oregon Judicial Department, n.d) Jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals The two appellate courts will have jurisdiction over the entire state of Puerto Rico. They have the constitutional authority to “issue the extraordinary writs of certiorari ,quo warranto, as well as all other writs necessary to the complete exercise of their jurisdiction” (Tennessee State Courts, n.d).The Court of Appeal is constitutionally powered to review all actions of all Government agencies that are under the Executive arm of the State Government. All the reviews by the appeal courts are final but litigants are constitutionally allowed to seek review from the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court is under no obligation to accept the review request from the litigant (Tennessee State Courts, n.d) Court of Appeal Hearings In both the Court of Criminal Appeal and the Court of Civil Appeal, the hearings do not include witnesses, testimonies or juries .The Attorney are to present written or oral arguments to the presiding judges instead. The hearing is done by a three judge bench who reviews the oral or written submissions from the attorney and gives direction or judgment on the matter. Court of Appeal Judges To qualify as a judge of the Court of Appeal, one must be an attorney and must have been a member of the Puerto Rico Bar for duration not less than five years. The person must be a resident of the State of Puerto Rico .The maximum age for an Appeal Court Judge is 70 years (Tennessee State Courts, n.d). The appointment of the Court of Appeal judges is done through legislative election and the judges serve for a term of six years. After this duration, the judges are eligible to retention through another legislative election. The process of Legislative Election Upcoming vacancies for judgeship in the Court of Appeal are advertised by the Puerto Rico Judicial Council. Those seeking to be judges in the Courts of Appeal must file with the council within the stated time frame. The council performs investigations on the applicant’s background, conduct the interviews and administer examination on court procedures and processes. The commission then gives a summary of the qualifications of the applicants and select three candidates for each of the vacancies. The names of the selected candidates are then forwarded to the legislature for election (Oregon Judicial Department, n.d) Circuit Courts The modeling of the Circuit Courts is done based on the structure of the State of Florida’s judicial system. The Circuit Court is the highest trial courts in the state of Puerto Rico. The geographical jurisdiction will be divided in a way such that one Circuit Court will be serving five municipalities. The five municipalities will make up a circuit. The Circuit Courts will deal with both criminal and civil cases that the Municipal Courts do not have jurisdiction over. All the trials except appeals, are done by jury with one presiding judge (Florida, n.d).In addition to carrying out trials, the Circuit Courts shall also listen to appeals from the Municipal Courts. In appeals, a panel of three judges will preside over the sitting or case. The court hears all civil disputes involving more than $15000.The court also preside over cases involving contracts, torts, tax disputes and mental health. The Circuits Courts also have jurisdiction over felony cases and can as well give extraordinary writs of certiorari as deemed necessary by the court (Florida, n.d). Circuit Court Judges Just like the Appeal Court, to qualify to be a judge in the Circuit Court, one must be an attorney who has been a member of the Puerto Rico Bar for duration not less than five years. The applicant must also be a resident of the circuit where he is applying to be a judge. Election procedure for Circuit Court Judges The vacancy for the position of judge in the Circuit Courts is announced and advertised by the Puerto Rico Judicial Council .The election of the judges for the courts is done by a process of judicial selection that is by merit and non partisan. There are two ways by which a candidate can appear on the ballot. The first ways is through paying a fee determined by the Judicial Council of Puerto Rico. The second option is by submitting a petition that is signed by at least one percent of the voters in the circuit asking for that particular candidate to be allowed on the ballot. The winner of the election is the candidate with the majority votes. The election of judges for the Circuit Courts will be done after every six years with no term limits for the candidates. When one is seeking a reelection, he or she must follow the criteria or procedure that is done during the initial term elections. The Circuit Court judges shall elect one sitting judge to be the chief judge tasked with oversight of all the administrative functions and activities of the courts. The Family Court The Family Court is modeled around the court structure in the State of Northern Carolina. In the proposed structure, the Family Courts will serve alongside the Circuit Courts. They have the same jurisdiction geographically as the Circuit Courts. This means that a Family Court will serve five municipalities. These courts will have jurisdiction over matters do with domestic relations as well as juvenile issues. The domestic cases to be heard in these courts include divorce, marriage, child custody, separation, marital property, child support and adoption among other domestic issues. The courts will have jurisdiction over cases that are considered criminal but are committed by a juvenile. Serious criminal offences will however be transferred to the Circuit Courts (North Carolina Court System, n.d). Family Court judges The vacancy for the position of Family Court judge will be announced by the Puerto Rica Judicial Council. For one to qualify to be a judge of the Family Court, he or she must be an attorney who has been a member of the Puerto Rico Bar for duration of not less than five years. The selection criteria, length of term, reelection process and maximum age is similar to those of the Circuit Courts. Municipal Courts These are the lowest courts of the Puerto Rico Judicial Structure. There will be 20 municipal courts, one in each of the proposed twenty municipalities. The jurisdictions of these Municipal Courts will include but not limited to hearing cases such as contracts, small claims, torts and monetary disputes that do not exceed $15000. On matters to do with ordinances that are same as state laws, the Municipal Courts shall not be granted jurisdiction over such cases. In such instances the primary jurisdiction will be given to the Circuit Courts .The hearing in the Municipal Courts will be non jury with one judge presiding over a hearing (Florida, n.d ) Municipal Court Judges Similar to the other courts in the Puerto Rico judicial hierarchy, for one to qualify to be a judge in these courts, he or she needs to me and attorney and has been a member of the Puerto Rico Bar for a period not less than five years. The maximum age for one to be a judge in the municipal courts is 70 years, just like all the other courts in the State of Puerto Rico. In addition to that, the candidate or applicant must be a resident of the municipality where he or she is applying to be the judge. Judicial election for Municipal court Judge The Judicial Service shall announce the vacancy for the position of municipal judges and receive the applications from the candidates (Florida, n.d). The selection of the judge is by merit and non partisan. To appear on the ballot, there are two options that the candidate can explore. The first option is to pay the fee that is set by the Judicial Council. The second option is to present to the council a petition that is signed by not less than one percent of the voters of the municipality where he or she want to be the Municipal Court judge.(Florida, n.d) Elections for the Municipal Court judges shall be held after every six years. This means that the judges serve for a term of six years (Florida, n.d).However judges are not barred from seeking reelection or retention. When they choose to do so, they will follow the procedure that was used during their first election into office. There is no term limit for the Municipal Court judges as long as they meet the other requirements as earlier indicated. (Florida, n.d). References Florida. (n.d). Florida Court System. Retrieved June 25, 2014, from http://www.flcourts.org/florida-courts/supreme-court.stml Kurtzleben, D. (2013, January 2).Puerto Rico Population Continues Rapid Decline. USNews. Retrieved June 25, 2014, from http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data- mine/2014/01/02/puerto-ricos-population-continues-rapid-decline Magaly, R. (2014).The Constitution of the Common Wealth Puerto Rico. San Juan: Puerto Rico.org. Retrieved June 25, 2014, from http://www.topuertorico.org/constitu.shtml Oregon Judicial Department. (n.d). The Court of Appeals. Retrieved June 25, 2014, from http://courts.oregon.gov/COA/pages/index.aspx Puerto Rico. (2007).World mark Encyclopedia of the States. Retrieved June 25, 2014, from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2661700067.html Sanchez, R. (2013).The Structure of the Puertorican Judicial System. Puerto Rico Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 25, 2014, from http://www.enciclopediapr.org/ing/article.cfm?ref=13031501 Tennessee State Courts (n.d). The Court of Appeals. Retrieved June 25, 2014, from http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/courts/court-appeals The North Carolina Court System. (n.d). The Family Court. Retrieved June 25, 2014, from http://www.nccourts.org/Citizens/CPrograms/Family/Default.asp Read More