The New Hampshire Circuit Court District Division is the "community court" of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, made up of one circuit for each

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

and is located in 36 cities and towns. The District Division has jurisdiction over all juvenile matters, domestic violence cases,

violation Violation or violations may refer to: * Violation (basketball), the most minor class of an illegal action in basketball * ''Violation'' (album), a 1977 album by American hard rock band Starz * ''Violation'' (film), a 2020 Canadian horror film * ...

and misdemeanor level offenses,

small claims Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and go by different names in different jurisdictions. For example, it may ...

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...

- tenant issues and other civil cases. Upon the creation of the District Court in 1963, the state Municipal Courts were effectively abolished. On July 1, 2011, the New Hampshire Circuit Court was created and consolidated the ''District Courts'' with the ''

Probate Court A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as Orphans' Courts o ...

'' and ''

Family Division The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

.''

Jurisdiction

The District Division has jurisdiction in the following matters: *Misdemeanor and criminal offenses *Civil cases in which the damages claimed, excluding

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

titles, not exceeding $1,500 *The court shares jurisdiction with the Superior Court over civil actions for damages in which the damages claimed, excluding real estate titles, do not exceed $25,000 (this ceiling can be increased to $50,000 as permitted by the state Supreme Court). *The court shares jurisdiction over domestic violence cases with the Superior Court.

Organization

The District Division has 36 courts located in 34 districts. The locations of the court were devised by the legislature so that each District Court would be within 20 miles of the inhabitants of each district. The District Division has 19 full-time judges and 50 part-time judges.

Appointment

Part II, Article 46 of the state constitution, states all judicial officers shall be nominated and appointed by the Governor and Executive Council. It also states that such nominations shall be made at least three days prior to such appointment and no such appointment shall take place unless a majority of the council agrees.

Length of tenure

All judicial officers hold their offices during "good behavior," according to Part II, Article 73 of the state constitution. Part II Article 78 of the state constitution requires Judges retire at the age of seventy years.

Salary

The salaries of the District Division judges and other state judges are set by the General Court. In the District Court salaries are weighted based on the caseload of the court from the previous year. Associate judges also receive a weighted salary, but can make no more than 70% of a District Division judge.

History

In 1963, district courts were created by the legislature to replace the existing municipal courts
RSA 502-A:35
effective July 1, 1964, abolished all Municipal Courts, unless cities and towns voted by ballot to "continue to maintain its existing municipal court so long as its present judge remains in office." The law required that once there was a vacancy on the Municipal Court judge, it could not be filled and that court would be abolished and its jurisdiction transferred to the appropriate District Court.

External links

Official Website

{{New Hampshire state courts District Court

1963 establishments in New Hampshire Courts and tribunals established in 1963