Arkansas Judiciary Homepage
LIMITED JURISDICTION COURTS
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 most
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
important 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 1994-95, there
were 126 municipal courts served by 112 judges and 126 clerks.
There are currently 100 city courts served by 73 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. Municipal court filings totaled 798,247 in 1994-
95, a 9% increase from the previous year. City court filings rose
by 30% to 63,059 cases. These two courts also generate a
tremendous amount of revenue for local and county government and
for several special state programs. In 1994-95, some $40,125,568
was reported as 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.
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 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.
Return to Annual Report Table of Contents Page
Last updated on February 1, 1996.
Tim Holthoff, Jackie Wright (arsclib@arkansas.gov)