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- Title
TWENTY YEARS LATER: WAS IT A SUCCESS? REVISITING THE UNIFICATION OF TRIAL COURTS IN NORTH DAKOTA.
- Authors
JOHNSON, KATHLEEN M.; WALL, JARED
- Abstract
In 1995, North Dakota's judicial system received a drastic makeover. Prior to this makeover, North Dakota operated a six-court judicial system consisting of a supreme court, district courts, county courts of increased jurisdiction, county justice courts, county courts, and municipal courts. In 1991, legislation abolished county courts and consolidated the trial courts into a single-level trial court of general jurisdiction. As a result of this legislation and subsequent unification, North Dakota's judicial system morphed into a three-tiered court system consisting of a supreme court, district courts, and municipal courts. But this transformation was no easy feat; it was a massive undertaking that was met with fierce resistance and required nearly a decade to implement. In Part I, this article examines the history of trial court unification, beginning with a brief history of North Dakota's judicial system in existence prior to the 1990s. Parts II and III of this article discuss the legislative history leading up to the enactment of the unifying legislation in 1991, House Bill No. 1517. Additionally, Parts IV and V of this article describe procedural and substantive provisions of House Bill No. 1517 and discuss the North Dakota Supreme Court's ("Supreme Court") role in implementation. This article concludes in Part VI with a discussion regarding whether trial court unification has been successful in North Dakota.
- Subjects
NORTH Dakota; UNITED States; TRIAL courts; INTERNATIONAL unification of criminal law; JUSTICE administration; JURISDICTION; HISTORY of legislation; U.S. states
- Publication
North Dakota Law Review, 2015, Vol 91, Issue 1, p131
- ISSN
0029-2745
- Publication type
Article