Civil Procedure I: Outline, Fall 2007
Week 1:
I. Introduction:Background for Civil Procedure
a. Importance: some of the biggest disputes in law arise due to lack of consistency in civil procedure.
b. Focus of courts: To determine issues of jurisdiction to federal courts, as they percolate through Federal and State supreme Courts.
c. Key Terms:
i. Jurisdiction: simply “the power to declare law”, or the power of a court to render a judgment that other courts and government agencies will recognize and enforce
ii. Limited Jurisdiction: state courts often have general jurisdiction but Federal Courts have limited jurisdiction, as defined by the boundaries of Article III § 2
II. Basic Civics
a. U.S. Government based on Separation of Powers, outlined in Constitution
i. Article I: Creates the legislative branch
1. Power to: Tax, declare war, regulate commerce etc. etc.
2. Judicial Check: Article 1, Section 8 (IMPORTANT)
3. Power to create Tribunals:
a. Article III. Section 8, gives congress the power to “Create Inferior Tribunals
b. Combined w. Art. III. Sec 8 clause 18 (Necessary and Proper Clause
i. Allows congress to create the lower courts and the rules that guide them.
ii. Important: The language “power to create lower tribunals” plus “the necessary and proper clause” gives us the rules of Civil Procedure, or Title 28.
iii. Any one of the articles in Section 8 is enhanced by the necessary and proper clause.
c. Congress can restrict the powers of the lower federal courts within the boundaries set in Article III. Section II
ii. Article II. Creates the Executive branch
1. May appoint judges, veto legislation (check on the other two branches)
2. Also may appoint Administrative Heads that have quasi legislative and judicial powers (administrative law)—i.e. SEC rules, HUD rules, NLRB etc. Functions as a check on administrative powers.
iii. Article III. Created the Judicial branch
1. Supreme Court: created here
a. Title 28, Section 132: Creates federal trial court system, 1 per state
b. Appellate courts: 13 circuits (federal and d.c. circuit)
c. Congress has the power to limit the role of the Courts, w/ Article 3 section II providing the outer barriers of the reach fo the courts.
d. U.S Supreme Court is the final arbiter of constitutional questions
2. Powers of the Federal Courts in Article III
a. courts have the power over cases under
Introduction to Civil Procedure
· What Factors influence whether a party brings a case in Federal or State Court?
· Strategy: All influenced by issues like award amounts, size of Federal docket (speed), opponent may not be used to fast pace of federal litigation
· Politics: if you’re plaintiff has an unpopular claim, unelected federal judges are more immune from politics (though politics permeates the appt. process)
· Community: local community may be more sympathetic on a jury to a certain side based on circumstances (think of HYPO of company that employs everyone in town)
· Choice: KEY—you usuallly have a choice as to whether to bring the case to state or federal court, unless the issue is one involving “exclusive” jurisdiction—like Patent, or Anti-trust.
SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION
· Idea and Structure of Subject Matter Jurisdiction
· Definition: Whether the court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of the lawsuit, as outlined in Article III, Section 2. All other controversies go to state court. Federal courts are of limited jurisdiction.
o Void judgment—the judgment is not valid if they hear a case that is not w/in their jurisdiction
Categories: Most cases that we study involve:
