Access to Courts
Definition of Access to Courts
Note: See a more comprehensive approach to the Access to Courts legal concept in the American Law Encyclopedia
The availability of the judicial process to respond to cases. A person's access to court is governed by several factors. The first, of course, is jurisdiction. Jurisdiction defines a court's power to act. Access can only occur where a court possesses proper authority to hear a controversy. Second, courts cannot be accessed unless justiciability requirements are met. That is, courts can withhold power from those situations where standing does not exist or where the issue is more appropriately addressed by another governmental branch. Third, organizational structure and caseload directly affect access. The structure of a court system establishes entry points. Some structures facilitate access while others do not. For example, if a court system has only a single general jurisdiction court at the trial level, access may be limited. Similarly, if case volume is heavy and the court system has too few judges, cases will accumulate. Docket backlog delays and possibly discourages access.
See Also
Delay (Law of the United States) Jurisdiction (Law of the United States) Justiciable Issue (Law of the United States) Standing (Law of the United States).
Resources
Access to Courts Related Resources
- Access to Courts in the United States Legal Encyclopedia
- Civil Judicial Process Keywords in the United States Legal Encyclopedia
- Civil Process Keywords in the International Legal Dictionary
Notes
- “Access to Courts”, The American Law Dictionary, 1991, California
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