| Privacy and Public Access to Court Records |
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| Court records include the case file of a lawsuit, records of any hearings, and information the court or clerk court prepares in connection with any judicial proceeding. A court's management information and data (budgets, reports, and statistics) are also considered court records. Since computers make it easy to gather and store information, many courts have developed databases of information. This database is also considered a court record. More... |
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| Housing Courts |
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| Housing courts are specialized courts that handle landlord-tenant cases. The New York City Housing Court handles only residential landlord-tenant cases; another court division handles commercial landlord-tenant cases. Housing courts in Minnesota handle civil and criminal cases related to residential rental housing. The Boston Housing Court handles landlord-tenant disputes, evictions, and housing code violations. This article covers the most common types of cases filed in housing court. More... |
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| Hung Juries |
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| The United States Constitution guarantees all criminal defendants a right to a trial by a jury of their peers. A criminal jury consists of 12 people. There is also a constitutional right to a jury trial in certain types of civil cases. The jury in a civil case usually contains 6 to 12 people. If the jurors cannot agree on a verdict, the jury is said to be a "hung jury" or a "deadlocked jury." If a jury deadlocks, the result is a mistrial. More... |
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| Guardianship |
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| A guardian is a person appointed by the court to act on behalf of a person who is considered legally incompetent. A person is presumed to be competent. However, someone can file a petition for guardianship with the court detailing why the person needs a guardian. If the court finds that the person is incapable of making health, personal, or financial decisions due to illness or disability, the court will appoint a guardian. The incompetent person is called a ward. More... |
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| The Judicial Conference of the United States |
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| In 1922, the United States Congress created a body called the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges to administer the federal judiciary. In 1948, Congress passed additional legislation and changed the name of the governing body to the Judicial Conference of the United States. The Judicial Conference handles the administrative matters of the federal court system.
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