Few Arkansans will ever enter the doors of a circuit court and fewer still will find themselves in the Supreme Court or Court of Appeals. It is fairly likely, however, that many Arkansans will, at some point, come into contact with a limited jurisdiction court. For this reason, these courts may be the most important part of our judicial system. Unfortunately, they are totally funded by local and county governments and the amount of support given to any particular court varies tremendously from one area of the state to the next.

The passage of Amendment 80 to the Arkansas Constitution creates the possibility of bringing substantial change to the structure of our limited jurisdiction courts. The extent of that change, however, will be left to the decision of the General Assembly. The current Constitution of 1874 provides for six different types of courts of limited jurisdiction, the most prevalent are the municipal (now district) court and city court. District courts are served in most cases by part-time judges who are required to be attorneys and exercise county-wide jurisdiction. In 2001, there were 126 district courts served by 113 judges and 126 clerks. There are currently 118 city courts served by 93 judges which serve communities which do not have a municipal court. These courts exercise city-wide jurisdiction. Under Amendment 80, the jurisdiction of these courts will be consolidated into one court known as the "district" court. The number and location of these courts is left to the General Assembly and the specific jurisdictions set by both the General Assembly and the Supreme Court.
The caseload of district and city courts has grown tremendously in the last several years, particularly since the civil jurisdiction of district courts was raised from $300 to $3,000 in 1987 and again to $5,000 in 1997. District court filings increased in 2001 to 962,046 cases, from 942,834 cases in 2000. City court filings slightly decreased from 70,981 cases in 2000 to 70,958 cases in 2001.	Limited Jurisdiction Courts     1,013,815 1,033,004   City 70,981 Municipal 942,834 City 70,958 Municipal 962,046   Calendar Year     2000 2001
These two courts also generate a tremendous amount of revenue for local and county government and for several special state programs. In 2001, $92,135,173 was assessed and $70,006,616 was collected by these courts in fees, costs, and fines. The financial accounting and disbursement procedures of these courts was impacted greatly by the passage of the Uniform Cost and Fee Act of the 1995 General Assembly. The Act began a phase-in of the state funding of the court system and simplified the disbursement process for court generated funds.

District Court Judges Officers & Board

Seated (left to right): Steve Routon, Dennis James, John Finley Standing (left to right): David Stewart, David Saxon, Jim Hamilton, J.R. "Rusty" Porter (not pictured): Kirk Johnson, Robert Abney and Rodney Owens

The Arkansas District Judges Council is made up of all district court judges in the state. The Council acts as the general body representing the state's limited jurisdiction courts. Formal business by the Council is conducted in the spring and fall meetings each year. The 2000-2001 President of the association was Judge Dennis James. The Arkansas District and City Court Clerks Association also works to represent the interest of limited jurisdiction court clerks. The body is also responsible for the certification of these clerks. Their President in 2000-2001 was Geneva Vance.