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Courts Of West Virginia
Courts of West Virginia include: ;State courts of West Virginia * Supreme Court of Appeals of West VirginiaThe West Virginia Judicial System
** (Effective July 1, 2022) *** West Virginia Circuit Courts (31 judicial circuits) ****

Supreme Court Of Appeals Of West Virginia
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the state supreme court of the state of West Virginia, the highest of West Virginia's state courts. The court sits primarily at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, although from 1873 to 1915, it was also required by state law to hold sessions in Charles Town in the state's Eastern Panhandle. The court also holds special sittings at various locations across the state. Although the West Virginia Constitution allowed for an intermediate court of appeals to be created, since 1974 the Legislature declined to do so, until 2021 and thus the Supreme Court provided the only review of the decisions of the state's trial courts of general jurisdiction, the West Virginia Circuit Courts. In December 2010, the Supreme Court promulgated a major revision of West Virginia's rules of appellate procedure, by which it provided that it would hear all properly perfected appeals of right from the circuit courts. Beginning July 1, 2022 a new ...
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Intermediate Court Of Appeals Of West Virginia
The Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the intermediate appellate court in West Virginia, created pursuant to the West Virginia Appellate Reorganization Act of 2021. Jurisdiction It has jurisdiction over the following appeals, subject to further appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeals: * Final judgments or orders of a circuit court in civil cases, entered after June 30, 2022. * Final judgments or orders of a family court, entered after June 30, 2022, except for final judgments or final orders issued by a family court in any domestic violence petition which appeals shall first be made to a circuit court. * Final judgments or orders of a circuit court concerning guardianship or conservatorship matters, entered after June 30, 2022. * Final judgments, orders, or decisions of an agency or an administrative law judge entered after June 30, 2022. (Previously such orders were appealed to the Circuit Court of Kanawha County). * Final orders or decisions of the Health Care Aut ...
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West Virginia Circuit Courts
The West Virginia Circuit Courts are the West Virginia state trial courts of general jurisdiction. They are the only state trial courts in West Virginia that are courts of record. West Virginia's 55 counties are divided into 31 circuits, each comprising anywhere from one to four counties. Different circuits have different numbers of judges; 11 circuits have only a single judge. Effective with the 2024 election, the circuits will be realigned into 30 circuits, with only one having a single judge.https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Text_HTML/2023_SESSIONS/RS/bills/hb3332%20sub%20enr.pdf Circuit judges were formerly elected in partisan elections to serve eight-year terms. In 2015, the Legislature changed the law to provide that future elections will be on a non-partisan basis. Judges must have engaged in the practice of law for at least five years. When a vacancy occurs, the governor of West Virginia appoints a judge, who must run in the next election to retain his or her seat. Be ...
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West Virginia Family Courts
West Virginia Family Courts handle cases involving divorce; annulment; separate maintenance; paternity; grandparent visitation; issues involving allocation of parental responsibility; and family support proceedings, except those incidental to child abuse and neglect proceedings. Family court judges also hold final hearings in domestic violence civil proceedings. The Family Court replaced a previous system of governor appointed "Family Law Masters" who made "recommended decisions" to the Circuit Judge, which proved unsatisfactory. This system was used from 1986 through 2001. Prior to 1986, each Circuit Judge handled divorce cases directly, often adopting local informal procedures, which varied from county to county, to deal with the caseload. There are currently forty-seven family court judges who serve twenty-seven family court circuits. Family court judges, are elected for a term of eight years. Prior to the 2016 elections, elections were on a partisan basis, but in 20 ...
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West Virginia Magistrate Courts
In West Virginia, magistrate courts are non-lawyer small claims and petty crime courts, established to replace the justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ... system in 1976. There are at least two magistrates in every county, and ten in the largest county, Kanawha. Magistrates have jurisdiction over civil cases in which the financial amount in dispute is less than ten thousand dollars. They hear misdemeanor cases and conduct preliminary examinations in felony cases. In criminal cases they issue and record affidavits, complaints, arrest warrants, and search warrants, as well as set bail and make decisions concerning proposed plea agreements, the collection of courts costs, cash bonds, and fines. Magistrates issue emergency protective orders in cases invo ...
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West Virginia Municipal Courts
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance languages (''ouest'' in French, ''oest'' in Catalan, ''ovest'' in Italian, ''oeste'' in Spanish and Portuguese). As in other languages, the word formation stems from the fact that west is the direction of the setting sun in the evening: 'west' derives from the Indo-European root ''*wes'' reduced from ''*wes-pero'' 'evening, night', cognate with Ancient Greek ἕσπερος hesperos 'evening; evening star; western' and Latin vesper 'evening; west'. Examples of the same formation in other languages include Latin occidens 'west' from occidō 'to go down, to set' and Hebrew מַעֲרָב maarav 'west' from עֶרֶב erev 'evening'. Navigation To go west using a compass for navigation (in a place where magnetic north is the same dir ...
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United States District Court For The Northern District Of West Virginia
The United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia (in case citations, N.D. W. Va.) is a federal court in the Fourth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit). The District was established on June 22, 1901. the United States Attorney is William J. Ihlenfeld II. Organization of the court The United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia is one of two federal judicial districts in West Virginia. Court for the Northern District is held at Clarksburg, Elkins, Martinsburg, and Wheeling. Clarksburg Division comprises the following counties: Braxton, Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Marion, Monongalia, Pleasants, Preston, Ritchie, and Taylor. Elkins Division comprises the following counties: Barbour, Grant, Hardy, Lewis, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph, Tucker, Upshur, and Webster. Martinsburg Division compri ...
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United States District Court For The Southern District Of West Virginia
The United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia (in case citations, S.D. W. Va.) is a federal court in the Fourth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit). The District was established on June 22, 1901. , the United States Attorney for the District is William S. Thompson. Organization of the court The United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia is one of two federal judicial districts in West Virginia. Court for the Southern District is held at Beckley, Bluefield, Charleston, and Huntington. Beckley Division comprises the following counties: Greenbrier, Raleigh, Summers, and Wyoming. Bluefield Division comprises the following counties: Mercer, McDowell, and Monroe. Charleston Division comprises the following counties: Boone, Clay, Fayette, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo, Nicholas, Roane, Wirt, an ...
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United States District Court For The District Of West Virginia
The following are former United States district courts, which ceased to exist because they were subdivided into smaller units. With the exception of California, each of these courts initially covered an entire U.S. state, and was subdivided as the jurisdictions which they covered increased in population. Two of the district courts—those of South Carolina and New Jersey—were subdivided but later recreated. Every change to the divisions and boundaries of these courts is effected by an act of the United States Congress, and for each such action, the statutory reference is identified. Alabama The United States District Court for the District of Alabama was created on April 21, 1820, by .Asbury Dickens, ''A Synoptical Index to the Laws and Treaties of the United States of America'' (1852), p. 390.
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Courts In The United States
The courts of the United States are closely linked hierarchical systems of courts at the federal and state levels. The federal courts form the judicial branch of the US government and operate under the authority of the United States Constitution and federal law. The state and territorial courts of the individual U.S. states and territories operate under the authority of the state and territorial constitutions and state and territorial law. Federal statutes that refer to the "courts of the United States" are referring only to the courts of the federal government, and not the courts of the individual states and counties. Because of the federalist underpinnings of the division between sovereign federal and state governments, the various state court systems are free to operate in ways that vary widely from those of the federal government, and from one another. In practice, however, every state has adopted a division of its judiciary into at least two levels, and almost every state h ...
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