The types of offenses that are tried in municipal court are the criminal misdemeanors and civil infractions that can affect the quality of life in the local community. They can include noise and traffic violations. A municipal court has limited jurisdiction. It is a court that is allowed to only handle the offenses that are assigned to the court by local ordinance or local law. The authority of the court will vary by jurisdiction, which is the boundary of authority. It is also a court that is established in a local community to administer laws passed by the community and used to govern itself. It is also referred to as a magistrate, city court, or provincial court. Sometimes it is designated by the cases it handles like a domestic relations court or juvenile court. A municipal court is not allowed to take handle anything except what they have been assigned to by the local law or any issue that involves national law. The court does not keep any record of the proceedings that occur in the court. Typically the parties involved in the issues or case in the court have no right to appeal the final decision to a higher court.
In regards to national law issues they are usually not addressed locally in day-to-day matters. An example is if a city or town reserves the right to establish traffic laws that are designed to meet the particular needs of the local community. Even if the law does conform to national standards the compilation of code or laws starts at the local level. These traffic codes or laws can designate or create a municipal court to hear any cases in regards to violation of the traffic laws or code. This type of court is usually referred to as a traffic court.
The types of offenses that might be tried and heard in a municipal court can be limited by scope. This means that the court is only able to hear certain forms of criminal cases, which could be limited to misdemeanors only. In misdemeanor criminal cases the offender might have a fine of a certain amount or do jail time for a specific length of time according to the offense they were found guilty of. In a small claims court the disputes heard there may be limited to amounts under five thousand dollars. If it is a jurisdiction for a civil case they may be limited to hear disputes under a specific amount of money also.
The most common cases heard in a municipal court are domestic relations, juvenile, traffic, small claims, real property cases, and quality of life.
