Few Arkansans will ever enter the doors of a circuit or chancery 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.

While the Arkansas Constitution and statutes provide for six different types of courts of limited jurisdiction, the most prevalent are the municipal court and city court. Municipal courts are served in most cases by part-time judges who are required to be attorneys and exercise county-wide jurisdiction. In 1998-99, there were 126 municipal courts served by 113 judges and 126 clerks. There are currently 112 city courts served by 90 judges which serve communities which do not have a municipal court. These courts exercise city-wide jurisdiction.

The caseload of municipal and city courts has grown tremendously in the last several years, particularly since the civil jurisdiction of municipal courts was raised from $300 to $3,000 in 1987 and again to $5,000 in 1997. Municipal court filings, however, declined in 1998-99 to 988,395 cases, a decrease of 1%. City court filings also decreased from 57,691 to 57,517 cases. This is the first decrease in limited jurisdiction court case filings since 1986-87.

These two courts also generate a tremendous amount of revenue for local and county government and for several special state programs. In 1998-99, $92,065,284 was assessed and $61,848,228 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. The 2000 general election could also greatly impact these courts with the proposed Judicial Article of the Arkansas Constitution. Under the proposal, these courts would become part of a unified state system as District Courts. Their funding, however, would continue as under present law.

The Arkansas Municipal Judges Council is made up of all municipal 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 1998-99 President of the association was Judge Ronnie Winningham. The Arkansas Municipal 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 1998-99 was Ruth Calloway.

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