Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, the courts of common pleas are the trial courts of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania (the state court system). The courts of common pleas are the trial courts of

general jurisdiction A court of general jurisdiction, in the law of the United States, is a court with authority to hear cases in law and in Equity (law), equity of all kinds – criminal law, criminal, civil law (common law), civil, family law, family, probate, and oth ...

in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. The name derives from the medieval English court of Common Pleas. Pennsylvania established them in 1722.Courts of Common Pleas
nbsp;– information from the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania They hear civil cases with a significant amount in controversy and

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

s for serious

crimes In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

. They have

original jurisdiction In common law legal systems, original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision. India In India, the S ...

over all cases not exclusively assigned to another court and

appellate jurisdiction An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellat ...

over judgments from the minor courts (which include the magisterial district courts in all counties but Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Municipal Court and Pittsburgh Municipal Court). They also hear appeals from certain

and most local government agencies. The courts are established by Article V, Section 5 of the Pennsylvania Constitution: The courts of common pleas are organized into 60 judicial districts, 53 comprising one of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, and seven comprising two counties. Each district has from one to 101 judges. Judges of the common pleas courts are elected to ten-year terms. A president

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

and a court administrator serve in each judicial district. In districts with seven or fewer judges, the president judge with the longest continuous service holds this position. In districts with eight or more judges, the president judge is elected to a five-year term by the court.

Judicial districts

Notes and references

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External links

Courts of Common Pleas
nbsp;– information from the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania state courts Courts and tribunals with year of establishment missing

Judicial districts

See also

Notes and references

External links