The Hawaii State Judiciary is the official name of the judicial system of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Based in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, the Hawaii State Judiciary is a unified state court system that functions under the Chief Justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court who is its administrator-in-chief.

Principal courts

The Hawaii State judiciary has four levels; two at the trial level and two at the appellate level. The trial-level courts are the district court, for lesser offenses and minor civil cases, and circuit court, for more serious offenses and major civil cases. There are two appellate courts, the Intermediate Court of Appeals, the lower appellate court, and the Supreme Court, for appeals from the decision of the Intermediate Court via

certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of a prerogative writ in England, issued by a superior court to direct that the recor ...

, and for certain cases, such as election cases, over which it exercises original jurisdiction. The specific roles and names of the courts are as follows: * The Hawaii State Supreme Court is the

state supreme court In the United States, a state supreme court (known by other names in some states) is the highest court in the state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of state law, the judgment of a state supreme court is considered final and binding in ...

. It is the high court of the state and makes binding decisions over appeals from the lower courts upon transfer from the Intermediate Court of Appeals and cases eligible to be heard directly by the Hawaii Supreme Court. It is also responsible for court rules, licensing and disciplining attorneys. * The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals is the state's intermediate

appellate court 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. Appel ...

. It reviews appeals from state trial court or

administrative agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

decisions. Its decisions, under certain circumstances, are subject to the Hawai`i Supreme Court's review. * The primary civil and criminal court in Hawaii is the body known as the Hawaii state circuit courts. They rule all jury trial cases and have

exclusive jurisdiction Exclusive jurisdiction exists in civil procedure if one court has the power to adjudicate a case to the exclusion of all other courts. The opposite situation is concurrent jurisdiction (or non-exclusive jurisdiction) in which more than one cour ...

over

probate In common law jurisdictions, probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased; or whereby, in the absence of a legal will, the e ...

, guardianship and criminal felony cases as well as civil cases where the

amount in controversy Amount in controversy (sometimes called jurisdictional amount) is a term used in civil procedure to denote the amount at stake in a lawsuit, in particular in connection with a requirement that persons seeking to bring a lawsuit in a particular cou ...

exceeds $25,000. * The Hawaii State family courts deal with

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriag ...

. They have exclusive jurisdiction over cases with minors involving

delinquency Delinquent may refer to: * Delinquent (royalist), Royalists whose estates had been seized during the English Civil War * A juvenile delinquent Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful b ...

status offense A status offense is an action that is prohibited only to a certain class of people, and most often applied only to crimes committed by minors. In the United States, the term status offense also refers to an offense such as a traffic violation ...

abuse Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...

and

neglect In the context of caregiving, neglect is a form of abuse where the perpetrator, who is responsible for caring for someone who is unable to care for themselves, fails to do so. It can be a result of carelessness, indifference, or unwillingness and ...

, termination of parental rights,

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, fro ...

guardianships and detention among others. The Family Courts also oversee cases of domestic relations, include

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

child support Child support (or child maintenance) is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child (state or parent, caregiver, guardian) following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Child maintenance is ...

, and custody cases. * The Hawaii state district courts have exclusive jurisdiction over

traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

infraction A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary of ...

s, landlord-tenant disputes, civil

bench trial A bench trial is a trial by judge, as opposed to a jury. The term applies most appropriately to any administrative hearing in relation to a summary offense to distinguish the type of trial. Many legal systems ( Roman, Islamic) use bench trials ...

s cases where the amount in controversy is under $10,000, civil cases where claim does not exceed $25,000, criminal offenses punishable by fine or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, county-ordinance cases and petitions for restraining orders. The Hawaii State Small Claims Court is a division of district court dealing with

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 ma ...

. * The Hawaii Land Court has exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving

land titles Land registration is any of various systems by which matters concerning ownership, possession, or other rights in land are formally recorded (usually with a government agency or department) to provide evidence of title, facilitate transactions, ...

and is a part of circuit court. * The Hawaii State Tax Appeal Court has jurisdiction over cases involving property, excise, liquor, tobacco, income and insurance taxes, and is a part of circuit court.

External links

National Center for State Courts

Hawaii State Judiciary
* {{Authority control Hawaii state courts State judiciaries in the United States